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By Nora Fenton
May 01. 2016 2:01AM
Seeing the Unconscious: Renowned artist Bill Flynn teaches artists to 'see' in
drawing and in life
Boston artist and teacher Bill Flynn works
with artist Peter Vandermark of
Portsmouth as Leslie MacNeil of Stratham
looks on during a drawing workshop at 3S
Artspace in Portsmouth. Photo by Rich
Beauchesne/Seacoastonline
The art of drawing is really the art of seeing. At some point, the art of seeing encompasses the visible, but goes beyond
that. It's the art of seeing the invisible, the intangible.
Known for his distinct "way of seeing," renowned Boston-based artist Bill Flynn recently taught a two-day drawing
workshop, “Representation to Abstraction,” for local artists and students of drawing at 3S Artspace.
Flynn has regularly exhibited his artwork in Boston and New York as well as around the New England region. He has
been featured at the Boston Public Library, deCordova Museum, Victoria Munroe Gallery of Boston, MassArt’s Brant
Gallery, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston – to name a few.
He is not only a distinguished artist, but also an author and former teacher at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston, which he graduated from in the 1960s. Shortly after graduating, he landed a teaching job at the school and
proceeded to teach there for more than 40 years. Flynn has received many teaching awards and won fellowships in
Spain and Japan.
“Bill and I met at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. He was the only teacher I wanted to have. He became my
mentor,” said artist Bess Cutler of Kittery, workshop participant and a student of Flynn's. “He had the same ideas that I
did and there is a sense of gratification when you meet someone who has a similar perspective. To me, he deserves a
Nobel prize.”
The two-day workshop highlighted the importance of point of view, composition exercises, shifting objects, and the tension between positive and negative
space. Flynn emphasized that a major proponent in “seeing” clearly is the ability to analyze yourself – in drawing and in life.
The focus of the art room during the workshop was a pile of miscellaneous items – think large, orange stuffed animal, umbrella, yellow pole, letter “R,” snow
sled, baseball bat, steps, upside down stroller, and a tutu – in the middle of the room accompanied by a nude model.
After giving workshop participants time to observe the pile of still life “junk,” Flynn asked the artists to single out the items that struck them. The items they
chose served as the inspiration for their drawings. Flynn is a major advocate of “building something out of nothing.”
Then, under Flynn's guidance, the artists built off their original drawings – veering from the literal to the more abstract, searching for the essence of their
selected objects. Flynn wanted students to understand the importance of the evolution of visual language — to pick up on parallels, keying their brains to a
visual thought.
“As an artist, I think workshops should stretch you outside of your comfort zone. This workshop focused on moving from realism to abstraction, something
that I am currently wrestling with,” said workshop participant and local artist Lisa Noonis. “Bill presented ideas and exercises that helped me see differently.
And frankly, that is good teaching. It's scary to let go of what you think you know.”
By reconstructing their original drawings, participants were forced to step back and contemplate why they chose to focus on particular aspects of the object.
“What a participant selects as their focal point says a lot about who they are. There is a little psychology in all teaching. Drawing reflects who each student is
and what they are going through,” Flynn said.
Flynn wants artists to find their purpose within an exercise, not just go off of the premise he gives them. He believes people will naturally “select their own
unconscious need” and after about five or six drawings, they will realize what that need is.
He looks to assist artists in clarifying their visual and emotional ideas, and to understand why their unconscious zeroes in on certain elements.
“Students should not be concerned with ‘doing art right,’ because this idea is a fallacy,” Flynn said. “I want them to trust their own approach and to not narrow
down their creation to be what they think art is supposed to be.”
Cutler, who was at the forefront of the contemporary art scene in Boston and New York City, helped to organize the workshop and bring Flynn to the Seacoast
so local artists could experience his teaching. She emphasized how difficult it can be to draw when you are in a rut.
She explained that Flynn is a direct and empathetic teacher who has the ability to advise his students on a better approach without throwing away their
original idea. Flynn gave workshop participants a new angle to propel their ideas to fruition.

2. “This was my second workshop with Bill. New insights like starbursts – rediscovering every minute, challenging, frustrating, uplifting in the end,” said artist
Pat Warwick.
Flynn is not only an exceptional teacher, but the author of "Armed Chair," a book of selected drawings that serve as commentary on the war in Iraq. The
drawings are a reaction to the misleading news stories that accompanied the war. The inspiration for the book was his family’s old parlor chair. He saw the
evolution of the chair as a metaphor for the war, and this focus feeds the basis of the story.
Flynn will next be featured in the Visiting Artists spring workshop series at the South Shore Art Center in Cohasset, Mass. His workshop “Observation and
Metaphor Revisited” is on May 7 and 8. This workshop aims to develop each artist’s creative process and to transform literal thoughts into visual ones. For
more information on the center's 2016 Visiting Artists program, visit www.ssac.org.
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