A half century ago, I was in my junior year at Muskingum College. Everyone had to take either in their junior or senior year a 10-hour course called The Arts. You took 5-hours class each semester. Many of my classmates waited until they were seniors. The Arts scared most of us. As chance would have it, I took it in my junior year...and it changed my entire life. The class started with the Paleolithic cave drawing at Altamira and Lascaux.

Lascaux cave

We ended the second semester with modern art like Marc Chagall's I and the Village.

Chagall's I and the Village

No wonder it was a 10-hour class; The Arts 20,000 years of art, which required a third of one's credit hours either in his or her junior or senior year. Nonetheless, there is no other class in my 12-years of college, graduate, and post-graduate education that I loved as much and from which I gained so much. I am serious...none. The professor was Louie Palmer. We met for three-hour long lectures a week and small two subsections.

This was a subsection of The Arts.

This is a photo of Louie Palmer.

If that herculean task was not enough, during the second semester, we had to create our own artwork. We needed to design and produce some piece of art. Being able to identify paintings of Goya and Gauguin or knowing painting of Michelangelo and Rodin was a task in the first place. However, doing your own artwork was like an academic bridge too far. Even though I loved the history, becoming an artist during second semester was another story.

Not wishing to fail the class because of not presenting a piece of art, I designed and made hooked rug. I have had it for a half century and it is hanging on a wall of my home...

On the wall of my garage.

Now, Jack and Owen are doing well in the regular art history classwork. One of Jack's favorite paintings is Chagall's I and the Village.

Jack is pointing out his home in Chagall's village.

Owen identifies van Gogh's The Langlois Bridge at Arles.

However, like a half century ago, Jack and Owen need to create something in some art form. I picked a lovely rug. However, they decided to color Easter eggs as their expression of their artistic creativity for The Arts 2014 class, which is exactly a half century after my rug.

Owen says, "Papa, you seem to know this art form pretty well."

Owen's first choice was purple and Jack's was blue.

Then it was their turn. Owen is telling Jack to put the egg on the holder to dip it.

Owen wants to do another purple egg. Jack is still musing over his blue one.

Jack would rather use his fingers.

While Jack methodically places an egg into the dye, Owen notices
an advertisement for toys in the paper used to protect the table.

Watch this; it's going to turn out nicely.

I see a masterpiece taking shape. Stand back!

Jack was more interested in hid tricolored egg...

"Yo, I'm feeling really creative..."

"I'm signing autographs after we clean up our artistic mess."

A half century ago, I did well on the tests and term paper, and artistic expression for my rug. Had it not been for the next thing, I would have still loved The Arts. After the second semester ended, Louie called me into his office to talk. He wanted me to help teach the subsections during my senior year. That did change my life...forever. What an experience.

That is one of the reasons why I want to help Jack and Owen with The Arts. Maybe a half a century from now, they will be writing about their crazy Papa, because he helped them change their lives.

Thanks, Louie. You were a great teacher and mentor of mine. I hope that I can do the same for Jack and Owen.

An Old Man and His Grandson

Visit The Mentors and Me page to read more about this topic.

05/09/14