Artist Kenneth Falana descibes himself as a “colorist.”

Upon entering the museum, your eyes will be immediately drawn to one of the many large vibrant collages bursting into Technicolor with a multitude of seemingly three-dimensional layered shapes.

They are the work of award winning artist, Kenneth Falana, who was on campus Nov. 6 to lecture on his exhibition titled “A Retrospective,” which is currently on display at the North Carolina Central Museum of Art.

The exhibit features over 40 selections representative of each period of Falana’s career. The show will be running through Dec. 7.

Falana, who has been a professor of art at Florida A & M University for 28 years and whose work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, explained his complex variety of techniques step by step to the audience of around 30 students and faculty attending his lecture.

His wide range of artistic styles incorporates several mediums. Throughout his career, he has worked with collagraph, graphite drawing, serigraph collage, and silkscreen print. His early works reflect his response to social conflicts such as racism, segregation, the Civil Rights movement and economic depression.

“A lot of my work comes from growing up in the south in the 40’s, 50s and 60s,” said Falana.

His collagraphs of the 1970s evoke powerful emotions. “Rage”, a work depicting a young black man with his clinched fist raised in anger at an American flag. “Untitled”, shows the profile of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the center of images of lynching, protest statements and “COLORED ENTRANCE” signs. Both represent the intense social conflict of the times.

Falana was born in Flemington, Fla. in 1940, the third child of 14 children. He would go on to be the first member of his family to attend college. When he was a child, his first artistic influences were his aunt and uncle who brought him to visit Ringling Museum in Sarasota.

Intrigued by the classically nude sculptures, he began to draw. He would later be influenced by the work of modern artist Romare Bearden and Charles White.

He graduated from A & M University with a B.S. degree in art education in 1964. He earned his M.A. in fine arts from the University of Wisconsin in 1972.

The exhibit also features some of Falana’s graphite drawings, inspired by children and friends.

“What I wanted to do was create a drawing that was alive, as if there were a person looking back at you,” explained Falana. He is referring to works like “Brian”, his 1974 drawing of one of his nephew’s playmates from New Jersey.

The technique he uses to contrast light and dark tones creates the authentic appearance of hair and skin, giving the image a living, breathing quality that is only intensified by the piercing nature of the boy’s eyes.

His most recent undertaking is the production of serigraph collages painstakingly executed through a technique that involves silkscreening and cutting of hundreds of shapes.

Each collage takes a period of three to six months to complete.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s beautiful, creative, and fabulous,” said junior art majorTimothy Fozcard . “The pink one is very relaxing. It reminds me of some type of coral. It looks like it’s moving.”

Fozcard is referring to a 41” x 62” collage of serigraph construction entitled “Spring Fantasy,” which is composed of a layers of spheres and rounded shapes in various shades of pink in a primarily symmetrical design and was actually inspired by sea corral. This particular selection was inspired by the artist’s mother, whose favorite color is pink.

Falana advises rising young artists “to make good use of the design classes and to learn good design composition.”