Fuller’s “A Little Bit of Everything” Faculty Art Show to Open Aug. 10

August 5, 2019

Corey Fuller, associate professor of graphic design, will host an opening for his art and design show, “A Little Bit of Everything,” Saturday, Aug. 10 from 6:30-9 p.m. in the OBU Art Building. Fuller will also host an artist talk Tuesday, Aug. 27, at 6 p.m. All events are free and open to the public. The show is a diverse collection of work, including logos, photos, illustration and mixed media, produced over the last 10 years at OBU.

“The title of the show came from a Dawes song by the same name,” Fuller said. “I wanted to put a show together that encapsulated my past 10 years of work at OBU. I obviously couldn't put everything in the show, but I could manage a little bit of everything.”

Fuller earned a Bachelor of Arts from Southwestern Oklahoma State University. He then went on to receive his Master of Fine Arts at the University of Central Oklahoma. Fuller has earned many Gold Addy Awards and recognition from the American Marketing Association for his design work. He has also won several ADDY awards in both the student and professional categories. Fuller was honored with OBU’s Promising Teacher award in 2013. In addition to his duties as associate professor and the Ruth Jay Odom Professor in Fine Arts, Fuller is the chair of the Division of Art and Design.

“Like most professors at OBU, I see teaching as a calling,” he said. “I enjoy graphic design as a practice, but I derive the most joy from teaching and working with students as they grow and mature.”

Fuller teaches his students to change their perspectives in order to inspire new ideas and spark their creativity.

“One of the things I encourage my students to do is to try and see things, even ordinary things, with fresh eyes—to live as if they’re on vacation and seeing things for the first time, with that sort of awe and appreciation,” he said. “Sometimes work springs from a random epiphany while doing the dishes. That's the exciting and frightening thing about creative work, the genesis of a work is very mysterious. It comes sometimes seemingly from nowhere.”

Fuller has held many exhibits and lectures throughout Oklahoma, Texas and even a solo exhibit in New York City over his work titled “space 38|39.” He has also held exhibits in many churches including NorthHaven Church in Norman, Oklahoma, and Collective Church in Fort Worth, Texas. Along with teaching at OBU, he has completed design work for several non-profits in Shawnee including Community Renewal and Mission Shawnee.

“The trends, technology and problems to be solved continue to evolve, but teaching, for me, is most importantly about imparting sound principles, which is easier stated than modeled,” he said. “As students come and go and the world continues to change, I remain committed to the liberal arts tradition and to what it means to be a practicing artist. For me, the creation of art is as much about looking and discovering as it is about making something. There's already so much beauty in God's creation. I'm not trying to add anything to that—as if I could; I'm merely resynthesizing and reimagining the elements already present.”

In preparation for this show, Fuller had to not only get creative with the art he has done for the past 10 years, but also get creative with how he presents his work.

“Since most of my work is digital, I could have created the whole show as a PowerPoint presentation; however, nobody would show up to see that,” he said. “I had to manifest the work somehow for physical space, which ended up taking the form of 120 16- by 20- inch posters.”

Fuller’s vision is that viewers would enter the exhibit and see his work come to life.

“I like the scale and immediacy of the poster format. Walking into the room, it will look almost as if you’ve physically entered someone's Instagram feed. There will be images from ceiling to floor. As far as content on the posters, the viewer will encounter logos, photography, illustrations, information graphics, patterns, hand-lettering, and more. There will also be some traditional prints and mixed-media work on display.”

Over the years, he has enjoyed support from many faculty and staff members. However, Fuller has two faculty members and administrators he would like to thank specifically.

“I'd like to thank the OBU administration, particularly the Dean of Fine Arts Dr. Chris Mathews and Dr. Susan DeWoody, provost, for their support and for funding a special grant request which made the show possible.”