PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University’s Compton Union Gallery begins its fall exhibition season with the exhibit “Duet: The Development of a Personal Sketchbook by Robert Krikac.” The exhibit opens Monday, Aug. 26, and continues through Friday, Sept. 13.
Krikac is an WSU associate professor of interior design. For him, drawing has become a way of consciously engaging the world around him, being enriched by it and giving back its revelations to his students. He describes his exhibit as “the record of my drawing from life’s journey thus far.”
The faculty member says he always enjoyed the field sketches of others and used sketching in his design practice to study details or to explain his concepts to colleagues and clients. However, he had never attempted to draw from life in the manner of those whose work he admired until the summer of 1997 when his career path led him to graduate school in design and to a summer study in Spain.
When a broken camera forced him to draw what he was viewing, he did so reluctantly, concerned that the drawing wasn’t “perfect.” However, he finally was able to free himself from the fear of criticism and began to draw only for himself. “This experience started me on a journey of self-discovery through a cycle of drawing, attending workshops, studying the writing and drawing of others, and working to synthesize these experiences back into my drawing and my teaching,” he said.
The exhibit includes drawings of local scenes as well as field sketches from his extensive travels in the United States and abroad. His most recent work is a series of drawings of state capitols, seen both in their entirety and from the perspective of architectural detail.
Krikac received his Bachelor of Science and his Master Science Design in Interior Design degrees from Arizona State University. Before joining the WSU faculty, he had a design practice in Arizona. His academic interests are the integration of history, theory and research with the practice of interior design and interdisciplinary design and issues related to the design of commercial offices. In addition to teaching on the WSU campus, he serves as the internship coordinator for Interior Design and teaches for the Distance Degree Program.
Gallery will be closed Monday, Sept. 2, for the Labor Day holiday but will open Saturday, Sept. 7 for WSU’s football game with Idaho. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
