36 Years of Art, Faith , and Community

Thirty-six and a half years ago, on a hot August day in 1989, I called my wife from a pay phone in Centerburg, Ohio, to share the news that I had just been hired by Mount Vernon Nazarene College. Two weeks later, I was in the classroom teaching painting to eager students. The opportunity was providential — just months earlier, a stranger at a men’s retreat told me MVNC had an opening in the art department.

From the beginning, I felt the gift of teaching art through the lens of faith was a true blessing. Many of my students were new to both art and a life of faith. Helping them grow in each became my vocation. For me, art and faith have always been inseparable, and I now had the privilege to share that conviction.

As a young faculty member, I found support and encouragement from Professor Emeritus Jim Hendrickx, colleagues, and the administration. Beyond teaching, I directed MVNC’s first art gallery for 16 years, coordinated the Honors Seminar, and created one of my greatest joys: the biannual international art travel course to Italy, launched in 1995. Over the years, I have led more than 600 students and friends of MVNU to experience the rich artistic heritage of Italy.

In those early years, MVNC was a close-knit family. Faculty retreats to state parks nurtured our community. We prayed together, worked diligently, and strove to bring intellectual rigor to our instruction under the umbrella of faith. Within the art department, I sought to foster that same spirit — through Art Club retreats along the Mohican River and trips to galleries and museums in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, and other cities. Students grew into serious artists and designers, and many remain today as professionals, teachers, entrepreneurs, and faithful friends.

Six presidents later, MVNC has grown into a university. I, too, have grown, thanks to strong leadership and cherished friendships. Alongside teaching, I continued my practice as an artist, exhibiting widely and modeling for students the commitment to excel in one’s craft while serving as a beacon of kindness in a world that needs hope.

Now, as I retire and reflect on my career as a professor and my calling as an artist, it is humbling. I was granted a retrospective of my art in the Schnormeier Gallery this fall. Each piece of artwork, like MVNU itself, carries a bit of me and a lot of God. I pray that God has used me in some way to positively affect those whom I have encountered. I am deeply grateful. Thank you, MVNU community.