‘My students are my art’

When Owosso’s Shiawassee Arts Center invited Lansing artist Michelle Detering to show her work this year, she immediately thought of her teacher and friend Jim Ferguson. Ferguson, who died in 2023 at age 74, was a longtime instructor at Lansing Community College who taught and mentored dozens of budding artists, many of whom have become professionals.

“After Jim died, I was having lunch with another artist, and we were talking about how he always encouraged us,” Detering said. “He was magic in that way. He inspired so many people not only to make art but to make a living at it. I thought it would be nice to do a tribute to him.”

Jennifer Ross, the Shiawassee Arts Center’s exhibits director, was delighted to hear of Detering’s plan.

“Our focus is to celebrate artists and get people to start collecting original art,” Ross said. “Art is important because it changes how people feel about where they live and how they live.”

The resulting show, “Watercolor Blooms: A Tribute to Jim Ferguson,” is on view at the Shiawassee Arts Center through Oct. 27. It brings together 13 artists from Lansing and as far away as Albuquerque, New Mexico. The artwork includes original paintings by Ferguson, a student’s portrait of Ferguson for a class and numerous natural landscapes, people and animals, including cats, birds and zebras.

Chelsea Lake Roberts for City Pulse “Maasai Mara Couple (Zeebs),” by Travis Bruce Black.

Ross said many visitors to the Owosso exhibition haven’t heard of Ferguson.

“Outside the Lansing area, he’s not as well known, so people have enjoyed reading about him and learning about his work,” she said. “The show is providing something new to appreciate.”

Travis Bruce Black studied with Ferguson between 2001 and 2004. He was 24 when he took his first watercolor class. Older than the other students, struggling with his direction in life and in need of a job, he said the LCC experience helped to turn him from “an uneducated person” into someone with real self-esteem and confidence.

“Jim really believed in his students,” Black said. “He appreciated that education wasn’t just telling you what to do, it was opening your eyes so you could see.”

Ferguson’s instruction included lessons about the professional side of being an artist, but his personality drew students in and created a genuine community for them. He was known for his quirky and opinionated nature, Black recalled.

“After an achievement, he would say, ‘Hey, I’m really proud of you. But you’re still shit,’” Black said. “That’s the kind of guy he was. He was trying to teach me to keep going, no big deal.”

According to Detering, Ferguson’s teaching style was as vibrant as his personality. He would start classes with an art history lesson, sharing his vast knowledge of watercolor techniques and traditions. His playful nature came through in his teasing references to oil painting as “the art that will not be named.”

“He only wore white, he didn’t like music other than opera. You might say that he was quirky, but he went above and beyond for us,” Detering said. She studied under Ferguson for about 15 years. As reported by City Pulse in 2016, she left her full-time job at age 42 to pursue a career as an artist.

She described Ferguson’s emphasis on exhibiting work as a matter of building confidence.

“It’s for you,” she explained. “When you see your work framed and matted, beautifully hanging on a wall, it gives you motivation and encouragement to continue. And, of course, you want to sell your work. I know that I’m making a lot of art, and I want to sell it so that I can make some more.”

Ferguson’s students were required to exhibit in a show. They had to contact a space like a coffee shop, hang the show professionally and label their work. He also taught students how to reach out to the press to promote their shows.

“He instilled in me the notion that talent is nice,” Black said, “but without work, you got nothing. He wouldn’t say it in those terms, but I think he would emphasize that you can actually work your way to mastery.”

Black relocated from Michigan to New Mexico about 20 years ago, with encouragement from Ferguson. Today, he’s a successful artist based in Albuquerque.

For him, Ferguson’s influence was transformative.

“I wouldn’t be the person I am without him. He was an amazing painter, but he would always say, ‘My students are my art.’”

Ferguson’s students remember him frequently drawing parallels between art and cooking, saying, “If you can’t cook, you can’t do art.” He believed both disciplines shared similar qualities of experimentation, presence and combining different elements. As an accomplished cook himself, Ferguson saw the creative process in the kitchen as an extension of his artistic practice. According to his students, he loved to host parties. He was also active in the LGBTQ+ community and the Dhammasala Forest Monastery in Perry.

The reach of Ferguson’s influence is hard to overstate, Black reflected.

“This was love to him. All these people have been influenced by him. I could add 20, 30, 40 names. So many people were affected by him. It’s astounding really, exponential. What would we do without people like him? Lucky us.”