DB
ABOUT DB
Dick Brown has a Ph.D in Counseling Psychology. In 2004 he co-founded Apex Counseling Center, LLC in Baltimore (link at the bottom of the page). He was taught ceramics by Marcus Duyon at Jackson State University and has had training from Charlie Boren in Texas in wood sculpting. Brown learned the art of bronze sculpting and casting at Prince George's Community College (Maryland). He is self taught as a painter, and mosaic and stained glass artist. He sees himself as an "outsider/visionary" artist due to an absence of art school training, uncensored creativity and compulsive need to "make art." At times his work has been controversial (and censored) because of the religious nature of certain pieces. To stay ahead of the run out of ideas blues, Brown uses a variety of mediums. Besides painting with oils, watercolors, shoe polish, and acrylics, he has used colored and graphite pencils, pen and ink, pastels and charcoal in his work. He has made prints from styrofoam, linoleum and wood and enjoys making collages, taking photographs, and putting together mixed media pieces. For example, his publically commissioned sculpture, "The Bluebird of Happiness" (appropriately re-named by Rebecca Hoffberger - original title was "Outsider Bluebird"), is part of the permanent collection of the American Vision Art Museum (AVAM- link at the bottom of the page) in Baltimore. The bluebird was partially covered with mosaics and then painted. The sculpture was chosen from AVAM's permanent collection to be part of Bergdorf's (NYC) 2009 holiday showroom window display. The bluebird is also pictured in the coffee table book OUTDOOR SCULPTURE IN BALTIMORE by Cindy Kelly.
Brown, on April 17, 2017, completed the first piece of an original art form called "Paintsaics," a term coined by his youngest daughter, also a mosaic artist. (His other daughter lives in Texas.) Felicia Zannino-Baker called the paintsaics "Fragmented Canvases.” Paintsaics are created by cutting up (disassembling) some of his original works painted at least 25 years earlier. The pieces are then reassembled into a unified whole. He cuts at least 5 or 6 canvases into pieces of varying size like an unassembled puzzle and glues each piece to a concrete backer board, creating the original art form.
He created another original art form using Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) cards as canvases. The TAT cards were a tool to help with the psychological assessments of hospitalized psychiatric patients. Brown took the TAT cards and embellished them with his own inner projections (see the "Mystery Cards" gallery) using various mediums. This process revealed his own unconscious process to consciousness. Mediums included cut up family photos and other images, drawing, collage, stamping, and painting. The embellished cards, sometimes unrecognizable as having a TAT image as the canvas, are not for sale due to copyright laws. The 30 cards took more than 12 years to complete.
Brown once asked his granddaughter what artist inspired her. She surprisingly replied, "You." She then asked him who was he inspired by and he said, "Picasso." Her response was, "Everyone is inspired by Picasso." Pretty cool response from an 8 year old!
Brown rails against attempts to teach creativity because the attempt stifles and interferes with the necessary drive to create. Education about materials and techniques are important. However, teaching what constitutes "good art" impedes the creative process. This hinders the emergence of awe and bewilderment that often occur when a.work is completed. Artists can not be taught creativity and originality: they either have the gift or they don't.
Brown believes being an artist is a sacred calling because of God’s merciful gift. His work is described as MODERN RELIGIOUS NEOIMPRESSIONISM: modern because we are in the 21st century; religious because much of the work has both overt and veiled references to spirituality (religion); and neoimpressionism because it is new and modified.
Brown, on April 17, 2017, completed the first piece of an original art form called "Paintsaics," a term coined by his youngest daughter, also a mosaic artist. (His other daughter lives in Texas.) Felicia Zannino-Baker called the paintsaics "Fragmented Canvases.” Paintsaics are created by cutting up (disassembling) some of his original works painted at least 25 years earlier. The pieces are then reassembled into a unified whole. He cuts at least 5 or 6 canvases into pieces of varying size like an unassembled puzzle and glues each piece to a concrete backer board, creating the original art form.
He created another original art form using Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) cards as canvases. The TAT cards were a tool to help with the psychological assessments of hospitalized psychiatric patients. Brown took the TAT cards and embellished them with his own inner projections (see the "Mystery Cards" gallery) using various mediums. This process revealed his own unconscious process to consciousness. Mediums included cut up family photos and other images, drawing, collage, stamping, and painting. The embellished cards, sometimes unrecognizable as having a TAT image as the canvas, are not for sale due to copyright laws. The 30 cards took more than 12 years to complete.
Brown once asked his granddaughter what artist inspired her. She surprisingly replied, "You." She then asked him who was he inspired by and he said, "Picasso." Her response was, "Everyone is inspired by Picasso." Pretty cool response from an 8 year old!
Brown rails against attempts to teach creativity because the attempt stifles and interferes with the necessary drive to create. Education about materials and techniques are important. However, teaching what constitutes "good art" impedes the creative process. This hinders the emergence of awe and bewilderment that often occur when a.work is completed. Artists can not be taught creativity and originality: they either have the gift or they don't.
Brown believes being an artist is a sacred calling because of God’s merciful gift. His work is described as MODERN RELIGIOUS NEOIMPRESSIONISM: modern because we are in the 21st century; religious because much of the work has both overt and veiled references to spirituality (religion); and neoimpressionism because it is new and modified.
apexcounselingcenter.com