Savoring the Bravos : Arts Teacher Wins Music Center Award; 2 Others Were Among Finalists

About every two months, Ventura High School teacher Patti Post mounts a new exhibit of her students’ work in a room next to the school cafeteria that she has converted into an art gallery.

Across town, teacher Darlene Sweatt stages elaborate, full-costume, schoolwide theater productions three times a year of plays such as “The Nutcracker” and “A Christmas Carol” at Elmhurst Elementary School.

And across the county, Simi Valley High School teacher Bruce Kanegai credits his success as an advanced art class teacher partly to the philosophies of three personal heroes--Vince Lombardi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Kanegai’s karate instructor.

The three veteran teachers were finalists for the BRAVO Award, an honor given annually to two teachers by the Music Center of Los Angeles County for excellence in teaching the arts.

This year, 118 teachers from seven Southern California counties were nominated by their principals for the award. At a ceremony at the Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Thursday, Post was chosen as one of two winners from this year’s 11 finalists. The other winner was Michael Monagan from Widney High School in Santa Monica.

The three Ventura County nominees were described as exemplary teachers who bring boundless energy and inspiration to their students.

Setting up an on-campus student art gallery had long been a dream for Post, who has taught for 21 years, the past 13 at Ventura High.

About five years ago, Post found a place for the gallery in a then-cluttered room just off the school cafeteria.

With help from staff members and students and money from the school, Post transformed the former storage space into a showcase for the arts, with student and staff exhibits that change every six to eight weeks. She also oversees an annual Italian chalk-painting competition at the school.

Post, 44, of Santa Barbara, has also taught creative writing and world cultures, and for 10 years operated a dance company through the Ventura Unified school system. But her emphasis now is on the visual arts, she said.

“I was interested in so many things,” Post said. “But when I walked into that arts classroom, I knew I was home.”

Post plays classical music as her students work, and she encourages them to use other subjects with art, including music, psychology and literature.

For three days last week, for example, students staged a 1950s beatnik poetry festival. Dressed in black and to the accompaniment of bongo drums, each student displayed an original piece of artwork and read original work.

“Our art department has blossomed,” Principal Robert Cousar said. “She’s one of the most genuinely concerned people about her youngsters I have ever met.”

Simi Valley’s Kanegai said he applies the ethic of a Japanese samurai warrior to his teaching of the arts: “To be a samurai, you not only need to commit to excellence, but to integrity and honesty,” Kanegai said.

Kanegai, an avid outdoorsman, holds a fourth-degree black belt in karate and also teaches the sport privately and with the Rancho Simi Recreation and Parks District. Eastern philosophy, he said, has proven useful in teaching students in his courses in basic design, painting, drawing and advanced studio, which includes various kinds of art.

“I try to bring out the best in the quality of my students,” Kanegai, 43, said. “I push them hard, it’s a very demanding course. . . . I try to teach them that art is related to everything in the world, and to open their eyes.”

Kanegai has taught for 20 years, the past 18 at Simi Valley High. He was a finalist for the BRAVO Award two years ago.

His teaching and other activities, he said, are inspired partly by the teachings of former Green Bay Packers’ Coach Vince Lombardi, Martin Luther King Jr., and his karate teacher, Tsutomu Ohshima.

Kanegai said he holds his students to strict academic standards, and may drop them from his course if their grades are low in other subjects.

Principal David Ellis said Kanegai “really is very adept at getting kids to appreciate art. . . . He just gets them fired up, and I think they surprise themselves when they’ve been in his class for a while, because they do things they never thought they could do.”

After 22 years in the classroom, fifth-grade teacher Darlene Sweatt said, “I can’t imagine my life not teaching.”

Sweatt, 51, is usually at Elmhurst Elementary by 7 a.m. and there long after her regular teaching duties have ended, supervising rehearsals for the plays and musicals that she produces.

Said Principal Kenneth Coffey: “She has absolutely unending energy and total commitment to what she’s doing in the area of fine arts. She truly believes children will become more productive citizens if they have certain kinds of skills at their disposal. She’s totally immersed in what she loves most.”

Every Friday, a substitute relieves Sweatt of regular duties, and she teaches each of the school’s 580 students, a group at a time, on music and dance.

Without teachers willing to give extra time, Sweatt said, some students would have little exposure to the arts.

“I think arts education is in very, very serious trouble because of the lack of funding,” Sweatt said. “I think arts should be a core subject and not just an extension. The arts humanize us and give us that feeling of confidence and well-being that allows us to be successful in life, and successful in other areas.”