associate professor emeritus
sculpture
lalpert@uoregon.edu
office 1479 moss street
(541) 346-2194

expectations of students

Intense work on the development of their personal direction in art. It is my belief that students must assume responsibility for their own learning. As P. L. Campbell stated: "Here, like the kind of democracy we should strive for, is the minimum of restraint and the maximum of responsibility." I assume that students are at the university to develop their ability to investigate, question, experiment, find the core of their own motivation.

"Technique can be learned from books; take advantage of the people and ideas you encounter at the university."
"Find what you want to do; do it well." - L. Alpert

I like a story that S. Suzuki tells about learning and the meaning of expertise: A person recites a poem once. It is awkward and clumsy, but fresh. The person recites the poem 10,000 times. The 10,000th time it is fresh, but awkward, as if it were being read the first time.

professional creative practice

After over 20 years of doing wood carving, I have become fascinated with stone carving. I am curious about the relationship between marble and the history of western sculpture. Marble has been one of the elite materials of the fine arts. How can this be used and understood? Also, marble is a material that is remarkable in terms of light (in spite of its density). It is reflective and translucent in complex ways, which has captured my interest. Modern diamond technology allows stone to be worked with the speed of a gesture, which is odd. It also permits stone to be formed in ways that have not previously been possible. I find this combination of conceptual, technical and form questions to be riveting.

awards + achievements

Head, Department of Art, 1996-1999

In 1998, 1999, and 2000 I was invited to teach stone carving at the MARBLE/marble Stone Carving Symposium in Marble, Colorado and at the NWSSA Stone Symposium in Mt. Vernon, WA. For the past four years, I have been the co-organizer, with Tom Urban, of the UO Stone Carving Workshop, with guest artist Kazutaka Uchida.

exhibits

1998 Redstone Group Show; Redstone, Colorado
1997 Invitational show: Alder Gallery, Eugene OR (myself and 4 painters)
1997 Oregon Sculpture Show: Alder Gallery, Eugene, OR
1996 Faculty Show: OMNI Gallery, Portland
1996 Buckner Exhibit: Chetwyn-Stapleton Gallery, Portland OR (group show)  
* Also wrote catalog introduction for Buckner exhibit.
1996 Group Show (invitational): Stamm Hall, Lewis and Clark College