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Art Teacher Draws From Experience

STEPHEN HAMMILL / STAFF PHOTO

Mackenzie Erickson, 11, a student at Learning Gate Elementary in Lutz takes art and calligraphy classes with her grandmother at the Keystone Civic Center, 17926 Gunn Hwy.

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By STEPHEN HAMMILL | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 5, 2007

KEYSTONE- On Tuesday evenings at the Keystone Civic Center, grandmother and granddaughter take art and calligraphy classes together.

Mackenzie Erickson, 11, a student at Learning Gate Community School in Lutz, likes painting with acrylics. Her grandmother, Louise, prefers oils.

'She especially loves painting faces,' Erickson said of her granddaughter.

Both work with teacher Lee Ann Ward, who teaches general art and calligraphy twice a week at the Keystone Civic Center and at Northdale Recreation Center.

'There aren't that many people who want to do calligraphy lately, so I stay with general art most of the time,' she said. 'I always ask students want they want to do first and go from there.'

Ward has lived in Keystone since 1979. The journey to art teacher was a circuitous one.

'When I was little we lived in the hills of Oklahoma. I was not exposed to artists of any kind,' she said. 'When I moved into the world as a teenager I wanted to be a commercial artist - something in the fashion world.'

She fostered a passion for years while working in the medical field.

'It was a good career, but you know how you fall into a job and you tend to stay with that for a lifetime, especially with women,' she said. 'Life came in. I got married, had children. The rest took a back seat.'

When she retired in her late 50s she decided to take the plunge.

'I took art classes every day for 15 years,' she said. 'I never had so much fun in my life. With calligraphy and art it was great fun for me; it was never work.'

Having raised four children, she is a grandmother and has been teaching for nine years.

Ward charges $8 for two-hour classes. She also teaches private lessons but likes the convenience of the county's facilities - the space, the running water, the lack of cleanup. She pays the county a percentage of her earnings.

Previous students have gone on to study art in college. One sells art to tattoo parlors.

An artist in her own right, Ward specializes in miniatures. Miniature art is defined as a painting or drawing small enough to fit in the palm and look like a fully expressed artwork even at extreme magnification.

She has shown her work in the Florida Miniature Society's annual expos, and has also authored two illustrated children's books, both in the fantasy genre.

Reporter Stephen Hammill can be reached at (813) 865-1523 or at shammill@tampatrib.com.

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