By Beth Patel

In Stokes Auditorium on Friday afternoon, candles illuminated the face of Patrick “Pato” Hebert as he took the audience on a retrospective journey through not only visual presentations of his work, but also his thought process. Addressing his recent work at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, Hebert spoke about the connection between education and art-making, beginning with a quotation from Mary Rose O’Reilly: “To teach is to create a space.”

We saw the realization of a project, "Text Messaging: A Thousand Points of Might," discussed in an earlier talk at Haverford, finalized as an installation of the Orange County Museum of Art. This involves “signage,” like some of the signs that populated the Main Line during the election season. The words of the signs are a compilation of survey answers from local college students responding to statements like “We’re most honest when…” There are over 500 signs covering the museum’s lawn with 37 different personal proclamations, such as “You can get anything if you play the part right.”

Hebert discussed the difficult decisions faced during the outcome of the project. The colors and spatial framework of the words on the signs potentially changes the intonation of the true voice of the respondent, which has already been altered by the artist’s judgment not only to choose that particular response, but also to adapt it into an art form. This work flirted with the irony that often veils modern artwork, risking a sense of mockery in these personal statements. Hebert is interested in how people respond to the “hyper-multiplicity of messages” but wonders if “they cancel each other out.” Various pictures captured the generational interaction of the work in the space. Hebert discussed this project throughout his talk, which made an overarching statement about his community work and reinterpretation of thoughts through space and aesthetic presentation. He referenced the questions that provoke the work of his students. While standard education teaches us to search of answers to all of our questions, Hebert suggests that we do not “force them to solution,” but rather “let them guide you.”

Hebert also discussed some work that he had been working on in Maine the week prior.. The use of space and still a sense of community participation embody itself in his most recent work. He wants to “let the work teach” him, using less control, and, jokingly, “hopefully not more chaos.”

An example of this current work, involving students at University of Maine, asked participants to record the height of someone they love. These heights were placed on a row of trees right outside of a student parking lot by reflective strips of plastic. This uses the vernacular utility of reflection, while used consciously for another purpose.

Often, Hebert’s work serves to gift the audience a gift, be it a moment of reflection or inspiration. He struggles by trying not to “collapse into the sentimental”, which is a fine line walked by his work. A piece at University of Maine, Having Come Down Off It, is a literal soapbox, a small, lighted stage created from bars of soap where anyone could come and stand up and talk about a moment when they realized it was “not all about them.” Individuals shared things they would not have shared otherwise, from a mother talking about her son’s deployment to war to a woman who had always given to others, but was now sick and realized that it should be all about her now.

While this artwork was not directly shared with Haverford students, the Hurford Humanities Center is currently exhibiting a selection of Hebert’s work for our viewing and thinking pleasure titled “Photo Movements.” A series featured there involves the Panamanian side of Hebert’s family. There are photos of his family presently juxtaposed next to black and white landscapes of Panama, with his grandmother’s rocking chair placed into the landscape. Hebert shared with us his very personal experience of his grandfather and grandmother’s passing. The history of Panama and the dispersion of people led his family to be a living example of the extension of history to our present time. This work differs from much of his others due to the personal context and the lack of community participation. However, Hebert places his own introspection on us in that he can ask the viewer to consider his or her own history.

The way in which we convey an experience becomes nearly essential to Hebert’s work. His molding of the thoughts and experiences of other allows us to think about our own unique perspectives. Distinction and identity, both spatial and temporal, created by these new thoughts are indispensable to his work. We can hope to see some of Hebert’s work on the Haverford campus in the spring, perhaps projecting the very ideas and personalities that make up our student body. In the meantime, his work in the Hurford Humanities Center will give you just a glimpse of his wide range of artwork.

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