Aside from providing enriching educational environments for students, PA Distance Learning Charter School teachers are busy outside the classroom as well. One example is high school art teacher Mr. Rumble, whose own work can be found at various galleries throughout Pennsylvania.
Mr. Rumble’s interest in art began at an early age before he soon realized that teaching was his true passion.
“I wanted to build an environment that was helpful and a safe space for people, and I have always felt that I am a teacher before I am a working artist,” he said about his early days in the classroom.
He now teaches grades 9-12 at PA Distance, where his studio classes are working on coil potting, and his drawing and painting classes are experimenting with acrylics.
When asked about his experience as a creative, Mr. Rumble answered, “One of the reasons I feel so obligated to make art professionally outside of school is because I feel like people don’t think of art educators as artists. And art educators often don’t look at themselves as artists. Teachers like me have to make art accessible to everyone.”
Currently, his own pieces can be found at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg where he is a chosen regional artist, Saint Vincent College in Westmoreland County, the Penn State New Kensington campus, Robert Morris University, and the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh exhibition in Lawrenceville. At Saint Vincent, he collaborated on an interactive piece inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic, where people can write their own messages on face masks to add to a continually growing display. At the Penn State New Kensington campus, he is involved in a show titled “Teachers and Artists” along with other PA Distance staff.
He explained that his pieces are a reflection of being an instructor within the American education system. The mediums featured in each show range from found-object assembled sculptures and large-format paintings to collages and screen prints.
“I go through waves of inspiration while working on a lot of different types of projects. One time, I was doing these giant collages of milk cartons that were all from inner-city schools called ‘Free or Reduced.’
“But the movement that I’m in right now is taking old, school street signs and folding them into origami that is interactive and fully functional. When you unfold the metal, the entire sign is visible. I think about the experience of what it’s like to be a kid and develop fun, whimsical creations that evoke a sense of nostalgia, so a lot of my inspiration comes from my students.
“The good thing about being a conceptual artist is that you have the freedom to make whatever you want as long as it aligns with your original ideas,” Mr. Rumble stated.
The unfolded version of Mr. Rumble’s origami project, created by cutting the metal at the seams and mounting it on a clear material called Laminated Ripstop
How does Mr. Rumble keep all of his innovative ideas organized? “I have a tear-off daily calendar where I jot down thoughts on the back of the previous day. Sometimes it will turn into something, but sometimes it won’t,” he joked.
His advice to aspiring artists is that anyone has the potential to be a professional, working artist. It’s whether they come to terms with that potential that makes all the difference.
The finished product
Interested in showcasing your own artwork like Mr. Rumble? Bring your piece to any of our upcoming field trips in order for it to be featured in one of the PA Distance Mobile Art Shows in June. Click here for more information!