At the beginning of the summer my wonderful high school art teacher Liz Sharp aka “Sharpie” retired. I was overjoyed to find out there was going to be a celebration for her! It was so fantastic to see her and many other former teachers as well as my fellow class of 2004 art class friends!
It is a huge testament to what a fantastic teacher she was that so many of my classmates not only came back to celebrate her but how many of us are still involved in the arts. In fact, there are more people from my high school art class are still involved in the arts than people from my graduating class at Sheridan. Whether it be working with hot glass like me, silk screening some amazing products (check out Jen at Freshly Printed!), painting, teaching a university course about philosophy in art, working in theatre, or in tv and film, we are still at it.
Sharpie had a wall of pictures hanging in the classroom with students, check us all out as wee pups in 2004:
and some of us again in 2016!
So cheers to the woman who instilled in me the value of craftsmanship (we had to define it for every assignment we ever handed in!) pushed us all to be our very best, embraced the happy accidents and reminded us to take a mental health day every once in awhile.
