Stan Friesen, associate professor of art and design, will share his travel experiences during a campus presentation, “On the Road Again,” on Thursday, November 15, at 12:15 p.m. in Upton Hall 230.
Friesen will address how his travel journals came together with photographs during a recent sabbatical. His talk is the third in the fall 2018 series, Artists on the Road: Travel As Source of Inspiration.
Born in Greeley, Colorado, Friesen’s travel adventures began at three months old when his family traveled by steamer to Indonesia via Holland as his father was a physician and missionary. The family then traveled by steamer to India and Nepal and, a few months later, to Indonesia. When Friesen was three years old, they returned to the United States, living in Wichita, Kansas, Chicago, Illinois, and Pueblo, Colorado.
However, Friesen spent his middle- and high-school years in Kabul, Afghanistan. The family also traveled to Pakistan, India, and completed an epic overland road trip from Afghanistan to Germany. He graduated from the American International School of Kabul in Afghanistan.
As a married adult, Friesen moved to St. Johns, Newfoundland, to work in a group home for juvenile delinquents, and he worked with street kids in Cochrane, Ontario. Sprinkled through this time period were winter trips to Happy Valley-Goose Bay in Labrador; Attawapiskat, Ontario on the shore of James Bay; and Pakistan with a return trip through Egypt and Israel.
After earning his master of fine arts degree from Fort Hays State University in Kansas, Friesen moved to Buffalo in 2000 and joined the Buffalo State faculty.
For philosophy on travel, Friesen quotes a former BMW slogan: “It would be a tragedy to arrive at your destination not having enjoyed the ride.”
He added, “How awesome would it be if you had the chance to peruse thousands of your photographs, collect your travel diaries and journals, and actually do something with them.”
His ability to accomplish this is what he will share with listeners on November 15.
The “Artists on the Road” series is co-sponsored by Buffalo State’s Art and Design Department and the Global Engagement Office. For more information, contact associate professor Carol Townsend at (716) 878-4986 or townsenca@buffalostate.edu.
