Professor Kenneth “Kent” Knowles is a multitasking artist. This SCAD alumnus and faculty member is a painter, children’s book writer, illustrator and screenplay writer. On the week days, he can be found at SCAD-Atlanta, teaching painting and drawing classes. His most recent endeavor is the formation of the painting club at SCAD, which encourages students to develop their art in an off-class environment, using the knowledge they acquire at SCAD.
Connector: Tell me a little bit of your background.
Kent Knowles: My dad was a chaplain in the Air Force, so we moved constantly. I spent a lot of my early education overseas: three years in Okinawa (Japan) and six years in Germany, where I started getting into painting. Years later, I graduated with a BFA in Painting at SCAD (1997) and got my MFA in 2006 at the University of Georgia.
Connector: Is it weird to come back to SCAD as faculty?
KK: It was 11 years ago and it was a different campus. So much has changed and most of my professors still teach, but mostly in Savannah. As an exception, I met Michael Brown (SCAD-Atlanta painting professor), while working on a degree in Savannah.
Connector: How long have you been working here at SCAD-Atlanta?
KK: I started in June ’06, in the Exhibitions Department and taught a class at night. Later, I switched to full-time teaching. Usually, half of my classes are painting classes and half are drawing classes.
Connector: Are there any challenges about teaching?
KK: Teaching painting makes you hyper-aware of your own painting practices, and not willing to be hypocritical by telling students to do something you wouldn’t do yourself.
Connector: Also, you have started a student painting club here, right? Would it be like a guild, then?
KK: More or less … I enjoy the comradarie between professionals, more than just professor-student. It is wonderful to be able to meet in equal level and address contemporary issues in painting … and maybe work on out-of-school projects.
Connector: When did the club start?
KK: It started about a year ago, and is called the “Prometheus Society.” Our meeting times have been Friday evenings, but we are switching it to Friday afternoons, up at the painting floor. We are intending to create a Web site and small printed catalog with members’ work, and we are going to have a show at Studioplex next spring, centerd on the theme “conflict.”
Connector: Your effort in doing that is related to your student experience?
KK: In fact, I bumped into some students who were interested in painting, but they were not interested in taking painting classes or pursuing a painting degree. Also, there were students who were interested in talking and discussing painting outside their normal classes.
Connector: What are your plans for next quarter?
KK: I’ll be teaching Portrait and Life Painting, so lots of human figure. I’m also teaching two Drawing I classes, so lots of charcoal too. I’m also working on a series of new paintings, which will be probably much larger than the ones I have done so far. My brother and I also write screenplays together. We’re working on one right now that is set in New Orleans. I’m also developing one on the Dahlonega’s gold rush. And I write and illustrate children’s books, too. The first one I have out is called “Lucius and the Storm,” and I’m working at another one right now.