e music) - [Narrator] Think back to your school days.

Is there a teacher you still remember fondly today?

May is teacher appreciation month.

On this episode of "The Arts Page," we spotlight school teachers and also those who have something unique and special to teach others.

First meet award-winning children's book illustrator, Aaron Boyd of Milwaukee, and find out how he uses messages of honesty and empathy as themes throughout his work.

Learn how this high school art teacher inspires his students and see his particular approach to creating paintings.

Plus, May is also the month of Mother's day.

See one mom's colorful and uncontrolled approach to making art with her family.

"The Arts Page," starts right now.

(bright music) Welcome to "The Arts Page," I'm your host Sandy Maxx and we start this teaching themed episode, by introducing you to award-winning Milwaukee artist, Aaron Boyd.

One of his illustration projects has been added to the Smithsonian's rare book section of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Library.

Specializing in watercolor, Boyd has used his artistic talent to illustrate over 40 children's books so far.

He believes it's important for children to be exposed to emotionally moving material, even if it's sad or confusing.

With his faithful dog Gretel, he works nights painting moving images.

"The Arts Page" visited with Aaron Boyd in his East Side apartment studio.

(upbeat music) - When I was five, I knew I wanted to be an artist.

I was the kid that believed when adults would say you could be anything you wanted to be.

It was the touch of construction paper, the smell of the crayons, it was hypnotic.

By the time I was six, because when you're a kid, most of your artwork that you see are in books, I said well, then I'm gonna make children's books.

"Strega Nona," I checked out that book I think for the entire year of first grade.

It would be due on Friday, I would bring it in, resign it back out and just, I was enamored by the pictures in it.

"The Funny Little Woman" was a book by Blair Lent, and I say by Blair Lent, he illustrated it, but I remember being captivated by what was going on in the page and believing that this was a real world.

You knew it wasn't real, but because you saw it in a book, it felt real.

And I took those books out so long that I remember the librarian Mr. Gruehn, actually pulling me aside at one point saying, "You gotta check out other books."

(chuckles) I've done about 40 books, I've been fortunate that I get about one or two books a year.

My first hard cover book, "Babu's Song" it's still in print, I think that came out in 1999, and the kid, the little boy in there that I used as a model, is a college graduate now.

That came out beautifully, it came out as beautiful as I hoped that it would and over the years, as I maintain relationships with a lot of people that have showed up in my books, that one comes back a lot.

The "John Lewis" book was probably one of the most joyful moments I had in a book assignment.

It wasn't a big book, it wasn't about a paycheck or anything, it was John Lewis.

The fact that they chose me for John Lewis.

(chuckles) All people are equal.

(laughs) But if I had a choice of any person I could have done, it would've been John Lewis.

I was so excited to do the book that typically, I would spend about a week on a painting.

I did the cover in two days, just because I wanted to paint him.

He did not seek popularity or the hero title or anything like that, he just did it.

I thought about it and I looked back at John Lewis' younger life, he didn't know that he was this big, he was just doing what he thought was right, and he was doing it consistently.

And I'm sure he never thought of himself as that big hero, and so really, I learned a lot from that book 'cause I remember thinking, "Our next heroes are already here, they just don't know it yet."

- [Interviewer] The "Acuity Storybook Year," such an odd request, like it's a storybook for an insurance company about their yearly earnings statement?

- Yeah.

- And then it ends up in the Smithsonian?

- A popup book has three times the amount of paper in it that a regular book does.

You're not just painting somebody's front, you're painting their back.

It was the most work I've ever done on a project.

Specifications were down to the millimeter, 'cause parts had to fit through holes.

About a year and a half, we worked on that day and night, day and night.

I don't remember a lot about that year, other than, I was painting all day, all the time.

With a lot of my work once it's done, it's done and I'd forget about it, but then you start getting these things in the mail, you start getting these emails, "Oh, you won a Hermes award, you won a Gold Addy award, oh great."

And then Cleo, that was the big one.

The Cleo is like the Oscar of an advertising.

We didn't win it in the end, but the coolest thing to me was the Smithsonian calling.

It's like, okay, I care more about the museum where they will keep it in their rare books collection for all times, because you're probably never gonna get a popup book like that again.

I love games, I love games.

And one of the games that I did hook up early with, was "Magic The Gathering."

I did about eight cards for them.

To this day, and that's gotta be about 20 something odd years later, I will still get mail from people who, "I played this when I was 10 and I'm married now and I have kids and I wanna show it to them, can you sign my cards?"

And they will send me cards in all different languages.

When you get to do art and people are excited about your art, and they want you to sign it, it is the best job in the world.

I'm looking to tell the whole story, and that is to write and illustrate those books.

There's a really beautiful story I did where, it was talking about a tear rolling down a little boy's face and he had just faced a terrible loss.

And I really was working with the publishers like, I wanna show that tear going down his face, and they're like, oh, that's kinda too heavy, but that's what he's going through.

And we forget that kids experience those same things that adults do.

And so when I tell my stories, I want to honor the kids and honor their feelings, because I know that when I was kid, when you could see another friend go through it, or they could express it to you, it took away some of the pain.

And so that's really where I'm going with my work and there's no turning around from it at this point.

- See more of Aaron Boyd's creativity on his blog.

Go to aaronboydart.blogspot.com.

Oklahoma based artist and school teacher James Coplin, started drawing, painting and sculpting when he was a child.

In this story, we learn about his path to teaching, his tinted canvas painting process and his life changing impact, on one of his skeptical students.

(car engine revving) (indistinct chatter) (bell ringing) - First day of class we come in, I've got paper on the table, and we're ready rock and roll, from the very first minute that they come in and the bell rings and then we'll start drawing.

So right in the middle of that page right there, that line, I'm gonna put a box.

Okay now, this box, the corner of that box is right here.

And then as we're drawing, I'll start telling them a little about the class, try to answer some questions.

I'm not gonna grade you guys hard, this is an intro class.

This isn't gonna be something to where you need to feel any kinda anxiety about, in my class.

If you turn in all your work, you're gonna be great, you're gonna do fine.

We're gonna learn some stuff, we're gonna have some fun in here.

So, I'm gonna go straight out and then straight out again.

If it's fun for me, it's probably gonna be fun for them too so that's the main thing.

They still say that in grade school?

I don't even know.

(indistinct) (laughs) I'm James Coplin, and I've been teaching here at Santa Fe High School, been teaching art here, for the past 28 years and I love this school.

This is a great school, it's my home and the people here, I'm very close to.

(smooth upbeat music) - I'm a realist for sure, I can delve into doing more of an impressionistic type piece here and there, but most of the time it's just realism.

(smooth upbeat music) Every day during the summer, black shirt, blue jeans.

I don't wanna have to think about what I'm gonna wear the next day, or that day.

I just wanna get up and do what I'm gonna do anyway.

(car engine revving) (car engine revving) Always trying to find the right shot, looking off to the side, trying to look back into the woods too sometimes, 'cause you might see something that you can pull over and something you didn't expect to see.

There's a lot of places everywhere.

(car engine revving) My process for finding a place that I wanna paint, is usually fairly spontaneous, so as I'm out driving around anywhere, I'm constantly looking over the bridge, does that look like a good spot?

(car engine roars) So the morning and the evening's the best times.

All the colors are a lot more vibrant.

I am seeing a painting happening in front of me, it's like, you've got this breakup of space here, where this river's gonna go and you want that to leave a little bit of mystery around that bend.

(camera clicking) And I can add water, I can take away, put in an extra tree, take it out.

(car engine revving) I love looking at rivers anyway and I paint a lot of rivers or pathways, paint a lot of pathways, a lot of rivers, they lead you into the picture anyway.

And then I'm always looking at those things and going, "I wonder where that leads."

(calm piano music) Yeah I work up here a lot during the summer.

This is sort of a second home for me and it's a nice setting, to where I don't have too many distractions at home.

I'm pretty methodical, once I've decided what it is I'm gonna paint.

Chose this particular scene here, I like the break up space in it, the lighting was good, I've got a great reflection from the clouds up above.

I work on a tinted canvas and that's so that when you put your paint down, it automatically, it's a neutral color.

And so if I put down a light color on a tinted canvas, it looks light already.

So here's where I'm breaking up the space.

And that's gonna go there.

So the process right now, is I'm just getting this sketched out, getting everything laid out where I want it, darkening up some areas, breaking up this space more and just getting a more finished product before I start doing my under painting.

Just make sure I've got everything down, exactly where I want it, before I jump in with any paint.

It goes all the way back to kindergarten.

I was there and a kid came in for show and tell and he had a painting that his grandmother had done, and he said, "Well, she did this painting and she looked at this photograph that she had and then she painted it from that."

And I thought for some reason, that just clicked for me and I said, "I think I can do that."

I did art on my own.

I mean, I didn't have any art training at all, until I think my junior year, they offered a course in art.

(calm music) Yeah, this is one of the pieces I did when I was 12 and you're using your imagination as a kid and it's not from anything except my imagination.

As the underpainting and it's just establishing my lights and darks values more, so that when I start in on my color, there's less guesswork for me.

(calm music) It just makes the whole process a lot easier for me to do, once I've got something down.

(calm music) I was a commercial art major back then, they call it graphic design now.

In college, I would finish up early and if somebody else needed help in class, I was always there to be helpful or whatever.

And I remember a college instructor of mine, I remember, he came over to me one day and he said, "Hey, you're always helping somebody in here, have you thought about teaching?"

And I thought, "No, I haven't," but I changed my major that day.

Stairstep shape, right?

I just think I needed somebody to say it to me.

- That makes sense.

- Well, hardly ever make sense but occasionally so.

Well, I get called coach a lot.

Kids just don't expect it.

(upbeat rock music) I lift weights about three times a week right now, but nothing too intense, nothing like I did, just trying to stay in shape.

I'm not sure of what they've got in their head.

- When I first met him, I was not expecting him.

I guess I was expecting a woman and just, there's the classic look of an artist that you would think of and I think his class kind of taught me that an artist can be anything, anyone.

- Also, a photo album of me back in my body building days and I do keep these pictures because I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it.

I think I got into body building when I was a kid, because I was buying comic books.

And then you see those advertisements in the comic books back then, about body building.

Oh, that's a good way to look like a comic book character.

I competed from 1987 until 1991.

The discipline involved in this is very similar to art, in that, you're building, it's like you're shaping with flesh, instead of shaping with a pencil.

It was never an ego thing for me, it was always an art form.

(rock music) (weights clanging) (indistinct chatter) Big, giant mural that I did for the school.

(indistinct chatter) (bell ringing) Yeah, I think it's 115 feet long by, I don't know what it is, 10 foot tall.

And so I had the idea of going down to what we call the Wolf Run here.

I went down through there, that stream through there and took pictures, and took pictures of the Wolf Run and then incorporated that into the entire mural.

That's our mascot, we're the Santa Fe Wolves.

Once a wolf, always a wolf.

That's what they say.

I believe it.

- So art does not come naturally to me.

And I went as far as to petition the principal to let me get out of the state required art.

And they were like, "That's ridiculous, you have to take art."

- She got shoved in an art class, didn't think it was gonna be her deal, and now she's a painter.

- Okay, there's like a thing there.

So I took just your basic painting class with Coplin, and it was one of the biggest lasting impressions I've had as a young adult.

When we got to do oil painting, just something about the way that the paint could be moved and manipulated, and squished, my fascination with detail started there and I've been painting ever since.

- It is definitely a feather in my cap to see somebody go on and do some fantastic work.

Let's go down in this area here and create a little emphasis.

The underpainting can really add to the flavor of your color too, because this is sort of a reddish brown.

And so it'll add a warmth to anything that I put on top of it, and it'll show through a little bit.

And then sometimes, I'll let it show through, I won't complete cover all of the underpainting, so I've got little flex of this reddish brown throughout the painting, which adds a harmony and a continuity to the entire painting.

It come ties it all together.

(dramatic music) People always ask me, "What's your favorite painting?"

And my favorite painting is always, always the painting that I'm working on.

You gotta be in love with that one, while you're doing it.

(dramatic music) And so it's the process that I enjoy, whether the painting works out or not, it's the process that I love so much.

(dramatic music) It's addictive, you can't stop doing it.

(calm music) - Finally, Virginia artist and mom, Megan Wynn, explores the maternal experience and the powerful relationship between mother and child, even creating art together as a family, and letting herself become a canvas for her kids.

(dramatic music) - I always made art about relationships.

When I became a mother, I was really affected by the intimacy and the vulnerability, unlike any other relationship I'd ever had.

My work is about telling the story of the experience of being a mother.

(upbeat music) I was adopted at birth, so it was also very strange to physically have my own child, how dependent they were on me.

I never grew up seeing anyone breastfeed, and I did it.

Just so intense.

I started to document it.

That was my very first experience of making work on motherhood.

I'm inspired by visual ideas and ways in which I can imagine my kids can engage.

And that requires a lot of thinking and planning because I often have one shot that I can do it.

I don't wanna do something that's not fun for my kids, 'cause then they won't wanna make art with me.

(upbeat music) My plan was to become a professional tap dancer, but you can't major in tap dancing in college, so I went into fine arts school.

I started out in painting, but I did photography when I was a sculpture major, and then I got an MFA in new genres.

This piece is from my MFA thesis exhibition.

I was interested in 16th and 17th century anatomical engravings.

I thought of them and how they were done as kind of metaphors for human frailty.

And here's an example of something I was inspired by.

It's essentially a cadaver holding open their skin, so that you can see their insides.

So it just seemed like a metaphor for frailty and exposing oneself.

(calm instrumental music) This is another piece that I have up in my studio.

It's from a series called "Foundation."

With this series, I thought about the idea of a mother being present or having a trace of herself there, kind of a haunting feeling.

They speak to the invisibility of caregiving.

(calm instrumental music) All kids are good artists.

That's why my husband's an elementary art teacher.

He just loves the work he sees every day, it's so inspiring, and feed his practice.

And he used to teach college, he used to teach at VCU and it's like, he can't compare it to the joy he gets from seeing the work of first graders.

♪ I will drive past your house ♪ We take our kids really seriously, we don't take ourselves too seriously.

It's kind of asserting the validity of the creative impulse in the children.

We encourage them, we quickly try to create an environment where they feel free to express themselves.

And sometimes I'm shocked with how comfortable they are.

♪ Let's go ♪ (upbeat music) This project I've worked on with my kids.

I revisited a concept I've already worked with in the past, and that piece is called Mask of Motherhood.

- [Child] I painted your mouth.

- I actively choose to give up control and see what will happen and how far they would take it, 'cause you don't really know.

- [Child] This doesn't look like you're sick at all.

- [Child 2] Should I (indistinct) happy, happy, happy.

- I wanted to experiment in giving up control.

A metaphor for being a parent, being a mother.

(upbeat music) I wanted to revisit the idea, with three children.

And they're different ages now.

(upbeat music) ♪ Fear no more ♪ ♪ Fear no more, ♪ ♪ Fear no more ♪ My son was delighted, but you can see him climbing on my head.

It was violent than the last time.

(upbeat music) For some reason, that dance, it's like a circus.

That dance is thrilling to me, it's exciting.

Just free experimentation, which I think is beautiful.

(upbeat music) The more I think about my work, and it's evolved, I think about the fear of failure.

I've started realizing more, the kind of everyday struggle of motherhood, combined with the joy and humor of it.

Like with a lot of my work, it's an exercise of letting go, allowing myself to feel the anxiety and doing it anyway.

I feel like, when my pieces are successful, they have that element to them of me really allowing myself not to know what's gonna happen, and not being afraid.

The experience of any relationship is not all perfectly serene, nor should it be.

And that's kind of how motherhood is in general.

It's an exercise in being in control and then selectively letting go of control.

You can't completely be in control all the time.

How do I let them be themselves and grow as a person, and yet also protect them and keep them safe?

That's a struggle I have every day, as a mother.

So I investigate it in my work.

(bright upbeat music) - To see more of Wynn's artwork, visit her website, meganwynn.net.

Thank you for watching "The Arts Page," I am Sandy Maxx, please join us the first Thursday of every month, for a half hour full of art, on "The Arts Page."

(upbeat music)