January 3, 2001
Architecture to art, dive bombers to Building 50
Paul Brown Artist of the Month at Lighting Center
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Artist Paul Brown traded in his drafting table for a kitchen table 12 years ago.
When he retired in 1988 from a Detroit architecture firm and moved to Traverse City, Brown returned to the art that helped sustain him during World War II. While he had not drawn or painted since returning to the states more than 40 years earlier, he quickly picked up where he left off, turning his dining room into a studio.
He joined the Northwest Michigan Artists and Craftsmen, now the Grand Traverse Art Center, and began taking classes to perfect his craft. He now spends two or three hours a day working on paintings, which he creates from photos and detailed sketches he makes of area scenery.
"I do nature settings, not still life, because people seem to enjoy having it brought to their attention," said Brown, who has since taught classes at the Grand Traverse Art Center.
These pastoral country scenes are quite different from the battle scenes he sketched during World War II. Blazing guns, smoky air battles and diving kamikaze planes were the hallmark of his art during those times, with a few scenes from Pacific Islands thrown in.
"I would do sketches in spare moments between combat," recalled Brown, who roomed with Henry Fonda for a month during the war years. "It was a way of getting relief, to quiet down after combat."
Part of his three years in the Navy were served in the Pacific, where Brown was a carrier pilot in a dive-bombing squadron and an air combat intelligence officer. When he enlisted, he had already completed college and began his career in architecture. But duty to his country called and he joined the Navy so he could fly, despite never having flown before. In fact, since mustering out in 1945, he has never piloted an airplane of any kind.
"I flew enough for a lifetime," he said, recalling that when Japan surrendered in August of 1945, he and his squadron were heading out on another bombing mission. They received word over the radio of peace and turned back.
Sketching in exotic, dangerous locations was nothing new to Brown. While pursuing his master's degree in architecture from the University of Michigan, he won the Booth Traveling Fellowship. He used this fellowship to travel for four months in South America during the mid 1930s.
He hitchhiked through Peru and the Andes, sketching everywhere he went. He spent a month living with Indians who were descendents of the Incas, wanting to learn firsthand about the people and the culture.
"When I was in South America sketching, the Indians would gather around and watch," he recalled. "They did not do much of that sort of thing."
Now in his 80s, Brown is living a quieter life. A more recent highlight was being chosen as the Artist of the Month in January at the Lighting Center. He will display 12 acrylic paintings and two pastels, all showing scenes from the Grand Traverse area ranging from Building 50 to Leelanau County scenery to a church in Frankfort.
"I like to do local scenes more than anything else," said Brown, who creates a finished painting in a few weeks. "In the summer, I drive around and if I see anything interesting I get out of the car and hike around. You never know what you are going to find out in the woods."
For the past two years, the Artist of the Month program has showcased an artist from the Grand Traverse Art Center in the Lighting Center.
"I created this program because basically I just enjoy art and I thought it would be a nice way to showcase artists," said Jim Valesano, a salesman with the Lighting Center. "I brought it up to the owner two years ago and she was very accepting."
Area artist Charles Murphy administers the Artist of the Month program, selecting and scheduling artists for display. He holds periodic auditions for Grand Traverse Art Center members and schedules a number of months at a time. Since the program began, artists of a variety of media have contributed works, including photographers, all types of painters, potters and sculptors.
Although the Artist of the Month program will end in March, Murphy noted the many positive contributions it has brought to the area's artistic community and the community at large.
"What this program has really done for two years is granted some exposure that a lot of these people wouldn't have had," said Murphy, coordinator of Artist of the Month program. "It is a way to get their feet wet."