An Education in Art

From crude lines of colored wax drawn by chubby-fisted toddlers to the detailed realism of Michelangelo’s “David” sculpture, art is all around us. Just what counts as art has been debated since the dawn of time and, at times, who should be considered an artist.

While art and learning to create it is often seen as somewhat unattainable, public schools and universities have integrated it into their curriculum and welcome students of all skill levels.

Having experienced the spectrum of teaching at public, charter and private schools, Valencia County santero and art teacher Nick Otero says his approach to teaching art is by finding an angle they appreciate and things that will inspire them to create.

“There are a spectrum of human interests and we have to accommodate learners where they are at and use art to enhance their own passions,” Otero said. “How does (art) connect to their interests? It’s about helping them find expression.”

As a public school art teacher, Otero said while he had to be creative with resources and now teaches at a private school in Albuquerque, with an annual tuition just north of $27,000, the desire to create something is a strong connecting thread among all his students, regardless of social status.

“Art can be a safe place to express themselves without judgment, where their well being is the focus. They can reflect on self and societal issues,” he said. “Not only are we teaching art but the process of creating art. How to make it meaningful, create a message in your work and evoke a dialogue. Art is all about discussion.”

PHOTOS: Education in Art

When Belen High School art teacher Egan Ulbricht presents a project to his students, it always has ties to art history, “because you can’t make a masterpiece if you don’t know what masterpieces look like,” he says.

The lessons start with Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica,” an immersive 11.5-foot by 25.5-foot black and white oil painting that depicts the Nazi bombing of the Spanish town.

“They were gearing up for the Blitzkrieg, so this town, around four in the afternoon, these planes came in. They were targeting the resistance fighters, but they weren’t there,” Ulbricht said. “It was old men and old women and children, and they just bombed this place for like an hour.”

Picasso was preparing for the Spanish Republic’s pavilion at the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris when he read about the devastating bombing in the newspaper. Instead of depicting the incident realistically, Picasso took an abstract approach to show the brutal attack — broken bodies, burning houses and grieving residents.

“The kids, when they see this, I ask them how they feel about it. Then I explain the context and show it to them again and I feel like it changes the way they see art,” he said. “It’s not just a picture on the wall. It’s not something that decorates your kitchen.”

While not every art student is destined to become a professional artist, learning to create helps you see the world in a different way says Tomé potter and ceramics instructor Jan Pacifico.

“I mean, the big thing is it makes you a well-rounded person. You look at things differently. You have a different appreciation. Rather than just saying, ‘I like it.’ I mean, a dog likes his food, but it doesn’t make it art, right,” said Pacifico. “You can look at a piece of art and appreciate it in a way that is intelligent.”

And there’s nothing wrong with appreciating your own work. Nothing beats seeing a student’s face when they are proud of their artwork, Otero said.

“There’s this intense human ability to be able to create and it brings a crazy satisfaction,” he said.

That desire and ability to create have many sources of motivation. Pacifico said many of the students in her classes at the University of New Mexico-Valencia campus are art majors working towards a degree in fine arts. Another large segment is senior citizens who simply enjoy creating pottery.

“The No. 1 reason though is stress relief. So many of the younger students take it for that reason. They’re stressed out from math, from science, the more academic, structured classes. They come and they can relax,” she said. “It’s almost Zen when you’re working on the wheel once you get over the chaos of the first week. Once they get into it, it can be very quiet and everybody is just deep into the process. You forget everything else. The whole world goes away when you’re working in clay.”

A professional artist, Ulbricht says he’s a better artist for having been a teacher for more than a decade.

“I look through my own toolbox of skills and look for something I’m not good at and teach that,” he said. “If I can teach that, I’m going to know it backwards and forwards. As soon as you have to explain it to somebody else, it just changes your perspective of it.”

Having art instruction in school taps into half of a student’s brain that typically isn’t right-brain thinkers, Ulbricht said.

“Most of the classes have to do with reading and comprehending, which is all left-brain stuff. There’s a whole side of their brains that just isn’t being taught anything. You literally have kindergartner artists coming into high school and being exposed to all these ideas,” he said. “The spatial logic and geometry, all the stuff (art) touches on it’s huge. And on top of that, the self expression and what they are able to create, that is so amazing. People think of art as an elective but it’s core academics.”