R.I.P. Lee Hoffman a great teacher

Mr. Hoffman was a teacher that was not easily forgotten. Hoffman could be pretty intimidating when first meeting, but he had a great somber demeanor for teaching painting. He taught me watercolor painting and drawing at University of South Alabama. I can not find any of the painting or drawings I did during his classes but as soon I do I will post them. I remember him dragging us outside to paint all the time. You would be outside painting and then giant shadow of a man would come over your work then you would hear his voice "your perspective is off" or "those trees aren't that small." Mr. Hoffman you will be missed.


al.com
Lee Maris Hoffman, famed watercolorist and art professor, dies in Mobile
By Thomas B. Harrison
March 27, 2010, 8:05AM
(Press-Register/Kate Mercer)
Lee Maris Hoffman, 77, an artist and teacher and prefessor emeritus at the University of South Alabama, died Thursday, March 25, 2010, at Providence Hospital. Here, Hoffman and wife Kaye Wall Hoffman are pictured in a 2001 file photograph made at the Spring Hill Graveyard.
MOBILE, Ala. -- Lee Maris Hoffman, 77, died Thursday of lung cancer at Providence Hospital. He was a Professor Emeritus of Art at the University of South Alabama, where he taught for more than three decades. He also taught art at Spring Hill College for five years during the 1960s.

Hoffman saw "beauty in the mundane," according to Leila Hollowell, owner of Gallery 54 in Midtown and the artist's longtime friend.

Hoffman caught telling details that made his watercolor paintings unique: blue mailboxes, a garbage can, two workmen pouring cement near his house.

Observing and interpreting the world through art was a skill for which Hoffman was known and respected, and he tried to impart that skill to the hundreds of students who studied under him.

Artist Wanda Sullivan, one of Hoffman's former students, described him as "the founding father of art in Mobile."

Artist John Cleverdon said Hoffman was "very uncompromising in his approach to art, and he took his watercolor paintings very seriously and avoided flashy effects. He was very serious and workmanlike, consistent in his approach. He was an inspiration to us all."

Cleverdon recalled that Hoffman's early paintings were abstract "with bright, flat color, (but) he changed and became a very dedicated realistic watercolorist, with no compromise."

"His work was very spare and solidly constructed, with lots of emphasis on verticals and horizontals. There was a peacefulness and calmness to his work - an almost classical quality."

At 6 feet 7 inches, Hoffman was an imposing figure, but he was, by all accounts, a "gentle giant" who was soft-spoken and frugal with words.

"You could always tell how he felt about whatever artistic endeavor you were attempting by his silence," said artist Kate Seawell. "That spoke volumes. He used to drag us out of doors - rain, shine, cold, it didn't matter. He was (committed) to the pursuit of direct observation and plein-air work."

Hoffman was born July 18, 1932, in Denver. He earned a bachelor's degree in art education from the University of Colorado and a master's degree in fine art from the University of Washington in Seattle.

Before his teaching career, Hoffman served in the U.S. Army as a cryptographer, painted in Mexico and Connecticut, and worked as an artist for the Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans.

He is survived by his wife, Kaye Wall Hoffman; his sons, Jamin Brantley Hoffman of Milwaukee and Bert Ritchie Hoffman of Mobile; one granddaughter, Mara Elizabeth Hoffman; and two siblings, Emma Louise Cate of San Jose, Calif., and Jon Hoffman of Colorado Springs, Colo.

Bert Hoffman said Friday that the family is considering a memorial art exhibition, but those plans have not been finalized.