THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 20, 1994                    TAG: 9406180018 
SECTION: DAILY BREAK                     PAGE: E1    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY JIMMY GNASS, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940620                                 LENGTH: Medium 

DISTINGUISHED METAL: ODU PROFESSOR'S ECCENTRIC, ABSTRACT WORKS STAND TALL ALL

{LEAD} THE LOOMING, 10-foot tall, polished stainless steel structure rises from the floor of the Chrysler Hall lobby. It looks like a circle stretched into an oblong, silver egg.

The work is eccentric, intriguing because of its abstract frame. It's not clear what it is. But all the parts somehow combine into an asymmetrical balance, a free-flowing movement that signals aesthetic notions of unity and composition.

{REST} Vic Pickett left his mark here.

From the Virginia Beach Central Library to Norfolk's Chrysler Hall to his upcoming work commissioned by Catholic High School in Kempsville, the 60-year-old sculptor and art professor at Old Dominion University has works standing tall all over the region.

``Vic Pickett is someone completely excited by the endless possibilities of sculpture,'' says ODU art student Kristine Inchausti. ``He still has that spark in his eye, even after 30 years.''

Pickett's art studio on the Old Dominion campus is like a painter's house lived in by a blacksmith. Machinery, saws, large sheets of stainless steel are some of the tools of the trade.

He picks up one of his smaller sculptures, examining the intricacies of its design. ``I'm interested in the texture and cross-hatching you get,'' he says, pointing at the overlaying patterns.

The piece, made of thin strips of steel, looks like a web of surrealistic coat hangers. The art is easy to look at. But it's difficult to imagine it being built.

``My intuitive nature is to examine how we visualize and eventually what impact this has on us,'' he says. ``It's about exploration and expression.''

Pickett, one of the founding professors of the arts program at Old Dominion, recalls a time when there was no program. Thirty-odd years ago, Pickett asked former university president Lewis Webb for a work space. Webb granted Pickett a room under the university stadium. Thus, the art program at Old Dominion began - literally - out of the basement.

Since then, the art department has grown significantly.

``The school became supportive of us making art,'' Pickett says about those early days. ``There was no reason to leave. It's analogous to providing a chemistry teacher with lab space to do research.''

One of the perks of being a teacher for Pickett is that he can continue doing his own work while teaching. He considers this necessary to the learning environment.

``There's a direct relationship between making art and teaching,'' Pickett says. ``I do the same thing in class (as I do in the field), except I get to talk about the process more.

``If the professors do not make their own work, then they are not a primary source of information. They become a secondary source.''

But for Pickett, learning in the classroom is like a two-sided canvas. ``It's reciprocal. I learn a great deal from my students,'' he says. ``That's how you change as an artist and develop and continue to work. That's important for me.''

On the wall of Pickett's studio is a scaled-down version of a work that was never finished. It was done for the United Jewish Community foundation. The topic: the Holocaust.

The piece would have been a 50-foot map of Europe. Where there was once a concentration camp, Pickett would have placed a 6-foot tall slab of steel. Where there was once a death camp, Pickett would have placed an 8-foot slab. The floor of the piece was to be made of 6 million river rocks.

The idea: ``So that everyone could see what 6 million looks like, because we have no concept of size,'' Pickett says.

The piece never materialized, but it shows the artist's enormous sense of vision. Another of Pickett's sculptures stands in front of the organization's Norfolk building.

Pickett currently is working on a piece for Catholic High School, to be presented at the end of August. The work is to symbolize the Madonna and child.

Pickett lives with the vitality of someone half his age. In fact, he looks half his age. He reflects back on the long road of producing art and teaching: ``It feels great; I love it. Maybe that's the reason I don't feel as old as 60 sounds. It's a lot of fun.'' by CNB