Teacher in Residence

Marcia McEachron has been inspiring young Glasgow artists for over 20 years, and she doesn't appear to be ready to quit.

McEachron began coming to Glasgow as part of an artist in residence program in 1994, and each year since then, she has been invited to work with the third grade classes in Glasgow. With her help and supervision, the students have created their own art with pictures of animals, and third grade teacher Betty Jo Bense's favorite - self portraits. She typically spends a week with the students and helps them with their projects from start to finish.

McEachron has also left her mark in Glasgow with the Scottie Dog sculpture at the Glasgow High School and the metal gate for the entrance to the Irle School playground. She was also responsible for a mural in the old Irle School building, but that piece of art is just a memory since the building was torn down.

This year, a new colorful mural was painted on the wall in the lower entryway of the new elementary school. Visitors to Irle School will see the student's artistic interpretations of mostly wild animals and birds, including an owl on a perch, a climbing bear, a crouched wolf, a hawk in flight, and the state bird of Montana, a western meadowlark. Each student drew a picture of an animal during class, and according to McEachron, "The mural is stimulated by the images they drew." The process of transferring the images to the mural is a one-day-at-a-time process and it evolves over time, she explained further. The students make suggestions about things they want to add to the mural, including adding bright red apples to the tree, and incorporating waves in the water that runs through the depicted countryside.

The students that were working on the mural the day I was there were very enthusiastic and intent on the project – even offering to skip recess in order to continue working on their sections of the mural.

The activity drew the interest of students passing by as well. Most of them wanted to know when they would be able to help paint. McEachron had to gently explain to one student that she is only working with the third grade classes at this time, but maybe other classes can participate in coming years.

"It's about developing their imaginations and observation skills. It's about learning to solve problems," McEachron said. She shared a story about a session she had with a group of students one year. To prepare, she had taken a short walk down a wooded path and snapped some random pictures. The student's task was to take the same walk-each with one of the pictures she provided- and find where the photo was taken. "It makes them stop and observe," explained McEachron.

Monday brought McEachron's time in Glasgow to an end with an art show held in the school's cafeteria. The annual art show provides an opportunity for the students to display their hard work. They proudly show their creations and pose in front of their work for parents and grandparents to capture the moment in a snapshot. For some students, it is a taste of what is to come for them, when McEachron returns next year for more of the same.