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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Art of the Teacher @ Intermedia Arts
Wednesday 19 March @ 13:25:27 |
 by Jenny Assef
I don’t think I’ll ever forget my high school art teacher, whose classroom was a creative island in a sea of understimulating curriculum and bored students. I took his class nearly every semester and (almost) never skipped. But when he retired five years ago, I realized I’d never seen any of his art. Like most good teachers, he was in the business of encouraging others, and rarely turned the focus on himself.
"Dreamhouse" by Wes McSpadden (mixed media)
Art of the Teacher at Intermedia Arts puts art educators in the spotlight, showcasing what they do when not teaching class. Some are new to the profession, not yet done with student teaching, while others have been at it for decades. All teach for local public schools.
North High School teacher Cynthia Berger claims eight years in the system. Her works fuse scientific diagrams with bold cartoons for a comic-book-meets-biology-text effect. “Many of my themes have originally come from teaching experiences and have grown through observations outside that realm,” Berger says.
Amy Conwell joined the staff at Patrick Henry High this year, and found that teaching inspired her to learn new skills. Trained as a painter, she began to explore mosaics. “I bought a few beginning supplies and made a tabletop,” she says. That tabletop is on display, along with her next piece, “Landscape”, which employs simple shapes to evoke an expansive scene.
Florian “Slats” Fairbanks, a member of the Red Lake Band of Ojibwe, has been teaching since 1974. “I consider myself an Indian Artist first, but my best talent, the one at which I make a living, is being an Art Teacher,” Fairbanks says. In paintings of snow-dashed Minnesota landscapes, he depicts the quiet potential inherent in late winter, when trees are about to bud.
Rose Kadera of Edison High works with the doll form to examine winter’s other edge. “Recently, I’ve been exploring the human quality of November trees,” she explains. “The trees are bare and the world seems colorless. The trees stand like dancers, conversation groups and watchers. They stand unmoving for generations in one place watching all the life and activities that pass.”
Perhaps art teachers are like busy versions of Kadera’s trees, scurrying to infuse each passing generation with the will to create.
Art of the Teacher runs through April 6. Intermedia Arts, 2822 Lyndale Ave. S., Mpls. Open every day noon to 5 p.m. 612-871-4444.
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