Acclaimed Lansing artist Brian Whitfield shares his background and philosophy, and delves into his creative process when creating the extraordinary oversize paintings that he’s known for.

You're listening to Art Happens Here, the podcast that explores the often curious and occasionally amazing art installations on, in and around the campuses. Lansing Community College. I'm your host, Bruce Mackley.

Today's guest is someone who I have known for quite some time, and I've really anticipated this interview. Looked forward to it. We share deep history together.

He's extraordinarily creative, and I'm sure there's much about his work and about his thought processes and philosophy on art that I don't know, and I'm eager to find out. Brian Whitfield, welcome to Art Happens Here.

Thank you, Bruce. It's good to be here.

Yeah. Well, thanks for coming. I mean, this is really. This is a treat for me, very briefly, for our audience. Let me set this up a little bit.

Brian and I go back to high school. We barely interacted because we had kind of the same classes at different times.

Once in a while, I'd pass each other in the hall, so we have that history, but we didn't really get to know each other until I think we ran into each other at Home Depot just a few years ago. And I recognize him because the man hasn't aged, and it's very frustrating to those of us who have. It's very, very, very cool.

I keep overusing the word cool, so bear with me here. Brian is responsible for. His body of work. Is. It's hard to.

It's hard to describe, you know, just about every colorful outdoor and indoor mural that graces Lansing. It's, in some way, if not done by Brian Whitfield. It's influenced by him. His style is. It's highly integrated, beautifully designed. It's tight, It's.

It's compelling. It's deliberate. They look like tapestries. And there's a. There's stories that are embedded in these things. They're not just snapshots. I mean, they're.

They're so compelling.

I appreciate this.

No, it's so. It's so true. Now.

It's.

Come on, you've heard this before, and people just. People fall over themselves over your work, and rightfully so. I mean, it's.

It's the physical demands of what you do, the creative demands on top of your day job. Okay. Is. It's really, really noteworthy. You know, the visual, visually engaging is just. It's an understatement, sir. So, you know, you're.

Let's go back. I mean, what's your background?

Well, of course, you know, the beginnings, really, in high school, you know, the commercial art class, which Is unusual, you know, in some places, having a kind of a career before you even get out of high school starting. And we had Lance Shade at Eastern High School.

Yes, we did.

And he's great guy, Great guy. Just loved him. And he brought a lot out of me. You remember having to go over to trying to find a job on Michigan Avenue. Oh, yeah, yeah.

He made us look for jobs and that kind of stuff.

Way ahead of his day.

We was. And had contests in his class, and we had a little competition. It was a lot of fun. And it was three hours. Three hours of art. Can you believe that?

Self discipline, you know, you have your two classes that you had to go to, math or whatever, Then you had your art. Yep, three hours. And then you go home. Oh, who could. Who could beat that in high school?

Couldn't agree more.

But, yeah. So then, you know, Lance was. Was kind of saying, okay, what do you want to do? Where do you want to go? And he suggested I go to Kendall.

So I applied, you know, and got into Kendall right out of high school, and. And that kind of started my career. Now when I started, it was really interesting because I was.

I like realism, and I want to draw, like photo realism. And I was looking at all the masters. You know, I'm thinking, oh, they're great, and that kind of stuff. So from where?

From back then, where I am now, you know, it's just kind of like a real journey, and I'm just kind of having fun going through it.

Good.

You know, like, with all the stuff you said earlier, it's kind of funny because I still feel like I'm struggling to find out who I am.

That's a good thing, though.

Every artist does that. And if you don't do that, I think it's, you know, you should really delve deep into who you are.

Because I look at my work and sometimes I go, oh, boy. What is. What am I thinking?

Given your talent.

Given the talent that I remember from high school, which was extraordinary, you know, Brian, top level, you know, going to school and going into Kendall, which is highly regarded as a design school, what did you have to. Was there anything that you had to leave behind going in there? Did you have to, like, wipe your mind or relearn anything?

Did they teach you a new way to think, as I've heard, you know,

because of, you know, growing. Growing up and just kind of learning on the way through high school, I. They didn't really challenge me so much. They just kind of taught me technique.

I was actually challenged when I Went to graduate school, but in undergrad, I just learned technique. I had a great teacher, John McDonald, and he just let me do what I wanted to do.

And we kind of fought because I said, sometimes you had to do the same picture a couple times. And I would just, I'm not doing that.

Self discipline.

Yeah, yeah. You have to do it in black and white. You had to do it in color. And I said, I'm not doing that. And we fought, but he would let me get away with it.

But that was kind of the challenge. I was trying to push myself, but I wasn't going to do whatever everybody else wanted to do.

Yeah, Good. Strong spirit. I've heard it compared to karate in that you're a beginner when you get the black belt.

I've heard of watercolorists who have literally 4,000 watercolor paintings. They're quick sketches. I saw, you know, some guy opened his trunk of his car and was full. I mean, full of, like, watercolor renderings.

And he was just getting. Getting there to start.

Absolutely. So, you know, I would be a better artist if I. If I just was disciplined to do that. But like you said before, I got a day job.

And sometimes you just get worn out with art.

Yeah. And you've raised kids. I mean, given the body of your work and how prolific you've been dedicating that degree.

And by the way, what he does is physically demanding. I mean, I looked at the one on Michigan Avenue, which is. Which is one of your modest ones, and it goes up. And you had to have been on scaffolding.

You know, you're dealing with Michigan weather, you're dealing with materials. You know, the. And I'm all over the place. I'm sorry, but it's just so. It's so thrilling talking to you.

Yeah, that's okay. But let me. Before you go there, because I want to go there, but let me go back, because I've always wanted to tell you this.

I've had three influences starting in high school. One was Emerson Sheffey. That's how I got into that, into that class, because I looked at his work and said, man, I got to get into that class.

That guy. Yeah, that guy in junior high was amazing.

Oh, he. Yes, yes. We're still friends to this day, but, yeah, he was. He was amazing.

He.

He. He made me want to go into. Become an artist.

Interesting.

Harold Hayes. I don't know if you remember Harold.

I remember Harold Hayes.

Harold Hayes was this. The other guy that influenced me. And I looked at his work and said, man, this guy can draw now. He was in that class for a short time.

He was in Mark Mahaffey's class, too, wasn't he?

Yes, I think so. But he. He got out of the commercial art class. I don't know why. He just kind of dropped out of it and.

And.

And Bruce. Bruce Mackley.

Oh, please.

I tell you, I looked at your work and I thought, man, you are good.

I was. I was a little weirdo in high school. I thought differently.

You hung out with weirdos.

Yeah, well, yeah, it was. I was definitely a free thinker.

No, but I really respected your work and watching you kind of come up, you know, through. You know, one year, I was talking to somebody and I was asking if you still draw, and you went to graphics.

He said, yeah, I haven't painted in a while. I was like, no, not Bruce.

I appreciate that, Brian.

Yeah, but I thought you were just amazing. And then I'm looking at your work now, and I still is just in awe of what you do. Especially the craftsman. Craftsman style that you have.

No, thanks.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. Just playing around. You know, you get the support to do it, and it's all good fun. Yeah. Appreciate that. Thank you. No, high school was a great.

It was a great melting pot. And Lance Shade's class was well, well ahead of its time, you know, having. Briefly having a portfolio in high school.

Yes.

You know, I remember coming here and it was my last ditch, and I had a portfolio, and I presented it to the department chair and. And she's like, yeah, give me a scholarship. You stay here as long as you want. I don't think you'll be here long. Because of that portfolio.

Absolutely.

Yeah. And then with George Rourke at the State Journal. So Lance had a vision.

He really did.

Yeah. And we were kind of counterparts. You know, you were in the PM class and I think I was in the AM class. Or was it vice versa?

I think we had. You mean in Lance class?

In Lance's class?

No, we were in the same class.

Were we?

Yeah, we had the same class. You sat. I remember this. You sat in the back of the class with a guy that. I don't remember his name, but he used to just.

He knew the whole entire dialogue of Star Wars.

That would be Jeffrey Jansen. Yes. Yeah, I still. Jeff came up from Florida a few weeks ago. We had lunch together. Oh, really?

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah. I was just amazed at that. I mean, everything.

And you would write it down in class, and so you sat next to him, but I was just somewhere else in the class. But I did check out. I was checking out your work. I would always come around.

I remember your stuff, too, in that monarch calendar with the stuff that you did. And that was it. You were quiet. That was. Right. You were very. You were very focused and intense, even. So. Yeah. And I was probably shooting my mouth off.

Who knows?

I was really quiet, though. I was shy back then.

Yeah, still am. Well, it's not. It's not all bad, especially as it relates to creative people, you know. So your education, you came out of it. Was it worthwhile?

Oh, absolutely. You know, I just. I learned technique. I learned. I learned about artists.

Now, you know, of course you're taking art history classes and you're falling asleep in class because.

Absolutely.

I mean, I don't know what they were thinking of having a class at 8 o' clock in the morning and they turn the lights off and then talk in this monotone voice.

Man. Brutal. I said like a. Yeah, yeah.

And so I was just having trouble staying awake, but. But throughout the time there, I just learned about artists and kind of. I was attracted to the. To the Rembrandts and the Michelangelos and.

And then what's interesting is I found about. Out about El Greco, and El Greco kind of elongated his figures, and I thought, wow, look at this guy.

He's going a little bit different direction than the traditional, you know. And that was the beginnings of when I started to play around with the figure a little bit. Yeah.

Yeah. Your style now is. I'm sure it's positive. It's highly evolved over the years. It pushes the viewer's perceptions. How do I describe this?

I mentioned the tapestry thing, but you have human figures and elements that interweave, and some are transparent. They overlay and they weave in together, but they're still discernible. There's a. There's a. That's it. There's a.

There's a balance to your work that is. It looks effortless. And one thing I've learned, if something looks effortless, it's anything but.

Yeah, it's this. There's thought in there. And like, you. You asked, what. What did I get out of school? Just the. In art history, just the.

The way artists make your eyes go in different directions and. And create triangles and shapes that kind of guide you through the work. I learned that and that stuck with me throughout the years.

And that's kind of what I try to do. And sometimes I don't even know I'm doing it. I just have that feeling.

Well, I'll tell you one Thing. It's pretty neat to see people look at your work and regard it. ArtPrize. The church wall that you did, this was a couple years ago, right?

That was last year.

Last year. That's right. The Return to Art prize. And we walked down there and checked it out again. Phenomenal.

And it looked like the building had been built for the purpose of this painting. On the side of it. That's how good it was.

That's interesting because I felt it was a struggle to paint that. But as I was moving along through it, I just felt like this is the right thing. I was feeling the right thing.

And it just came out, you know, the way I really hoped. But it was more of the feeling than the actual physical painting.

Beautiful. It has a definite spiritual flavor and intent. You know, the upward. The upwardness. The tree and the figures. Please.

You know what, Check it out if you can. And I tried to get in there and I couldn't get in there into that building. The art that was hosted at that venue was. It was artists art.

It was very high minded and beautiful. Some. Some of these things you'd see. You'd expect to go to Chicago and a gallery and see some of the stuff.

So whoever was curating over there knew their business.

Steve Fitzma. Fitzma, yeah. Curates that. And he's been doing it. I showed in that gap in that space for probably eight out of the years of.

Eight out of all the years of Art prize.

Yeah.

And Steve is so good at picking work. You know, when. When artists would show there and then they would leave and go to someplace else, they would always end up in the top.

At least in the top 20, I believe it. And some of them were in the top five.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And they would just. They were just that good. He had that eye to pick them. Unfortunately, that space was kind of off the path. It was always off the path, but

it was always a destination.

It was always a destination. One year it got. It was. It was nominated for one of the top venues in our prize.

I remember that. And I spoke. It was probably with that gentleman and mentioning your name and his face lit up, you know, so it was a. It was a very big deal.

You know, your work there, that's still there. It wasn't like, our prize is over, let's take it away. That's a permanent part of a visual. Drive by the street and see it.

You know, that's another thing with the mural that you did down on Michigan Avenue on the side of the market. It's so Visually compelling. I could get in an accident because I'm staring at it while I'm driving, you know, so the colors, you know, are so just.

They reach out, just grab you by the eyes.

You know, that's funny that. Because I feel really strange about color. My relationship with color is.

Just tell me about it.

Because I use so much color, and I'm thinking, why am I putting all this color in this work? I love black and white. I love black and white and monotone colors.

And for some reason, putting a thousand colors in a piece of work just draws me to it. And I don't know why I can't

get away from it. You know what? It works for you. It's daring. And your work would totally work black and white. It doesn't rely on color. It doesn't rely on color at all.

And there are. There are plenty of works that you can't say that about. You could do it.

You could take a black and white photo of any of your stuff and frame it and put it on a wall. That's how compositionally compelling it is.

You know, I've just learned that in the last couple years, you know, with the camera, with the phone cameras, you can turn things black and white. And I started looking at my work in black and white just to see where I needed to tweak.

And I was always surprised how I was getting right, basically. You know, the contrast and the tones were getting. Were right. And I'm thinking, wow, just did that on accident.

Did you ever go back and have to redo anything because you thought it was off parts?

You know, it wasn't, like, large areas, but, you know, a little tweaking here, a little tweaking there.

How did you start out doing mural work?

Oh, that's interesting. Well, former city council woman. Oh, I can't think of her name now. It's gonna be terrible.

Sorry.

But anyway, she. She was putting together mural projects, or she was working with muralists and wanted to have some help for her.

And so we started with the Shinoras, right on Butler Street.

I knew that was yours.

Yeah, it wasn't mine, but it was another artist, really. Erica Minor.

Okay. Because that. That's been there a while.

Yeah, it's been a long time. And the original artist that did. Did those, you know, paintings. He was. He was doing it in the 80s.

Yeah.

You know, and. And he was really good. And I was working at o' Leary Paint, then he would come in and buy paint. And so I'm thinking, wow, mural artist.

I thought that Was a big deal. Well, she.

She got these artists and pulled them all together, and it was kind of cool because that was the first time I ever painted on a large scale. We. We worked at the Black Child and Family Institute, that building, the old Genesee School.

Sure.

And so we didn't paint directly on the wall, but we had these big panels and we would go in there and paint, and then she would. Had somebody put those panels on the wall, and then we would go up and do our touch. Touch ups.

All right.

Yeah, yeah.

Kind of like outdoor billboards. They break them down and put them back up a little bit.

So that was my first. First time working with outdoor paint and murals and that kind of stuff.

Yeah.

Then. Then later on, maybe a couple years later, that was also the first time I worked with a group of people, you know, collaboratively. Collaborative.

How'd that go?

It was really good. There were times. There were times it was really stressful because I have to pick my words very carefully.

I'm just saying this because I know that you are somewhat of a perfectionist and you have a vision, and that is. That's a great thing to be as a creative. But as it relates to group discussions and design by committee, not so much.

Yeah. Yeah. And it wasn't my project, so that was another thing. And I can let go of things when it's not my project. But you had. We.

It was me and another artist, Brian Snyder. We were the only two guys in this group.

Okay.

And the rest were ladies. That was the.

That's rough.

Rough part of it.

Is that rough, really?

Well, it became emotional. Exactly. For the reason you're saying, because people had their own ideas. And so it became very emotional. They want their ideas to come through.

And it just was. It was just a really rough time, but we worked it out. And we kind of worked it out and it came together and we were happy to do it.

They're passionate.

Yeah, it was very passionate. Oh, it was. It was amazing. But so. So that group ended up doing another mural on the back of the Black Child and Family Institute.

And that was the Rainbow Kids dancing and walking on a rainbow. And Buildings. Lansing. Buildings and Lansing. And we all worked on that together.

That was my second mural, and that was actually scaffolding on the wall and painting.

How do you. And this is something I've always wondered that you've touched on before when we talked, you know, getting funded. Do they do.

Do you project how much it's going to cost with materials? Do you rent the scaffolding? Do you own it. And I'm going to get into the physical demands of it later because that, to me, is extremely compelling.

Yeah, yeah. You. You. You rent it. I rent lifts and have to decide, you know, how large the wall is. Do you kind of use the ladder, like the mural in Grand Rapids?

I use ladders, yeah. Murals here, I've used lifts, like scissor lifts and stuff.

Yeah.

It just depends on the surface, where, you know, where you can do some surfaces you, you know, won't allow you to because they might be in an angle or the ground might not be very stable.

Yeah, yeah. Down. Do you project. Do you grid your work to. To get. To get it up there? I mean, do you lay it out on the computer first?

Yeah, I grit, you know. Well, the next job after this other job, the Genesee mural, was the under the Bridge. That was my third mural job. That was like jumping into the fire.

I can only imagine. And just to our listeners, there's a set of overpasses near Frandor and Lansing.

And if you're familiar with, you know, overpasses, underneath there are these diagonally, you know, they're slanted, you know, paved. Paved or bricked.

They're about. They're. They're enlarged pavement. They're like runoffs, about 50 by 25ft each.

50 by 25. And I remember you getting awarded, and it was a big deal because they were going to light these things and bring in. And it was in the media.

And I had always meant to go down there and poke my head into your world. And this was before we ran into each other at Home Depot, just to say, hey.

And my main thing was, how on earth did your ankles survive painting on those surfaces?

First of all, I would have given you a brush and said, hey, help me out here.

Where do I park?

But I had to get used to it. What's interesting is I had some just cheap shoes, just raggedy gym shoes that I paint in. I thought, this is not going to work.

So I tried to put on heavier, you know, work boots. Those fell apart.

That was in the summer, right?

That was in the summer. And it was hot. It was hot. But I was under the bridge, so I had the shade of the bridge, but those work booths fell apart.

And so I went back to some old raggedy shoes, and those were most comfortable. And I had no problems after that.

Really?

Yeah, yeah. My feet were aching in those shoes I thought were gonna help me, but when I put on some unsupportive, just raggedy old paint shoes, they.

They Saved me. I couldn't have done it without those shoes.

Wow. How about that?

Yeah.

I've heard things about barefoot. The benefits of actually being barefoot naturally. I do remember back when I was in reasonable shape and how that would have just broken me. And we're.

I think we're the same age. And you're like Dorian Gray over here. You haven't aged much.

You look like you're in your mid-30s, but it just looks like it was a physically punishing work and it turned out phenomenal. I mean, predictably beautiful.

Yeah. There were four. Four big gigantic slabs. And, and, and like I say, I worked collaboratively with the other artists in the other murals.

This is my first mural by myself.

I see.

And I took on four gigantic.

Yeah. You know how many hours? Wow.

I can't tell you how many hours, but in terms of time, it took probably three months roughly. Somewhere like that.

Now, did you have to take a break from your day job, which you're a designer. Designer for the state of Michigan.

That's one reason it took so long because I was working my day job. So I would leave for the afternoon. I would take a day off here and there. So I would work on the weekends, so. And work after work.

Go after work and paint.

Did you have to fly the design by anybody in any committee approval?

Oh, yes.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah. We. Because they wanted specific themes, Lansing based themes. And so. And they had donors. We raised over $100,000 on that.

There you go.

And so they had big donors, Sparrow Hospital, Michigan State. So I had to meet with them and get approval that they were okay with the design.

And I would try to stick in a little few things and I guess put in Sparrow Hospital in one. I put in because it was part of Lansing and Michigan State, they will

be part of Lansing.

So it was all good with that. I wasn't trying to smooth up to them or anything. I was just putting those things in the area. Everybody was really supportive.

One woman from Sparrows, you know, I had some soccer players and she said, why are you putting soccer players in there? Why don't you put the basketball player? We had Irvin Johnson here. I was like, oh, yeah, okay.

And so, you know, there was that kind of thing and, and, and ended up being really positive.

Yeah. You've probably noticed and I've noticed just in recent years how into art some people are.

Yes.

I mean, to the point of. I mean, I never. Well, we do it for a living. You know, it's our day jobs.

Me not so much anymore, but you lose sight of that appreciation on a visceral level where somebody would stand in front of your work and they would weep. Okay. It's that strong for them. And when somebody has a say in how the outcome of Brian Whitfield's work, they carry that with them forever.

I mean, that's something very, very. They brag about it. I guarantee you they're being wherever and brag about how they influence the artist on that great work. It's a big deal to them.

Yeah. Yeah. It is amazing. I experienced that one time at Art Prize.

I was at DeVos Place, and, you know, that place, you know, just thousands of people go through every day.

Did you deal with Eddie? Yes, Eddie Tadlock.

Yeah. I worked with him, but he put me in the worst spot in the building.

Which is where.

Well, let me tell you, it wasn't really a bad spot. It was at the end of a hallway.

But when you went around the hallway, this woman had this work that was just amazing and went all the way down the hall work. It was hallway, and it was huge. So people would.

And my work was at the end of the hallway, so they would turn and look at this gigantic faces that this woman painted, and their back would be towards my piece.

Yes.

And so probable.

That's the. That's the criticism I've heard about our prize venues. You. It's a. It's a roll of the dice. It is. And it's not an even playing field.

And there have been creatives that have been very vocal.

Yeah.

About the. The discord, the imbalance of the viewing and venues and so on.

Yeah. But this. At that venue, that particular piece, this woman walked by and she. She just looked at me. She started crying.

Isn't great.

Yeah.

What do you do?

Yeah, you know, I just looked at her. I was like, okay, you feeling this?

And.

And she just. She didn't have. She didn't say anything. She just. She just looked at me and. And just nodded her head.

Yeah, yeah, It's. It's transformational. I hate using that word because it's so beaten into the ground.

I had a similar thing, and these school kids coming through, you know, tour buses, little kids want your autograph, and you're like, who, me? You know, I'm not. No. You know, and they. They regard creativity.

And I've gone on my little tangents about creative thought processes and how, you know, it's relative. I mean, brilliant people who. Who. Who admire that because they. Everyone, I think, has creative ability, but they're stronger in a different area.

So they appreciate that more. Yeah, yeah, it's. So let's see. I think we only have a few minutes left for the segment and we will be talking more, sir, I guarantee it.

Because we got more ground to cover,

a lot to talk about.

Yeah, you will get into the future of the next segment. But materials, are there specific materials that you use? Specific types of paint? Brushes, obviously.

You know, over the years, I've kind of cheated myself. I start off trying to do perfect, you know, trying to be a perfect artist.

You know, I would, I would, I would get brass nails and stretch my canvas and use the brass nails. And over the years, I just like, I'm not doing that. Just get some staples and staple it together.

Okay.

And so I've, I've just used brushes over and over again. I haven't bought any new brushes in years. I just kind of beat them up. But I use golden paint, which is a highly quality, highly quality paint.

Keeps the UV off her a little bit. Yes.

And they just have so many products. And then here I use local, local paint and it's really good paint. For murals, I do collage work.

That's when I started, before I started doing murals, I was doing a lot of collage work. And so it's just mediums to glue down this paper and magazines. And so I just grabbed the different things and just.

Yeah, and the learning process because, you know, a lot of what you do, you're self taught. So you're, you're absorbing this. You get in the zone while you're working, your style evolves.

Well, listen, Mr. Whitfield, we're going to wrap up the segment. It's been exhilarating talking to you. I won't lie. In catching up and learning all this stuff about your work.

Scratch the surface.

We did. And I think you're going to have to come back.

Oh, okay.

Sounds good. Okay. Well, thank you, sir. Thank you for your time today.

All right. Thank you.

Malcolm Forbes once said, the purpose of education is to turn an empty mind into an open one.

If you want to check out what I've been talking about, just visit this episode at lccconnect.org. Art Happens Here is a production of LCC Connect.Thanks for lending us your imagination.