~by Joseph Beaudet, Scranton Journal intern
Kevin Richards taught art for the Greene County School District for his entire 31-year teaching career but now he is hanging up his brushes and smock.
Having grown up in Boone, Richards had known of Jefferson, which was “smaller in population and close to home” for him. Richards applied for the art teaching job fresh out of college and he hasn’t looked back ever since. He’s held the same position within the district for his entire career.
Teaching in Jefferson is Richards’s “first and only job.” From the beginning, teaching in Jefferson was a “comfortable fit,” for him, and it’s where he met his wife Pat, who was already teaching at the school.
Richards aims to share his enthusiasm with his students. He feels art is a great way to do so. “Art is a subject that has so many different directions to go,” making it a great way to share and express enthusiasm and passion in a number of ways.
Richards offers a more hands-on teaching style with plenty of movement. He feels his students learned more by physically doing the art than they would have learned with a lecture on the art style. He assigned projects that were “problems that [students] needed to solve visually” and while there were no right or wrong answers, he feels that “some answers are better than others.”
Richards often found himself doing those projects alongside the students in hopes of showing them “that there is nothing to be intimidated about,” when it comes to art. Even letting his students work on projects until they were satisfied.
Providing all of his students with a strong foundation for the remainder of their lives was something Richards hoped and strived for. He says a number of his students have gone on to have careers involving art in some fashion, including a few art teachers. He thinks of former student and current high school art teacher Sarah (Carlson) Stott as his boss, which he says is “weird to think about.”
Richards says his favorite memories as a teacher “are the teachers and students that I have come to know while I have been here.” He went on to say that he will never forget those relationships he was able to form along the way. He finds it special to teach the children of former students, too. He claims to have a knack for recognizing who students “belong to.”
Alongside teaching, Richards has drawn a number of logos for the annual Bell Tower Festival. He also has a particular knack for drawing various athletes. He was commissioned to draw the inaugural class of the Iowa State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998. Currently, he draws various athletes and sells prints of them at art shows and the Iowa State Fair.
Richards’ plans for retirement “are pretty boring,” as he will continue drawing and selling prints of athletes. While he will continue doing so, he also wishes to explore other art forms, such as watercolor, and get a job around town.
