In many areas of academia, hands-on experience is not generally required of professors. A professor of Renaissance art isn't expected to equal the masters in artistic skill. Literature professors aren't required to write creatively at the level of Shakespeare. Here at Brandeis, one need not ponder whether studio art professors ought to be talented artists in their own right. Most of them, including Prof. Susan Lichtman (FA), are practicing artists who keep up with personal projects as well as paying close attention to the development of their students. This semester, Lichtman is teaching Intro to Drawing II and Beginning Painting.JustArts: Like a lot of the studio art professors at Brandeis, you are also a working artist, if I am not mistaken. How would you describe your work?

Susan Lichtman: I am a figurative painter. My paintings depict domestic interiors with groups of figures and often strong patterns of light and shadow. The figures are based on members of my own family as well as invented characters inspired by images from art history or contemporary media. I work in oil paint on large canvases and also make small gouache paintings on panels.

JA: What artists in history or current times do you look up to?

SL: I have always loved Dutch 17th century interiors, Vermeer and De Hooch, as well as the 20th century interiors of Vuillard and Bonnard, Hopper and Fairfield Porter. For all these painters, light-window light, lamplight-is essential to the subject and structure of their pictures.

JA: How did you come to choose being an artist as your career?

SL: My story is similar to that of many Studio [Art] majors at Brandeis. I attended a liberal arts university [Brown], because I was interested in studying many things, but after a few semesters I realized I was most engaged and happy when I was painting or looking at paintings.

JA: Has having the teaching job made it easier for you to work on your own artistic projects?

SL: Yes, a university teaching schedule allows time for faculty to pursue their own creative work. I have a big studio where I live in southeastern Massachusetts, and since I don't have to be on campus every day, I go there to make my own drawings and paintings.

JA: We ask many of the professors we interview in this column if they have any recommendations for students. For instance, we've had English professors recommend current books for students to read. Is there anything going on in the art world here in Boston or that is in some way accessible to students that you feel we students should know about?

SL: Actually, the local exhibitions I am most looking foward to are at the Rose Museum! Opening this month will be a show of Hans Hoffman, a legendary teacher and "painter's painter." And there will also be a group exhibition at the Rose of some interesting contemporary artists curated by my colleague Joe Wardwell.

JA: Do you have any other arts-related interests? I know in our Intro to Drawing class you asked students to write about their interests in music, literature, etc. How do your other interests inform your art?

SL: Well, I love reading short stories. I think my favorite author is Alice Munro, and I also adore Jhumpa Lahiri, William Trevor and right now I'm reading a collection by Junot Diaz. What I love about short fiction is that, as with a painting, I can easily grasp the structural whole. Sometimes I'll read a story over a few times just to marvel at how it has been put together. I know these narratives somehow inform the world of my paintings.

And I love movies. I finally just saw the French film A Christmas Tale-I had to see it since it featured a family called the Vuillards. Obviously the director was inspired by that painter, too.