0.31 Bert samples, b. 1955  (Page 3/3)

Biggers’ influence

I respectfully remember him as Dr. Biggers, but also John Biggers—because I learned to appreciate him on many levels; respected and loved him for many reasons. In many ways he helped me become a man. I was pretty foolish about myself and unaware of what I could be, but just seeing who he was and the great respect that he commanded among his peers, his colleagues and students…it was pretty serious respect, but his dynamic presence wouldn’t allow you to be too reserved or to step back.

If you were in his class, then you were engaged. You weren’t just sitting back—you were into it. He set forth things for you to go for and challenged you all the time, and that’s just clearly one of the people that I can say came into my life at the right moment. He was able to make these amazing connections to things that I could relate to—[things] that are universal, spiritual, social, political. He was a master storyteller, and he was a scholar, an etymologist, you know he could break things down to a level that you had an awareness or a connection with. You’d just walk away from class some days going, “Wow. You know that was some serious deepness there.”

A lot of people have that gift to make those connections and transitions, but when you’re with a person, and you’ve studied with them a long period of time, you can see the true genius of it. It’s not heresy. It’s insight, and it’s consistent, and it’s just unmistakable. I could talk to him like I was just another country boy sitting on the fence, just talking about simple things. That’s his gift: that he enabled me to feel that way about him and not be awed. That’s what made him a strong mentor in my life. He made those connections I just had intuitions about—not really trusting them at that point, but allowing me to go full force into it without hesitation. [If I hadn’t taken that walk through Hannah Hall that day] who knows what would have happened? I keep thinking of that every once in a while. I’m like, “I could be working for the phone company now.”

Keeping community

I hope that young current artists and artists in the future keep an understanding and appreciation of the community. I felt fortunate being around a number of artists as a student, as a contemporary colleague. To me that only happens if one sees something beyond [himself]. It’s not just being a single creative force as an artist, but you connect to something that is based in the community—how you can make an effective impact on your community directly. It doesn’t have to be done in prosperity and over a period of time to be appreciated later on; you can have an immediate effect. You don’t have to be muttering in your studio months and weeks and years: “No one knows the creative genius I am and what I’m doing here, they don’t appreciate me….” Forget about that! Get out and do something—because to me that’s your role as a creative person. Seize the moment. It’s not always about you. It’s about us.

Bert Samples was interviewed on October 30, 2006. You can listen to the interview here .