Art For More Than Art's Sake

Students learn about world, themselves at art show

Stacy Pomeroy discovered art in an unusual way.

"My mother had a really, really terrible red eye when I was like 5," says the Springdale High School art teacher. "And I remember drawing a picture for my dad.

FAQ

Senior High Art

Competition

WHEN — Through March 27, with an open house from 1 to 3 p.m. March 14

WHERE — Arts Center of the Ozarks in Springdale

COST — Free

INFO — 751-5441 0r acozarks.org

"My daddy still has that picture, actually."

Of course, art wasn't really considered a career choice for Pomeroy, who grew up in New Orleans and attended Catholic school there.

"Art was all around me, but I wasn't raised to be an artist," says the University of Arkansas alum. "But it was what I did, and in high school, I realized I was kind of good. So I decided to make a career out of what I liked to do, instead of what made money."

It worked out well. Pomeroy creates Expressionist abstracts in acrylics and has taught everything from kindergarten to community college and abroad in Mexico and the Middle East. Now, she says, her goal is to give SHS students two things -- an appreciation for art and a safe place to express themselves.

"I think art class is one of the few places in high school that you can be you," she says. "Some students have never had that opportunity to express themselves in what is, generally speaking, a really positive environment."

But taking art beyond the walls of the high school can be "life changing," Pomeroy adds. And that's why she and other art teachers encourage their students to show their work at the Arts Center of the Ozarks' Senior High Art Competition, now in its 32nd year.

"We go to Crystal Bridges [Museum of American Art] frequently, and when they see real art versus art on a laptop or in a textbook, it's real, it's life, it's different -- it's legit, in their words," Pomeroy says. "They realize that art is something to share, not that everybody has to get it or like it, it doesn't matter. But to share it is to expose yourself, to share yourself."

Pomeroy adds that she believes her students continue to use what they've learned long after high school.

"Businesses prefer to have employees that are well rounded and capable of coming up with a concept and following through, and that follow-through is what makes artists a little different," she says.

Katie Russell, who teaches art, art history and ceramics at Fayetteville High School, agrees.

"Students are always attracted to freedom of expression through technical skills," the second-year FHS teacher and oil painter says. "Art classes challenge students' critical thinking skills on a visual and interpretive level -- skills that help build abilities to form ownership of opinion and thought."

-- Becca Martin-Brown

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NAN What's Up on 03/06/2015

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