Artist uses art, music to center life
Ruston native Alan Dyson graduated from Louisiana Tech University in 1978 with a bachelor of fine arts degree. “I usually like to say that I’m not qualified for anything, but there’s nothing I can’t do,” Dyson said.
Aft er spending his first post-graduation year working as a farm hand, he came to Shreveport to meet with someone at Brown Builders who he felt could teach him something about copyrights. He was eager to pick up pointers on that subject because besides his interest in fine arts, he also had an intense interest in music and the art of songwriting. While at Brown, he wound up being offered a position there as a draftsman. During his tenure at Brown Builders, he rose from draftsman to director of design services.
Today, he bills himself simply as a design artist and has put his talents to work being involved in such projects as Ristorante Guiseppe, Windrush Grill, Cantina Laredo (and many of the other businesses at Shoppes at Bellemead), Well Necessities (and many of the other businesses at Ashley Ridge including Shreveport Eye Clinic) and the Home Design Center.
Concurrent with his many design projects, Dyson indulged his passion for songwriting and the music business by beginning to host popular songwriter nights across the city beginning at Humphrees East, Rude Bar and Burning Spear. Dyson himself has said that “music keeps me sane.”
“It helps me meet my creative needs, and it is something I can pretty much control the outcome and quality of, whereas my design work is more of a team effort,” Dyson said.
In addition to hosting other songwriters and artists, Dyson has released his own CD projects starting with a six-song EP, “Forged In Fire,” with Greg Williams recorded at Sand Box Studios and released in 1998. His solo effort, “Skyscraper,” was released in 2002 and featured renowned legendary bassist Joe Osborn.
While other design and music projects come to fruition, Dyson recently had a well-received fine arts exhibit on display at the Bossier Arts Council Emerging Artists Gallery. Th e works were created from building materials, which Dyson uses in his design work.
Leigh Anne Chambers, executive director of the Bossier Arts Council, feels the Dyson exhibit was an important one.
“Artwork [like their artists] are varied and different but all uniquely reflect an individual’s attempt to define, shape and explain the world around them. Dyson’s show ‘Tablet: Improvisations from God, is an example of the different shading of words meaning and how it is demonstrated through the visual arts. He calls these works improvisations and links them to his own daily improvisations with the piano. Although they are clearly impulse driven, the results show the deeply thoughtful and somewhat mathematical way Dyson organizes his world. Th rough a deconstruction of geometric shapes, he reaches a pinnacle of serenity. Although the materials themselves are hard, the message is soft , just like the verses from 2 Corinthians echoed on ‘Samuel’s Ladder,’ the large installation piece that is the center of the exhibit. They speak of the duality of life. Th e contrast is deeply soothing and reassuring,” Chambers said.
“For me and in my work, it is a sense of finding what is ‘right.’ Th e right line, color, gesture in combination with and relationship to material, concept, emotion and moment. In architecture, it is the balance of function with form, materials and resources. In music, it is the fl ow of rhythm, tone, tempo and the emotional kinetics of poetry. In every discipline, it’s the story of process, the journey of what leads one to a moment and what is right in that moment. I make art and music as an extension of my being. It’s what I do to claim meaning for the time I have been given with my colleagues and community. It is my meditation of gratitude and appreciation of living,” Dyson said.
– Karl Hasten
