More than Meets the Eye

“It’s so neat to stand back and watch the parents show their kids how proud they are of them when they come to the art show,” said Emily Overstreet ’06.

Overstreet, who has taught art at Cumberland County Elementary School for the past decade, is one of 19 Longwood alumni art teachers whose students’ artwork was selected for this year’s show. Each year the LCVA’s front window display during the youth show is designed by the teachers and students from one school. This year’s Egyptian scene was created by students at Prince Edward County Elementary School, and it represented a role reversal of sorts for first-year art teacher Brooke Eamigh ’16.

Eamigh, who helped to hang and organize the youth artwork when she worked at the LCVA as a Longwood student, said she started planning the window in December. Among the things the students constructed using cardboard and recycled materials were crocodiles, beetles, pyramids, an obelisk and a boat on the Nile River—all subjects that relate to lessons or SOLs they eventually will study.

“I tell my students we are very fortunate to live in a community that is encouraging us to do art and wants us to do this window every year,” she said. “That is a huge opportunity to show off your art and to get to see people admire your work.”

Jasia Miles, a junior last year at Amelia County High School whose artwork was picked to be among the most outstanding at this year’s show, confirmed that having her work on display has helped her confidence—something that has translated to other aspects of her life. The softball shortstop was selected to the first-team all-conference as a sophomore.

“I’m really hard on myself. For people to tell me I’m really good, it’s amazing,” she said. Originally shown in Bedford Hall and sponsored by Central Virginia Arts, the youth art exhibition began as a way of showcasing artwork from Prince Edward County students. The show was the idea of Central Virginia Arts member Shirley Blackwell, who remembers organizing the first exhibition in 1988. It later expanded in 1998 to include students in the neighboring counties and then across the region under the auspices of the LCVA.

“The great thing about art is that, if you mess up, you do it again or make something from it,” said Kayla Dixon, a senior last year at Amelia County High School whose work was featured in this year’s show. “I messed up on my piece that got selected for the art show when I was doing the design. But I just put some ink there and made it look like something.”

Artists who also teach

Longwood has a rich history of training the best teachers, and the small but robust art education program has cultivated creative, imaginative and resourceful art teachers, many of whom are teaching in the communities near Farmville. All three of the art teachers in the Cumberland County school system are Longwood alumnae, and most of the counties that border Prince Edward have one or more art teachers trained at Longwood.

Kelly Nelson, who heads the art education program and also teaches printmaking, is on the front lines of preparing art teachers for the modern classroom. She said one of the strengths of Longwood’s art education program is that it is designed so that art teachers are also artists.

Aspiring art teachers graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a concentration in art education, which requires 14 extra credit hours, generally in art. The program is very interdisciplinary.

“Our students have more art experiences, which can be very important when you are teaching art,” Nelson said. “We are trained kind of like a jack of all trades, so you have to be able to do a little bit of everything.”

That translates into great art teachers who can help students of different ages develop their creativity and pursue the media they find most rewarding.

“You can cross photography and sculpture, fabric and surface design, and all sorts of interesting materials together,” she said. “Our faculty here really embraces that intermixing of materials and art disciplines.”

Art education students are prepared for the classroom and learn innovative teaching methods by taking fundamentals classes in the College of Education and Human Services. They also learn different ways to link art with other academic disciplines, such as literature, history, math and science—and to encourage critical thinking.

Through their practicums and student teaching, art education students put that broad range of practical experience to use. Hanback said she appreciates how well-prepared she is to teach students at all grade levels and from diverse backgrounds.

“It’s really important that Longwood allows us to get in the classroom so early,” she said.

One of the important lessons Nelson stresses in her classes is to take the time to talk with students and really get to know them.

Eamigh took that lesson to heart. “Art class really allows you to build personal relationships,” she said. “Just taking the time to sit down and listen to what a student has to say is important. A lot of these kids don’t get that at home.”

Partners in art education

Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the 33,000-square-foot LCVA is the only museum of its size and scope in the 7,000-square-mile area surrounding Prince Edward County. Known for its innovative outreach and participatory visual arts education, it is an important anchor and beloved resource in the Farmville community. Each year, more than 38,000 children and adults visit the LCVA to view exhibits, take classes or participate in workshops and lectures.

“Art is not only an essential part of education, but of life,” said Emily Grabiec, the LCVA’s director of education and outreach. Our role is to help foster creativity, curiosity and involvement in visual arts for residents throughout south central Virginia.”

One of the tenets of its mission is school education and outreach. The LCVA offers professional development workshops that are designed for all K-12 teachers, not just art educators. The SOLs-based workshops help teachers earn re-certification points as well as learn methods of integrating art into their curricula.

In addition to the preschool art program in Buckingham County, the LCVA offers two “Have Art, Will Travel” programs— focused on Africa and China—for local elementary students that teach SOL objectives through global lessons. The programs allow the LCVA to showcase its extensive collection of African art, which includes objects representing 59 cultures from 17 countries, and its Rowe Collection of Chinese Art. Last year, more than 550 children participated in the program.

During the summer months, the LCVA offers free daily art workshops and previously has run an art program for at-risk fourth-graders at area schools.

Hanback, the recent Longwood graduate, said the time she spent volunteering at the LCVA was instrumental in her understanding and appreciation of the nontangible benefits of art.

“You see all walks of life come in. It was nice to see families who don’t have a lot financially come and bring their kids to these free events,” she said. “It meant so much to the kids, and they would leave with handfuls of crafts.”

When the LCVA moved to its current location in the center of downtown Farmville 25 years ago, it was viewed as both a physical and symbolic bridge between Longwood and the surrounding community. It not only serves as a vital art resource for children and teachers across Southside Virginia, but it also provides a fertile training ground for aspiring art teachers like Eamigh, Overstreet and Kristen Mosley ’17, who just finished her first year as the art teacher at Cumberland County Middle School.

For those three alumnae, and many others, working and volunteering at the LCVA not only gave them beneficial work experience but also integrated them into the local art community.

“I can’t say enough about how much the staff at the LCVA influenced me and helped me,” said Mosley, who has had her still life paintings exhibited as far away as Chicago. “I’m so thankful for how they prepared me to be the teacher and artist that I am today.”

A job that satisfies and inspires

It took Overstreet, a graphic design major, one year working at a graphic design firm to realize that sitting in front of a computer all day wasn’t the career for her. She called Nelson, the art education professor, and that conversation convinced her to return to Longwood to become an art teacher.

“Sometimes I can’t believe this is my job and this is what I’m getting paid to do,” she said. “It’s a wonderful feeling going to work and loving what you do.”

Whenever someone raises the negative aspects of the education system or questions why she became an art teacher, Overstreet explains there aren’t many other professions that are as rewarding on a daily basis. 

“The child’s reaction when they finish that project—that ‘I made this!’ look and the pride that they have in themselves when they are done—it makes it so worth it,” she said.

For 42 years, Ford has watched many of her students transform not just artistically, but personally as well.

“It makes you want to come back every year,” Ford said. “I feel like I can’t let them down. I have to come back because I want to see them grow some more. That’s what drives you to get out of bed every morning.”

One of those students is Dakota Shahan-Beaver, a sophomore last year, who said she uses art as a form of therapy. Shahan-Beaver had her artwork featured in the youth art exhibit for the first time this year.

“I have depression and anxiety, so it calms me down and helps relieve my stress,” she said. You can portray a lot of emotions through art. You just have to have the imagination for it.” Years ago, Ford said, her art classes were not as populated with students who were serious about art.

“The students I have now are truly more interested in learning the skills and the techniques, and take pride in their work,” she said. They are interested in going to see colleges like Longwood to maybe pursue art as a career.”

Each year, Ford brings her students to Farmville to visit campus and the LCVA, sometimes to view the student art show and sometimes to do an art project with the staff. She shows them the Ruffner rotunda, and they eat lunch in the dining hall—while she regales them with stories of how tough Dr. Elisabeth Flynn’s art history class was or how revered longtime art faculty members Barbara Bishop and Homer Springer were.

Ford’s decision to retire from teaching full time this year was bittersweet. The students and those trips to Longwood are among the things she will miss the most.

“I have a good day every day,” she said. “A lot of teachers can’t say that. You have to love what you do.”