 |
|
|
|
Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Stroke of Genius: Willow Glen's Rose Matousek, chapter president of the National Art Honor Society, applies the finishing touches to an acrylic painting, part of her work in the celebrated Lincoln High art program.
|
Innovative high school art program binds students to their community Tipper Gore unveils student-painted mural at Emergency Housing Consortium meeting
By Sarah Gaffney
Mike and Joy Ellner have devoted much of their careers to bringing students' artwork to their community. This week, the couple and the program they started receive both local attention and national recognition--while a show of student work hangs at the White Dove Cafe, a student-painted mural was unveiled by Tipper Gore, wife of Vice-President Al Gore.
Six years ago, the Ellners spearheaded what is now a nationally recognized visual arts program at Lincoln High School--a college-oriented program that focuses on community work as much as it does on artwork.
"We try to give students experiences that are broader than a normal program," Mike Ellner says when asked what distinguishes Lincoln's art classes from those at other schools. "It isn't just about doing a drawing or painting. It's about community involvement--anything that keeps art in the community going, keeps [the artist] going."
Although now semi-retired, the Ellners have passed the teaching baton on to their daughter, Eileen Ellner-Zamora, Lincoln's visual arts coordinator. Ellner-Zamora and students from Lincoln's chapter of the National Art Honor Society just completed a mural for the Emergency Housing Consortium, a homeless shelter in south San Jose. The mural was formally unveiled Monday at the EHC's 1999 Summit Toward Ending Homelessness, a town meeting led by Tipper Gore.
Finished just hours before the summit, the 10-foot by 15-foot mural brightens the play area of the shelter's family housing section and faces a cheery blue and yellow cottage built by the Rotary Club. Ellner-Zamora and her students dedicated more than 300 hours to painting the colorful replica of a Willow Glen streetscape. The EHC is delighted with the finished product.
"We wanted to bring the community into the shelter," said Maury Kendall, EHC communications manager. "And for the mural to reflect what the playhouse would be like if it were a real house. It brings a little sunshine into these kids' lives."
The mural project is an example of how Lincoln art students learn to experience art in a variety of ways, with an emphasis on what the artist's responsibility is to the community. "The kids are totally integrated and exposed to what's happening in the community," says Ellner-Zamora.
Indeed, the prolific paintbrushes of Lincoln students have created many art venues throughout the community. The students just completed a mural for the Goodwill headquarters in downtown San Jose and are now exhibiting works at Lincoln Avenue's White Dove Cafe.
April will be a another particularly busy month for the aspiring artists--they will open a month-long show, composed of more than 300 pieces, at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Main Library, and also participate in Santa Clara County's annual Open Studios tour.
In addition to learning how to create and share art with the community, Lincoln students are also trained in the fine art of commerce. All the paintings at the White Dove Cafe are available for sale. And last month, 30 pieces of Lincoln High artwork went to the highest bidders at the annual Valentine's Day auction at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art.
"All of their pieces sold," boasts Ellner-Zamora proudly. "Not one of their pieces was left on the wall."
An Ellner-inspired art class differs from ordinary art classes in several regards. First, it's the content. "We matched our program content with the same entry level content at universities and art colleges," Joy Ellner says. The college-oriented curriculum includes advanced-placement art history and studio classes, ceramics, multi-dimensional and exploratory art, internships, and a student-run gallery. Second, and most importantly, Lincoln High artists are community artists.
"You can't be an artist and be aloof," Mike Ellner states plainly. "The artist isn't removed from the community. He uses his ability and knowledge to enrich the community."
Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Color Code: Areli Silva, a student in Lincoln High's award-winning art program, works at her easel on an acrylic painting.
The Ellner's years of dedication to the teaching community (both were art department chairs at local high schools) inspired officials at San Jose Unified School District to offer the couple the helm of Lincoln's art program in 1990. The district wanted to create a program that would give the magnet school national recognition. Within the first three years of their stewardship, Lincoln was awarded the Kennedy Center Award for the Arts--an honor bestowed on only two high schools in the nation each year.
For the teaching team, the key to the program's award-winning success is deeply rooted in the real world.
"We presented a program that was akin to what an art life is really like," Mike Ellner says. "When I went to school, no one ever told me how wicked the business is. We developed a program that helps students know what they're getting into."
Lincoln senior and Willow Glen resident Rose Matousek found out about the program while attending a dance concert at Lincoln when she was in junior high. She decided that she wanted to go to the high school. When the district said no to her request because of the school's impacted enrollment, the tenacious teenager refused to give up. "I told them that if they didn't get me into Lincoln, I wasn't going to go to school," Matousek says. The district relented.
Now chapter president of the National Art Honor Society, Matousek will graduate this spring and hopes to attend the College of Notre Dame, where she'll pursue a degree in art therapy.
Try as they might to pursue retirement, the Ellners' time away from the classroom has only increased their passion for teaching.
"For us, it's a way of life," says Mike, with a conviction that surely motivates many students. "I can't imagine what else we'd do. We took an early retirement so we'd have more time in the studio, but we can't stay away."
When they're not painting in their studio, the Ellners teach at Lincoln's Saturday Art Academy, a college credit class they created, which brings art students from San Jose Unified and San Jose City College together in the studio to paint, collaborate and talk about art.
|
|
|
|
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
