BA (Sociology), Boston College, 1968

Brian joined the UM Department of Art and Art History in the fall of 1985. He is currently the longest serving member of the faculty in the department. He currently serves as the coordinator for both the Graduate and Undergraduate Painting and Drawing programs.

Brian just completed his Sabbatical project (Fall 2023 - Spring 2024) and is returning to the classroom in the fall of 2024.

On January 2, 2023 the third editon of Drawing from Observation was released by XanEdu Publishers of Ann Arbor, MI. New to this editon were two innovative chapters on drawing the human figure, 72 new master works, 32 new technical illustrations, and 75 new high-quality student projects. The first new chapter is art historical in nature and outlines the broad cultural contexts in which the unclothed human figure has appeared starting in the Paleolithic Era right up through the postmodern period. The second added chapter provides innovative hands-on lessons that build upon and expand all the perception-based drawing lessons that made the earlier editions of Drawing from Observation a long-running best seller among perceptual drawing books. In May of 2024 XanEdu Higher Education was purchased by Kendall Hunt. Early next year Kendall Hunt will be releasing a reprint of the third edition under their company label. In 2021. While the third edition was being prepared, the second edition was reissued by XanEdu with decidedly improved production quality and a 38% lower retail price over the editon published by McGraw-Hill. Drawing from Observation has been positively reviewed in professional art journals (SGC) (FATE). The second edition, published by McGraw-Hill Higher Education in 2010, included an additional chapter on compositional dynamics, 100 new student drawings, 93 new technical illustrations, and 25 new master work images. All three editions are generously illustrated with UM student drawings from UM's ART 101, Introduction to Perceptual Drawing course.

Since the onset of the 2020-21 pandemic Brian has recorded, edited and released over 150 narrated video lectures free to the public that supplement course instruction in both perceptual drawing, Color Theory, and introductory and intermediate painting courses as taught at UM. The videos are available free through the two links that are found on the right side of this column of text. These lecturs can also be accessed from the link on the lower left column of my professional website. Access to all videos is free with the understanding that they are intended for instructional purposes only. It is worth noting that the videos work particularly well when used to supplement the lessons in Drawing from Observation 3e.

September 2017 Brian lectured at Indiana Weslyan University in Marion, Indiana in conjunction with a solo exhibition of 19 of his Stonehenge Series I, II, and III. In the fall of 2016 Brian served as a Visiting Artist at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. In the summer of 2015 Brian gave a public lecture and taught a five-day drawing workshop at Howard Community College in Columbia, MD. In the fall of 2014 Brian visited Hillsdale College where he lectured in conjunction with a solo exhibition of his Stonehenge paintings at the Daughtrey Gallery in the Sage Center for the Arts . Several months earlier he had fulfilled a lifelong dream of teaching a five-day perceptual drawing workshop at the Art Students League in NYC.

Throughout most of Brian's career his paintings have focused on psycho-mythological narratives that explore the transitional, tentative moments occuring between times of purposeful activity. In an age that is often categorized as being in a perpetual state of crisis he seeks, by monumentalizing the ordinary, to encourage the viewer to concentrate on the richness and importance of daily human experience.

For the last eight years, however, Brian has worked on a series of Stonehenge paintings depicting the neolithic monument against colorful and dramatic skies. Selections from this series were exhibited at a variety of venues including the Lowe Art Museum, Apex Gallery of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City South Dakota and at the Vandiver Gallery, The South Carolina School for the Arts at Anderson University, Anderson, South Carolina.

In early 2015 his book was translated into Portuguese and published out of Sao Paolo, Brazil. In 2006 DfO had been translated into Short-Form Chinese and published out of Singapore. All together the book has sold over 50,000 new copies.

Over the past fifteen years Brian has also been an active participant at national art conferences presenting nineteen panel papers on a variety of art topics as well as chairing five additional panels.

In May of 2015 Brian was nominated for a second time for the FATE Master Educator Award after having previously been nominated in 2011. In 1999 Brian was awarded the Arts and Sciences Dean's Excellence in Teaching Award. Brian was also nominated for the University Excellence in Teaching Award in 1999, 2000, and 2003.