I can’t believe I haven’t posted about him before. Kimowan Metchewais is a professor of art at UNC Chapel Hill and (in my opinion) hands down one of the best teachers at the university. I spent a long time (like 3 years long) settling on a major at UNC and while there I worked with dozens of different teachers from all different departments. None of them were as engaging and student focused as Kimo. The thing I loved about him was that I felt like he was constantly learning with us; I felt like he was on our side.

While the art department at UNC had it’s share of awesome teachers who were all brilliant artists (check out professor Jeff Whetstone’s work pictured above), I always felt the curriculum was much too conceptual for an undergraduate degree. I was constantly begging for someone to teach me fundamental processes in each medium I was working in. The general attitude was “we’ll guide you towards a conceptually sound piece, but you are on your own until you get there.” I’m not trying to knock the art department, I’m just saying I wished it was a bit more process oriented.

On this issue, however, Kimowan was fantastic. Every time he assigned a project, he would create his own piece along with us. Working alongside him taught us the technical how-to’s but also created a strong bond between student & teacher. If I ever had the guff, patience, and talent to actually teach, I would try to model my process on Kimo’s methods.

(Dylan & Kristy – The above piece is titled “Saxapahaw” – represent!)

Teaching aside, Kimowan is also a brilliant artist. The work I’m most attracted to is his paper collage work. He’s constantly exploring new ways of manipulating and interacting with paper. While his work is clearly aesthetically & conceptually consistent, the process by which he makes each piece is ever changing. It’s all about the journey for this dude. This is a good thing, because for the last two years life has given Kimowan a very challenging journey.

Two years ago Kimo suffered a brain hemiplegia and lost complete control of one side of his body. Since then he’s had to relearn everything in terms of simple motor skills and movement. His recovery has been amazing and is poetically documented on his website & blog. There is one particular entry titled “Thank you, Hemiplegia” that I find especially moving; read it and you’ll get a good insight into not only Kimowan’s complexion but also into his psche as an artist.

Thank you, Kimo.

Tags: arist, hemiplegia, Kimowan McClain, Kimowan Metchewais, UNC Chapel Hill