PROFILE: Terry Hoffman, new Island School art teacher
The Island School has not only found an art teacher with pizazz, they found one with a sense of humor and a sense of purpose. The new art teacher is Terry Hoffman, and she loves bringing out the artistic creativity she believes is present in everyone, especially children.
Monday, Aug. 14 was her first day with her new students. “It was a great first day!” she reported.
The bright orange sundress she wore was a great ice- breaker, as children noticed the drawings of pineapples on the dress. “I love pineapples,” one student told her. “I break out when I eat pineapple,” another offered. Everyone had something to say about the dress or the jewelry or the artwork … and Terry knew that is how it would work.
“After teaching for over 32 years, I know the things that work and the things that don’t,” she said. She also knows that art is one of those subjects that kids love. “If they don’t love it, they learned to not love it from somebody down the road, because they are all artists,” she said.
For this reason she is not interested in traditional grades for artwork. She tells the story of a high school student who landed in her class and turned out to be quite good at art. Terry asked her why she had never been in her class before, and the girl said she had gotten a C in art in second grade and simply thought she was not good at it, so she never tried it again.
“I’ve been through many principals and many schools, and it’s made me very flexible about grading,” she said.
Terry’s first-day success with her TIS students was more than the bright orange dress with the pineapples. It also rained that day, followed by a rainbow overhead. “That tied in with the project we did with their names,” she said. The project was to use the new markers for each student to outline his or her name with lots of color, making rainbows around each one. “It was kind of serendipitous,” she said.
Serendipity happens a lot for Terry. It is an essential tool in her artistic toolbox, allowing her to tap into her surroundings and what is happening around her, and finding creative ways to put them on paper or in other artistic pieces.
Terry is a very well-rounded artist as well. She sews, does fiber art, paints, makes collages, sculpts, makes jewelry, draws, makes ceramics and more. She tried working with glass and did not like it, so that is an exception, but her creative materials fill several rooms in her Riverwood home.
“When I met my husband Frank, I warned him, ‘I am an artist.’ He said, ‘That’s fine.’ I said, ‘No, I’m an ARTIST!’ and that’s what I tell the kids. I teach art, but I am an artist. So yesterday (the first day of school) I brought in rings that I made – I wear my jewelry – and passed my rings around. The kids were mesmerized. I asked them, ‘Do rings have to be round?’ They realized that they did not.”
Art is not a profession or a thing she does, it is a way of life for her.
“That’s how I fill my days,” she acknowledged. “I get up and I say, ‘Do I want to sew today? Do I want to paint today?’ And sometimes I go fishing with my husband.”
Her home is filled with her creations. Some have won awards, some are very personal, some reflect a new adventure in art, some are whimsical, others are serious. Almost all of them are colorful. Each one is unique. They are all a reflection of Terry, the artist … an artist who didn’t think she would ever go back to teaching, but has.
Terry and Frank are from Wisconsin and moved here in 2007. Her father was a teacher who fostered her love of travel that has not ceased to this day. She has been to every national park. She went to South America right after high school and then took a road trip up to Canada. Europe has been visited many times, though she prefers to go to slightly warmer places.
“I’m on my fourth or fifth passport now, because they only last 10 years,” she said.
A word to the wise from an expert on travel: Terry said, “Beware the scones.”
“I fell in love with scones while traveling in the British Isles, particularly Powers Court, Ireland. It’s ruined me for life, because every scone I have, I compare to the ones we had there. Few measure up.”
For most of her teaching years, classes were held in a basement.
“That’s where they put art,” she laughed. “No window, no ventilation, obviously before OSHA was around. When I married my husband I said, ‘I’d really like to get out of the basement and see the sunshine.’ That’s how we ended up coming here.”
At first it was just on vacation that they came to the island. In 2007 they bought a place in Cape Haze – right before she retired and just before the market crashed.
“Our plans were to live in this condo, then build a house,” she said. “We had the plans drawn up. Then we were going to put a bid on a Rotonda house, but decided to check out Riverwood and see what the houses were like there.”
Since then, Terry has taught a lot (such as at the Englewood Art Center), as well as taken a lot of classes. She loves to teach, and she loves to learn.
“Every time I have ever needed to learn to do something, I find some way to learn it,” she said. “In Wisconsin I went to fiber school, I learned how to make baskets, I learned how to make paper, I learned to weave, spin and dye fibers. Then I went to dye school, then learned how to do clay. Now I work with precious metals and polymer clay.”
Terry said that one important lesson she has learned is that trying to make things perfect doesn’t work … at least, not for her. That’s the knowledge she imparts to her students, too.
“Perfect is not what I’m aiming for,” she said. “To draw perfectly – what is that? I brought in a painting of mine to the school, and when we were introducing ourselves, I told the kids they could paint pictures of trees, flowers and people. Then you can also do an abstract painting that isn’t of anything, but they still give you a good feeling … so we’re going to work on that this year.”
Terry had been retired for 15 years when she had a chance encounter with an enthusiastic Island School teacher at a small French cafe earlier this summer. She didn’t say who her conversation was with, but does say that by the end of it, she was set on becoming The Island School’s new art teacher. She had a chat with TIS Head of School Christine Oliver and, suddenly, she was back to teaching.
“Christine is a sweetie. The whole staff is nice, very warm, very helpful,” Terry said. “I believe it’s going to be stimulating, it’ll keep me on my toes. I am honored and grateful for the opportunity to be teaching at TIS and hope that I can share what I have cultivated along the way with students and faculty.”
It looks as though the pineapple dress will be seen again a few more times around the halls of TIS, maybe even in town a few times. Terry loves the island and has since the first day she saw it.
“It’s a sweet, sweet little gem,” she said fondly. “Boca Grande, like the state in general, is definitely my happy place. It really is.”
