Artist's Statement

Intimately, and uniquely connected to the evolution of Louisiana culture, my place is defined by my heritage as the son of a Baptist preacher, refined by the academic environment of a small southern college town, and expanded by the power of imagination, creativity, talent, and desire.

I was blessed with the gifts of musical and artistic talent combined with a desire to explore, and express myself in this paradise of senses, emotions, thoughts, and feelings. I collect ideas, images and objects that I am drawn to, or that come to me naturally, these things eventually make their way into a musical or visual composition that symbolizes events, concepts, feelings, or moments of personal enlightenment. My art emanates from a cerebral space where the imagination muses on my relationship to these objects, symbols, sounds, people, and feelings - eventually, the proper arrangements reveal themselves to me during the process. For me, the process of making art or music is rarely premeditated, it is usually the result of how I am experiencing my life at the time of producing the work. Consequently, I never produce a work with the intention of selling it, I will not do commissions, I will not interrupt my personal artistic journey to create something without pure meaning for me. All of my work is about relationships. Collaborations with other artists are the result of relationships. My music is the product of relationships expressed in a form that relies entirely on relationships of timing, tone, texture, velocity, volume, attitude, lyric, emotion, and movement. In performance, the relationships in the music itself are amplified through a relationship with an audience of thinking, feeling, dreaming individuals - for a moment, sometimes, we share a consciousness. I find that visual art is exactly the same. There, in static form is a series of events or objects arranged into an image expressing a thought, emotion, or situation. Ultimately, I gravitate toward any arrangement that expresses a union of opposites - spiritual & temporal, pleasure & pain, innocence & guilt, action & reaction all are part of our life process in keeping with this universe of order & chaos, mystery and wonder.

My work is autobiographical, it is the result of being involved in the process of living, and striving for a clearer consciousness. I have given myself to over to expressing myself, and sharing in the artistic journeys of others. I have made myself available, and open, and have been blessed by having been a part of improving the quality of life for myself and others right here in Louisiana.

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Alan Dyson turns imagination loose

April 29, 2005

Freelance artistic designer Alan Dyson had a hand in designing Prima Tazza at Ashley Ridge Pointe. (Robert Ruiz/The Times)

By Jennifer Flowers

jenniferflowers@gannett.com

Whether Alan Dyson is solving a conceptual design problem or composing the notes to a song, he's just thankful he has an excuse to use his imagination.

For the artist, letting the mind wander freely is the real jazz of art.

Dyson, a Ruston native, studied architecture at Louisiana Tech and ended up graduating instead with a bachelor of fine arts when he discovered math wasn't his bag. He worked at Brown Builders Inc., for nearly 25 years, starting as a draftsman and then working his way to director of design for the company's design-build projects. He also had a hand in designing the Ashley Ridge Pointe complex, Fernwood Plaza and most recently the Shoppes at Bellemeade, a lifestyle shopping center still in its final stages of completion.

But architectural design isn't the only medium that sates his creative appetite, and perhaps that's why he was the recipient of the Shreveport Regional Arts Council's Multidisciplinary Arts Fellowship in 1999. A lover of the human figure, Dyson sketches nudes. He also composes music and hosts the Red River Radio "House Concert Series."

QUESTION: You've dabbled in a lot of different creative art forms. How do they relate to each other?

ANSWER: To me, architecture is the same thing as doing a painting, as writing a song. The processes are very similar. In architecture you have a visual rhythm you're setting up with visual art. If it's just visual art, you're setting up an arrangement of shapes that people can respond to. The same thing happens with music. In music you're playing with the mood and rhythms and tones.

Q: What's it like to use architecture as an artistic medium?

A: In architecture you're playing with structure, colors, shapes and spaces. You're playing with environments, and it takes in all sorts of considerations. It's a multi-layered effort because you've got to think about electricity and plumbing and air conditioning.

Q: What do you like about architecture?

A: Architecture is like the perfect type of sculpture. It's a sculpture you get to walk around inside of, in between and under. It's also a very collaborative art because you're not off in some room somewhere by yourself doing something. You have to collaborate with the owner, who has a need in the first place. You have to collaborate with a design team, which consists of architects and engineers and a myriad of consultants.

Q: What do you like about visual art?

A: Consequently, it's the stuff that people don't like to buy. The idea there is to create an image that's so strong it sticks with you and goes home with you, whether you take it home or not.

Q: Describe your architectural design style.

A: I like contemporary looking stuff. I appreciate traditional stuff, and usually what I do has a nod to traditional forms. I like things to look like they're well balanced and structurally sound. You don't want it to be spindly looking. Like some stuff looks like it's been built by toothpicks and it's about to fall down. That makes me nervous.

Q: What do you think about the current state of local architecture?

A: I think it's a drag. We have some really wonderful architecture that is sadly crumbling right in front of us. "» It's just so expensive to bring these structures up to code, and so many of them are just so far gone, it's just shocking. But some of the new architecture that's going up, I really enjoy. I really like the downtown riverfront project with the water fountains -- that's really cool. The new (J. Bennett Johnston Waterway Regional) visitor center is spectacular. The new addition to Sci-Port is going to be incredible. Some really nice cutting-edge stuff is being done.

Q: Tell me about your nude drawings.

A: I was intimidated by nudes for a long time when I went to college. To me it was the hardest thing to ever draw. You've got all these nuances. The human body -- you talk about perfect architecture, there you go. "» you can render a thing as an object or you can render a thing as a being, and that's the hardest part. And you just have so much to work with. I could draw feet and that would be plenty to keep me busy for a long time.

Q: What makes good art?

A: It has to have a sense of being right. It has to have a sense of being the best it could possibly be. The best analogy I can think of right now is the Olympics. When you see someone doing what they do and they're at the top of their game and it's obvious, that's it. The reason I'm really thankful right now about what I've gotten to do in architecture is I'm as close as I can be to being on top of my game right now.

Q: What's been the best part of being an artist?

A: The thing I like the best about what I've been able to do is the relationships I've been able to build with other artists and architects and musicians and poets. It makes me want to smoke my pipe and philosophize.


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