Neil Welliver, Visiting Artist Lecture 1973

Painter Neil Welliver begins his lecture at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture with a short film. This is followed by a chronological sampling of slides which are shown while he reads a statement about his personal philosophy and approach to painting. Considerable attention is given to color, and how studying with Joseph Albers contributed to the Welliver’s interest in that element, despite the fact that Albers was an abstract painter and Welliver is a figurative painter. The questions which follow the lecture cover a broad range of topics, including Welliver’s life in Maine, his working methods, and the relationship between photography and painting in so far as their ability to capture an isolated moment as opposed to referencing a longer period of time.