Throughout his almost five decades as an artist and illustrator, Bruce Morser ’76 has focused on six very different areas: large photoreal paintings; detailed commercial illustration; large, 3-D installations; portraiture (including commissions for Colgate Magazine); book illustrations; and adventure art. His retrospective show — titled 8,000 Pencils, 45 Years, 6 Careers, 1 Artist — which ran during April at Vashon (Wash.) Center for the Arts, included several images from each area and totaled approximately 90 pieces.
“I’ve sort of been a perpetual 101-level student in countless subjects,” Morser says. “The whole point of my career has been its diversity, a luxury many visual artists and illustrators never get. It’s been a really wonderful ride and education.”
As a complement to the exhibition, Morser delivered a talk about creativity, titled “If I Only Had a Brain.” He asks, “Ever notice how the Scarecrow worries about not having a brain but cleverly solves a ton of problems?” Morser adds, “Creativity is hard to locate — difficult to pin down. Its source is everywhere, almost scary, like vague flashes of lightning through a dense evening fog. My best ideas seem to come behind me. I feel but rarely see them.”
