Tom Huck, printmaker and senior lecturer at Washington University in St. Louis, speaks with students gathered for an art forum Wednesday afternoon in SH 72. Huck said that many ideas for his prints come from his life experiences in his home town. Giri Nam/The Bulletin

Art students were presented with art and commentary from Tom Huck, printmaker and senior lecturer at Washington University in St. Louis yesterday.

“I want to hold up a mirror to society saying, ‘Hey, this is how much we suck,’” Huck said. “I generally show people doing bad shit. If you don’t want to be in my shit, then don’t do bad shit.”

Huck, founder of his own company called Evil Prints, follows the tradition of Albrecht Durer in the artistic form of relief print making and woodcutting. Unlike Durer, Huck uses blunt, uncompromising and sometimes disturbing imagery to get his point across.

The presentation began with Huck explaining stories about his childhood, and the roots of his artistic growth.

“Most people look at my work and think I had a fucked up childhood,” Huck said. “The truth is I didn’t.”

Huck told how he first encountered an engraving of Lady Jane being beheaded in a book about the Tower of London that he found under his father’s bed and how that effected him as a developing artist.

“It’s the little humorous things like the cross-eyed executioner beheading Lady Jane that I love,” Huck said. “I wanted to use that sort of humorous commentary.”

After the short introduction, students were presented with various works and accompanying stories from Huck that were largely inspired by events from his hometown of Potosi, Missouri.

“I am glad to see something so obscene,” said Brady Wilson, junior glass blowing major. “It really hit home cause a lot of us around here are from a small inbred area like he was.”

Some of the subjects of his pieces included events inspired by a bar that was open in his hometown from 1948 to ’51 with a bad reputation called the Bloody Bucket. Other subjects included emu fights, racist World War II veterans and a pair of infamous backwoods sisters.

“I thought he was hilarious,” said Kaila Mock, junior glass blowing major. “He said fuck more than I’ve ever heard anybody say fuck before. His stories were real rich, and he did a real good job of portraying the characters from his experiences.”

When asked about advice to artists seeking to get their names out into the public, Huck was eager to offer from his own experience.

“Stick to your beliefs,” Huck said. “Do what you do, and don’t deviate from it. Make your own scene, and never go somewhere expecting that scene to help you – You’ve got to make your own.”

The auditorium in the science hall was nearly completely full for Huck’s presentation.

“I thought the presentation was great,” said Larry Schwarm, professor of art. “I think he’s an amazing artist. To show that kind of craftsmanship and still be that funny really inspires students.”

Huck was one of several guest speakers that come to talk to art students every two weeks. The next guest speaker will be Jamie Warren, an artist from Kansas City, on Dec. 2.

Josh Johnson/The Bulletin

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