Paul Hatgil

What better way to come across a story idea than through our Docubloggers website? Last summer our intern, Jihae, submitted her first story about the Greek Festival online and immediately received a comment back signed Prof. Paul Hatgil. We were all curious who he was and were quickly able to find his website.

Professor Hatgil started teaching the art of ceramics, sculpture and two and three dimensional design to UT students in 1951. During his tenure of thirty-four years at the University of Texas he instructed over 2,000 students. Immediately, I became fascinated not only because of Hatgil's accomplishments, but he posted on our website! It's not often that we see someone his age contribute to Docubloggers. We also discovered that Professor Hatgil is a veteran of the Second World War. At that time Sean and I were working on The World, The War and Texas - a local documentary that featured the experiences of local veterans during World War II that aired in conjunction with the National presentation of The War by Ken Burns. We were still in the process of identifying local veterans to interview at the time. I found out that Professor Hatgil was a communications officer stationed on the island of Tinian when the Enola Gay was sent to Japan. We didn't have much material about the Pacific War, and Professor Hatgil was more than willing to share his experience.

Sean came back from the interview not only with material about Hatgil's personal wartime experience, he was also given (for temporary use) a huge binder full of Hatgil's artwork. We knew that this called for a Docubloggers story on Hatgil's experiences as an artist.

I love that Professor Hatgil's art is so varied in form and style. Some of his ceramics look like it was created in Ancient Greece, while others -- like his plastics - look quite modern and abstract. His latest medium is called encaustic, which you use heat to melt wax to create a very interesting color mix and texture. Most of his home is filled with encaustic works. I even had the honor to work on a small encaustic piece with Professor Hatgil at his workstation in his garage. It now hangs proudly on my office wall. There are also numerous pieces displayed publicly throughout Austin. Some of them you may see everyday:

·Mosaic Mural: The University of Texas
Faculty club on MLK Lavaca behind the bar
UT Campus
·50 Ceramic Reliefs: The University of
Texas Business Administration Building
see the plaque on top of building
·Mosaic Panorama of the city of Austin: Fox TV Studios (formerly KLBJTV
(commissioned by Mrs. LBJ)




·Mosaics (religious symbols): St. Paul's
Lutheran Church

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