Bill Komodore, who moved to the United States from Greece in 1947, attended Tulane University to study pre-med. But he became interested in pursuing a career in art after his professors assigned him to do drawings of the human body.

After earning his B.A. from Tulane in 1955, Komodore taught at the Newcomb Art School in New Orleans while earning his M.F.A. from Tulane, which he completed in 1957.

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Komodore has been a full-time artist ever since, having taught at various schools and shown his work at such museums as the Whitney in New York City, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Dallas Museum of Art.

“Once I went to art school, I realized that was it,” says Komodore, who was recently honored with the Legend Award by the Dallas Visual Art Center.

“It’s my way of interpreting what I see. A lot of it has to do with what I dream or see.”

Komodore, who has lived in Hollywood Heights for eight years, currently teaches at SMU. Some of his recent work will be displayed at SMU’s Meadows Museum from Nov. 7-Jan. 11.

“Art has to do with emotions, feelings and interpretations of what’s going on,” Komodore says.

“It’s hard; you have to keep on changing to keep the freshness.”