B AYO U A R T I S T
STEFAN NODARSE Stefan Nodarse aspired to be a comic book artist, but his career in art took several turns before landing in printmaking. As an alumni of the University of Monroe’s art program, and a Master’s graduate of Indiana State University, the Oak Grove native returned home to teach at ULM. Nodarse is also the curator of collections and exhibitions at the Masur Museum of Art. ARTICLE BY S TARL A GATSON PHOTOGR APHY BY K ELLY MOORE CL ARK
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comic book artist — that’s the answer a young Stefan Nodarse would give when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up. Like most children, the Oak Grove native had been drawing from a very early age, doodling with crayons and playing around with finger paints. But as he got older and his peers’ interests began shifting to other things, it was still art that captured Nodarse’s attention. That’s why, when he was old enough to begin seriously considering where he would attend college, institutions like The Kubert School in Dover, New Jersey, and The Art Institute of Dallas were contenders. Ultimately, Nodarse ended up enrolling at the University of Louisiana at Monroe with the intent of studying graphic design. It didn’t take long, though, for the new college student to realize the computercentric degree program wasn’t exactly what he thought it was — “I thought graphic design was comic books, and I didn’t grow up with a computer,” he admits with a chuckle. After toughing it out for about a year and a half, Nodarse made the decision to switch his major to the thing that would prove to be a perfect fit for him: printmaking. “I was a horrible painter, and drawing could only go so far, or so I thought at the time,” he explains. “Printmaking just kind of jumped out at me. The process of making multiples and the lines that you can get with etching was so similar to the ink lines of comic books, so I kind of gravitated toward that.”
176 DECEMBER 2021 | WWW.BAYOULIFEMAG.COM
