This entry was posted on Saturday, September 6th, 2008 at 1:17 pm and is filed under Arnold Friberg Art. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
In 1949 the University of Utah wanted to establish a commercial art training program with Arnold Friberg acting as a lecturer. At the time Friberg lived in San Francisco where he had numerous clients. But the artists wife, Hedve, was becoming more ill each day from the ocean air so the move to Utah’s dry climate seemed ideal. Salt Lake City was also the head quarters for the Mormon church.
The course Friberg taught was not a popular one, for he was determined to create a learning environment that would ensure a professional future in commercial art for the art students. Prior to this commercial art instruction had a reputation of being an easy course. But Friberg insisted on developing a substantive program. Thirty-five students signed up in the winter course, but after Friberg’s discipline style only five signed up in the spring. Fortunately, these were serious individuals, most of whom became successful commercial artists.
To save Friberg’s class from cancelation the committed students recruited people to ensure the minimum number of students necessary. By the fall semester, the serious art students eliminated the problems after more students recognized they could receive the training they desired from Friberg.
