Belgian illustrator inspires creative thinking

By Austin Goacher

September 27, 2011

Domique Goblet is a European, world renowned graphic artist that is spending two weeks visiting and helping art students here at Missouri Western.

Pablo Picasso, Leonardo Da Vinci, Norman Rockwell and Dominique Goblet– the average student may recognize most of the names on this list, but for students in the art department, Goblet’s name stands out as the world renowned graphic artist who recently interacted with many of the Missouri Western students.

“I discovered her work in Amsterdam in 1998, when I was doing a research project in Russia and stopped in there for a few days,” Geo Sipp said, associate professor of art. “I went to a book store that specialized in comics and experimental artwork, and I found a book of hers and I fell in love with it.”

That was before social media, explained Sipp, who spent some time tracking down a way to contact the artist, eventually sending her a message on Facebook.

“I thought that, because comics are so popular in the United States, that we ought to bring her to Missouri Western for a couple weeks to talk about her work,” Sipp said. “She is extremely well known in the field of graphic arts and comics, and see if we could share her with other institutions.”

Goblet has visited Northwest Missouri State University, the University of Kansas and the Kansas City Art Institute during her visit, which ends Sunday.

“I am working only with art students,” Goblet said.  “I’ve done a lot of very experimental work in my field, which is comics, and I’d like to share these experiences and make people see different aspects of what they know about comics, which is linked to what they see here in America.”

“Here the background of comics are more superheroes and so on, and I try to offer a new point of view and what has happened in Europe and explain that their comics are completely involved in the process of contemporary art,” Goblet said.

While students in the art department initially didn’t know who the graphic novelist was, they found her advice and experience very helpful.

“She’s helped me out a lot,” senior art student Andrew Setter said. “ She has made us think outside the box a lot. Normally we draw positively, and she has asked us to draw the negative spaces first. It’s been a great experience. Some people might not like her art, but she knows her stuff and she will get you where you are trying to go with art.”

According to Goblet, her style of art can help students expand their horizons and see things in new ways.

“We think all about limits and how to find new ways of expression,” Goblet said. “I think when people from different parts of the world meet, they sort of discover from each other.

“I’ve learned a lot from the students here, and it’s a different spirit,” Goblet said. “Even a simple exercise of selecting photos from the internet, they pick different than what people around me would choose. We can see that the spirits are still different, which is a happiness because I wouldn’t live in a world where everything was the same.”