Art Teacher: Artist Omar Morineau

I have taught art lessons for nearly 5 years. Prior to teaching I spent my years of education at San jose State University and L’Accademia di Belle Arte in Florence, Italy. I have been blessed to have studied under Bill Paskewitz, Stan Welsh, David Middlebrook, and Professore Bimbi. During my college education I worked as a muralist, airbrush artist and computer graphic designer. I continue to do so to this day and at times pass work onto students so that they can have some real life artistic experiences.

When teaching, I inform the student of techniques that Masters have been utilizing for centuries. With these techniques in hand, accuracy is achieved.

After the student’s accuracy is improved, I focus on bringing out emotion in the students line quality, shape, and composition.

Art courses are of great importance to the development of a person: adult or child.

While sports emphasis physical development, team work, and muscular coordination on a macro scale; art focuses om creativity, confidence as an individual, and smaller physical coordinations (such as hand and eye coordination).

Art is also another form of communication, much like a foreign language, except of course a visual language. This helps in every faucet of life as one tries to describe their ideas at work, school, or at play.

The classes are designed to educate the student beyond technical skills. These classes will also inform students of historical events, scientific theories and laws, mathematics, philosophy, mythology, theology, and a myriad of other subjects.

Some people may have thought art was merely about rubbing materials onto a surface, but art has been apart of every human endeavor since prehistoric times… up to this very day.

At the very young age of 7, I had a great amount of support from teachers and parents that saw my introverted love of drawing as something that should and must be nurtured. At that age my inspirations were Simon (well you know my name is Simon, and I like to do drawings), Garfield and my 2nd grade teacher Miss Redding. She would present my drawings in front of the class and tell the students how well I had done. The class would all give me recognition for my art and as a shy student, I found that to be a positive influence that would open up my confidence and personality.

At the age of 17, during high school at Amador Valley High, I was asked to join the leadership program because of my artistic skills. I used those skills to create back drops for plays, murals for dances, t-shirts for the clubs, and banners for school pride. I ended up leading, as president, The Chess Club, The Latino American Student Organization, and the Multicultural Commission.

During that time I also painted windows for local businesses. A man named Cal saw the window art work I had done with brush and saw a future in me. He purchased an airbrush, car paints, and a compressor for me. Without himself knowing how to operate these tools, he handed them to me and said, “learn how to use ‘em.” He operated a car detailing shop of of Bernal and was hoping to have me make us money painting designs on cars. I completed some work for him after teaching myself the airbrush.

As a newbie surfer, I met a man named Barry. He happened to be a surf teacher in Santa Cruz. He taught me how to catch waves and very important life lessons. I suggested that we try starting a business airbrushing custom surfboards. I felt that being a wave rider was in itself, very unique, but that on the surface of the board so much more could be expressed about the individual. Within that year we had nealry 30 orders and each was created according to what the client expressed.

After attending some college in Pasadena Ca., I moved back to Pleasanton and attended Las Positas Community College. There I was instructed by Bill Paskewitz in the art of Oil Painting. He was a strong and brilliant professor that had learnt his skills from Cooper Union in New York, New York. I found him to be very inspirational and knowledgable. We traveled together along with other students to Italy for an art tour. Another strong moment in my art life, gladly shared with my great mentor and teacher.

After Community College, I took a year off from my studies and created my own mural company. It was a time of learning. The understanding of art, business and value of art were starting to take shape. During that time a woman named Julie Raleigh helped find me several projects through her network of friends and fundraising groups. Without her, I would not have created nearly as much work as I had. She was a very special person to my artistic pursuit. During that year I created nearly 25 murals.

After my year of murals, I then returned to college ad transferred to San Jose State University. For a year or so I trained in three dimensional work, such as glass blowing, pottery and sculpture. Under the tutelage of Stan Welsh and David Middlebrook, I explored these new mediums.

The opportunity to live and study in Florence Italy arose through the study abroad program. Through this opportunity I would attend L’Academia di Belle Arte. Only eight American students would be accepted after seven days of thorough testing. I was accepted and began to learn concepts of painting through Professore Bimbi. He made me realize how illustrative American artists have become and he would introduce me to the “poetry” of fine art in ways that I had never realized. During this time I traveled throughout Europe and frequented many of its famous art museums. All the master artworks that Professor Bill Paskewitz had introduced me to in art history were suddenly in reaching distance.

Finally after completing my B.A. in Visual Arts with a minor in Italian, I began teaching art and have been doing it since. During this time as an art instructor I have been taking commissions as a graphic artist, muralist, fine artist, illustrator, and have consistently been refining my art curriculum. I hope to complete my illustrations for a children’s book that I wrote and hope to continue my profession as an artist and instructor.