Sit with Amy Fishbach, Director of Primary Art Education at The Agnon School in Beachwood, Ohio, for five minutes and you will know that this is a woman of tremendous energy, born to connect passionately. Amy, who teaches children from kindergarten through fourth grade, has connected so well with her young art students that she was given the prestigious Primary School Art Educator of the Year Award 2003 by Young Audiences of Greater Cleveland. As part of the award, Young Audiences produced a video about this inspiring teacher. In the video, her colleagues, fellow teachers and students were asked to describe her in one word. Just a few of the words chosen to describe Amy were “extraordinary,” “vivacious,” “energetic,” “passionate,” “dedicated,” “unbelievably creative,” and “authentic,” and that is just a small sampling!

In her classroom at The Agnon School, Amy introduces her students to other cultures usually not presented to children of that age. She stresses diversity in the classroom and initiates creative projects to start youngsters out with broadened horizons. For example, she currently has her students studying artwork of the Huichol Indians of Mexico, which will lead to an art project reflecting what they have learned. This visionary teacher has also assigned her students to study the works of such greats as Marc Chagall, Georgia O'Keefe, Henri Rousseau and the French feminist artist Niki de Saint Phalle, to name a few. It is a primary art class far removed from coloring turkeys and cutting out pumpkins. “We are wrong if we think children can't understand abstract concepts and ideas,” she says.

Amy trusts her students with every imaginable art form: acrylic and watercolor painting, clay sculpting, box art, mask making. She says she feels “enlarged” by their concentration, by their ability to make connections with artists and understand them. “I learn from my students,” she says, “I really do.”

She also gives credit to The Agnon School itself. “I feel really lucky to be teaching here at The Agnon School, where art is so well integrated into the curriculum. Integration is one of the core values of the school.” When her second-graders studied colonial times, she incorporated a study of traditional quilt making into her art class and then introduced her students to the contemporary African-American quilt artist, Faith Reinggold, who combines painting, quilting and storytelling into her art. The students each wrote their own story and painted a scene from it, and then the class created a quilt by stitching their paintings together. For Amy, there are infinite opportunities to appreciate and create art. And as schools are increasingly cutting their budgets in the arts, she bristles at having to justify art classes. “Art and creativity are what make us human,” she insists.

Amy’s own path to art came about in a roundabout way. During the 1990s, she lived at a kibbutz in Jerusalem for a year and a half. She considers the experience as central to her growth and development. Her only job at the kibbutz was chopping vegetables for five hours a day. With time left on her hands, she turned to art. “It was the first time I did art without a teacher telling me what to do,” she recalls. “It was the first time I did art out of my own personal need and motivation.” Her art from that period – landscapes, people, architecture, stones and cartoon panels of her ordinary life in a kibbutz – merited an art show of its own at the Jewish Community Center after her return to Cleveland. She even used her experience in her classroom. After showing her students the slides she took while in Jerusalem, she had them create clay studies of the Wailing Wall, Arab fish markets, the Dome of the Rock and a Christian cross.

Before Amy's influence, her students might have moaned that their artwork was terrible. “They rarely do that anymore,” she says. She has taught them that making mistakes is part of the creative process. “Sometimes,” she tells them, “mistakes in art can turn into your best ideas!” She opens one of her many art books for an unhappy student and shows him how his “squiggles” are similar to the works of Willem de Kooning. With another dejected student, she demonstrates how her misshapen, colorfully designed figure is similar to the work of de Saint Phalle. With an encouraging word for everyone, she inspires confidence in the young people she teaches.

Amy also believes that education is an ongoing process. She holds a Master's Degree in Art from Ursuline College, and she is currently completing a second Master's Degree in Education at Cleveland State. She is quick to point out, however, that, “All the academic training in the world will not necessarily make you a good teacher.” Amy Fishbach loves her job, and loves teaching. “Teaching makes my work life adventurous,” she laughs. “And the best part is, I get to keep learning.”

Each issue of Balanced Living Magazine will feature people in love with their job. We would like to inspire our readers to live their passion. If you would like to recommend someone for this column, please send your requests to info@BalancedLivingMag.com.