Classical artist Dan Thompson’s exhibit, “Upright: Adventures in Teaching,” will remain on display in the Sage Center for the Arts Daughtrey Gallery until March 22.

According to Thompson, before he accepted the invitation to show at Hillsdale, he was warned by those around him of the college’s political standings.

Nevertheless, Thompson said his desire and curiosity to interact with more artists moved him to visit and exhibit his artwork at the college anyway. 

“Ideology is one thing, political ideology in particular, but when you put a face to an ideology, it’s quite a bit more nuanced,” Thompson said. “You’re dealing with a person who you could identify with, who you could probably see similar pursuits and loves in.”

Thompson did just that as he engaged with a room full of artists for a three-hour live portrait drawing demonstration Jan. 14 in the Sage lobby. 

Thompson studied as an undergraduate at the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design, a classical museum school a block from the White House. After deciding to take a path in representational drawing and painting, he studied at a design school in Pennsylvania, a community school in Virginia, and with affiliates along the East Coast before the Graduate School of Figurative Art of the New York Academy of Art accepted him. 

“I spent about 11 years studying full time before I felt at least minimally prepared to try to embark on a career or adventure in professional practice,” Thompson said. 

Julio Suarez, chairman and associate professor of Art at Hillsdale, invited Thompson to exhibit his work at Hillsdale and give a drawing demonstration. 

“Not only is Mr. Thompson a master of his craft, he is also dedicated to education and the preservation of traditional drawing techniques,” Suarez said. “I don’t know of any other artist that is able to communicate the process and keep the audience engaged as well as he does.”

For Thompson, the engagement goes both ways. 

“I was riveted by the students,” he said. “I was riveted because I caught the sense of an earnest searching in them. I just can’t say how refreshing that is. I have a taste of the art business and how much it can ravage an individual’s ambitions. It can steal them and turn them into a jaded temperament. I got quite the opposite impression from this.” 

Thompson said his perspective on the heart of a human is integral to his approach to art. 

“Matters of spirit are things that are underappreciated when it comes to the great adventure,” Thompson said. “People need to connect with their spirit because that is the engine of creativity — what they react to, people they interact with, the things they care about, the people they love. Those are the things that make somebody feel inspired.”

Thompson did not attribute a style to his artwork, but rather a temperament of curiosity and earnestness.

“I want to make sure that whatever is done visually embraces one visual voice,” Thompson said.

Sophomore Ellia He said Thompson’s selfless value of the human spirit inspired her as an artist. 

“We’re so obsessed with finding our own voice and style, but Thompson is like, ‘No. Art is not about you.’ It’s about the other person: capturing their spirit and life,” He said. 

He said she hopes to learn from Thompson’s understanding of human nature and his incorporation of that into his anatomical art, which has been used by medical professionals. 

“Thompson’s model circles include dancers. They have amazing, incredible stories, but a lot of them are also very broken,” He said. “You want to capture that fire of the spirit about them. The way your face flows, the way you tilt your head, the way you look, the direction, the angles: This is what he’s trying to capture. I would definitely be trying to keep the gesture in that spirit to stylize the final product.”

Thompson said he narrowed down his exhibited pieces from 50 to 32 with his Department of Quality Control, also known as his wife. According to Thompson, he wanted someone who knew him and his art to provide awareness of an outsider’s perspective. 

Thompson said the exhibition’s title is inspired by him standing for something which means a lot to him. 

“My ambition was to display a series of pieces that were the results of dialogue,” Thompson  said. “Every single one of the drawings and shows is what I call an artifact of learning. That to me makes the demonstration more special because it became a champion of knowledge, education, and a kind of driving mindset rather than a result.”

Suarez said he hopes students who visit the exhibit will be moved to aspire to Thompson’s level of excellence. 

“Listening to his commentary and seeing the results reinforced the fact that Mr. Thompson is one of the best demonstrators working today,” Suarez said.

Thompson expressed interest in the educational plans of Hillsdale art students.

“I ask things I want to know from the students — where their head is at so we could talk more about what they’re  going to do with their education,” Thompson said. “What are you going to do to make a statement because the time is so brazen, so short, and these matters are so profound?”