Lia Herse teaches her art students how to see colors as they really are. Her students discover that skies have more colors than blue and grass is only sometimes green.
More than 200 student artists of all ages take her classes each year at Orland Park`s Recreation and Parks Department.
”Look, teacher. Look at the sky. There`s a gray cloud,” says a 7-year-old pupil.
When Herse hears those words, she knows she has made a difference.
”That`s an unusual comment coming from a child,” she says. ”Most children think clouds are white and the sky is always blue.”
If students are tempted to use only blue paint for sky, Herse stops and questions them: ”Why do you paint only blue if it`s 6 a.m.? That`s dawn, and the color of sunrise is peach, green, pink and a little bit of blue.”
The parents of Herse`s students are surprised by what their children see in nature`s true colors, she says. ”They have told me, `You have taught
(them) how to see things they have never seen before,”` she says. ”They always thought grass was green. Now all of a sudden it`s gray, light yellow, purple and so many other colors, because they have learned how to see things.”
Seeing the subtleties of color is the first step toward learning how to paint them, Herse says. It also leads to artistic creativity and individual expression. That`s what Young Picasso, a six-week class, is all about.
The sessions for children age 5 through 8 and 9 through 12 are held Saturdays at the recreation department`s Franklin Loebe Center, 14650 Ravinia Ave. Each session is limited to about 15 students.
Youngsters learn the basics of cartooning, drawing, sketching and painting. Each week they complete an art project in the one-hour class.
Herse also teaches her young artists how to see geometric shapes in the subjects they draw. For example, a panda is really three circles: one each for the animal`s head, stomach and back. After drawing the circles, students add details and features, and the panda begins to take shape. Students find it easier to draw circles, squares, rectangles and ovals and then add the details, she says.
”I guide their hands or I draw a little portion and they do the rest,”
she says. ”If (a child) can`t develop the ears on Mickey Mouse, I explain that the ears are nothing more than two small circles. All of a sudden it`s easy.”
For a finished look, students trace over their pencil sketches with a black felt marker. ”They follow their own pencil; they`re not tracing someone else`s work,” she says.
As a teacher, Herse ”genuinely cares for kids. She`s very patient,”
says Carole Binder, recreation department program supervisor, who hired Herse about nine years ago.
”She`s explicit as far as directions go, and she lets the kids express themselves creatively,” Binder says.
Creative Watercolor and Acrylic, a seven-week course that meets Monday mornings, is geared for Herse`s beginning and intermediate adult students, who range in age from 20 to 70 and older.
”Adults are more demanding” than children, she says. Some adults redo their artwork until it suits them, so it`s not unusual for these students to complete only two works during the course.
For starters, Herse shows adults reproductions of paintings by famous artists and her own watercolors and acrylics. This opens a discussion of artistic styles and helps students focus on the type of artwork they would like to complete in the class.
”We talk about pigment, harmony, perspective, composition, feeling and expression,” she says. Then they choose subjects that interest them most, such as a landscape, seascape, still life or floral design.
”I encourage them to use their own style of expression,” she says. ”I don`t force them into an exercise they don`t like. I work with them individually, and they progress according to their own levels.”
Some of Herse`s students have been studying with her about four years.
”The motivation and inspiration are there, so they come back for more,”
she says.
Lilian Laughlin, an Orland Park resident who has studied with Herse for about two years, has a special interest in watercolors. Herse ”is special and very interested in teaching,” Laughlin says. ”She takes the brush in her hand and shows you how to do things.
Herse says she believes she has developed as a person through her 18 years of teaching. ”I share what I know with my students. That`s a good feeling. Otherwise I`d keep it all to myself, and that`s a selfish attitude.” Herse finds teaching rewarding, she says. ”I see improvement and development in my students. That`s satisfaction.”
When she teaches, she`s really with friends, she says, ”because we all get excited about art.”
Occasionally students don`t see things her way. ”One lady came to class but didn`t want any criticism. That`s funny in itself. How can you teach someone whom you can`t critique?” she says, adding that she doesn`t criticize the work of students who aren`t receptive to it.
Herse says she believes painting is more than a physical act. ”Art reaches a person`s life. An interest in art, music or any cultural field
(helps) develop maturity. That growth puts you on a higher level. It makes life more interesting, and it lifts a person`s spirit,” Herse says.
Art also has a therapeutic effect, she says. When her students come to class, she notices they sometimes look worried. But once they begin to concentrate on a sky or a seascape, they`re in another world that has nothing to do with daily problems and concerns.
Art is a ”healthy hobby for the mind and the ego,” she says.
Although Herse sometimes unwinds by playing tennis, she says age or physical handicaps limit some people from participating in sports.
Not so with art. ”It has longevity. Some of our most famous painters, such as Georgia O`Keeffe (who died at age 98) painted up until the last days of their lives. Age doesn`t interfere with productivity,” she says.
Herse, 56, was born near Ravenna, in northeastern Italy. At age 9 she started private art instruction after school. ”My first teacher, Mrs. Signorelli, always believed I was good. She told me to stay with it.”
She did. After receiving a bachelor`s degree in art education from the University of Venice in 1956, Herse and her husband, Boguslaw, immigrated to Chicago the next year and in 1961 moved to Tinley Park, where she paints in her home studio.
Her watercolors and acrylics are shown at south suburban galleries, and her illustrations and art history articles have been published in national magazines, such as The Illustrator; Jack and Jill, a children`s magazine; and a high school textbook.
They have three grown children. Their daughter Natalie, 24, is a free-lance graphic designer. Her son, Conrad, 27, is an electronics engineer, and her other daughter, Danielle, 29, is a Spanish teacher.
Herse has taught at several park districts in the south and southwest suburbs, including the Oak Forest Park District, where she designs the cover for the district`s promotional brochures.
Using an impressionistic style, Herse says she finds inspiration from nature. Her studio is near a wooded area where deer are often seen. ”I take photographs from my studio window (to capture) the fleeting moment. Then I`ll develop a painting from it,” she says.
In one of her recent watercolors, titled ”Highland Sentinels,” two pine trees dominate a mountain slope covered with wildflowers. It reminds her of the mountain walks she used to take while vacationing in Switzerland. ”I do love nature. I`m a mountain freak.”
During the summer months, Herse limits her teaching and spends more time on her paintings. However, she plans to teach a Young Artists Camp for 10 days in August. The camp, for children ages 6 through 12, is being held for the first time and will be at the Loebe Center, which was completed six months ago.
The center has class and meeting rooms, a dance studio, wrestling room, track and gym, Binder says.
This summer outdoor concerts will be held at a new outdoor amphitheater adjacent to the center. Also planned is a Teen Scene Weekend at the center, featuring a fashion show, battle of the bands, and dance, among other activities, she says.
