I think of Renee Darvin.

This morning I heard the very sad news that Renee Darvin had died.

Not many of the Dewey21C readers will have had the great fortune to have met Renee. But, many of you will have known someone like Renee. Someone who played a major part in your career and life in the arts.

Renee was certainly best known as a first-rate teacher of visual art teachers at Teacher College in New York City. Before that, she headed up visual art education at the New York City Board of Education.

And, before that, she was the Chairman of the Fine Arts Department at Beach Channel High School in Rockaway Beach, NY. BCHS was my high school, and yes, I first met Renee Darvin when I was 15 years old.

Renee is important to me in so many ways, but for the readers of Dewey21C, many of you will recognize Renee for the icon she represented, as so many of us know or have been fortunate to have known that truly gifted, deeply knowledgeable teacher of the arts. Renee was all that, and more. Renee knew her stuff, in way that I am sorry to say is somewhat old school, for few get to have the career that Renee Darvin had.

Renee was that rare combination of master teacher, master administrator, master advocate, and keeper of the flame of quality and tradition in visual art instruction K-12.

When I advocate for certified arts teachers, that advocacy has been directly informed by what Renee Darvin taught me. Renee is the archetype in my mind’s eye.

Let me bring you a few quotes, straight from the New York Times, in the early 90s, when Renee was standing up for arts and children:

Despite the bleak statistics, some schools like Public School 19 on
the Lower East Side manage to make do, scrambling for grants, enlisting
neighborhood artists and juggling their own budgets. These schools are
helped by dozens, if not hundreds, of outside arts groups that send
performers to schools, organize field trips or provide special arts
programs. But many of these programs may be here one year, gone the
next, and so very few New York City students can count on having arts
classes throughout their school years.

As a result, said Renee Darvin, a former director of art for New
York City public schools, children can neither develop their own talents
nor find relief in art from the stresses of their own lives. “We have
kids who write on the walls because that’s all the art they know,” Ms.
Darvin said.

“Tragically, art education is virtually nonexistent in the lives of most
elementary-school children in New York,” said Renee Darvin, director of
art for the New York City Public Schools. “Museum programs have had to
do what schools are not: provide children with the integration of art
into their lives.” 

And, from this past December, she spoke plainly in the Columbia Spectator, about the state of things at the New York City Department of Education, reminding everyone about what was really going on, regardless of what officials at the NYCDOE had to say:

Renee Darvin, an instructor at Teachers College, places graduate
students who want to become arts teachers in schools around the city.
She said she hasn’t been able to place many students in nearby schools
because relatively few have arts programs with teachers who are part of
the faculty, not artists in residence or from other institutions.

And, as I close this blog, in memory of my friend and teacher Renee, who had the courage of her convictions and a hell of a lot of guts, I give to you a short little piece I wrote for her retirement party from Teachers College this past May 7th. Renee, may you rest in peace.

I
got my first glimpse of what Renee Darvin is made of in 1974, when I was 15 years old. At Beach Channel High School, where Renee was the chairman of the
Art Department and I was a junior, I went to her at the urging of the head of
the music department, Jack Nowinski, who did not appear be willing to take the
matter up directly with Renee!

 

I
asked Renee to sign me out of my high school art requirement allowing me to
take an additional music course as a substitute. With the great indignation of an
overly serious 15 year old eyeballing a career in music, I begged Renee: “I am a
devoted music student, planning to make a career out of music!! As much as I
love visual arts, it would take me away from the seriousness of my music
study.” Renee would not budge: “art is also a serious subject and it is
important that a musician be well-rounded. I am sorry, the answer is no.” Case
closed.

 

Of
course, Renee was right. I am happy to report that I learned about art from the
master, Renee, and still had time and space to go on to the All-City Orchestra,
receive two degrees from Juilliard, win the 1990 Naumburg Chamber Music Award,
and more.

 

Beyond
all that, Renee was more than correct, she taught me then and now about courage,
principle, and commitment to a quality arts education. I am deeply honored to
be able to congratulate Renee, my friend and mentor, and unrelenting wise woman
on that day in 1974, on her very well deserved retirement from Teachers
College.