What is Art Worth?

By Trish Anderton on Tuesday, October 28, 2003.

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How much is art worth?

That's a question schools often ask themselves during tough financial times.

Art can seem like an expensive indulgence next to core subjects like English and Math.

School boards across the state have cut art classes due to lack of funding.

But the art program at Woodsville High School is in some ways central to the school and its mission.

The small farming town north of Lebanon has had the same art teacher for 35 years.

New Hampshire Public Radio's Trish Anderton recently visited his calss and filed this report.

DALE FEID?S CLASSROOM BUBBLES OVER WITH ART.

COLORFUL MOBILES HANG FROM THE CEILING.

THE SHELVES ARE CRAMMED WITH STUDENT CERAMICS.

DECADES WORTH OF PAINTINGS FILL THE ROOM ? SOME DONE ON CANVAS, OTHERS DAUBED RIGHT ONTO THE WALLS.

FEID?S STUDENTS ARE JUST ABOUT BUBBLING OVER THEMSELVES.

THEY CROWD AROUND HIM AS HE LOOKS OVER A NEW BATCH OF PRINTS THEY?VE MADE FROM ETCHINGS.

004 110 I like the dark one. really, you don?t think it?s too dark?

ASHLEY SCRUTON?S ETCHING SHOWS THE GREEK GODDESSES HERA, APHRODITE AND ATHENA IN THE BEAUTY CONTEST THAT LED TO THE TROJAN WAR.

004 45 that works great. I didn?t know if I?d like that. who?s that guy, pan? it?s paris. oh, paris. fido, you really need to brush up on your mythology. do you want to borrow one of my books?

FEID?S STUDENTS RARELY CALL HIM ?MR. FEID.?

IT?S USUALLY JUST FEID, OR FIDO, OR CHIP, PERHAPS BECAUSE HIS FIRST NAME IS DALE.

THE ATMOSPHERE IS FREEWHEELING, BUT FEID NEVER LOSES CONTROL OF THE ROOM.

HE CIRCULATES CONSTANTLY, HELPING TO CRANK THE PRINTING PRESS, OR BRAINSTORMING WITH STUDENTS ABOUT THEIR WORK.

FEID PUSHES THEM TO IMPROVE.

But sometimes negativITY threatens to sweep the room.

When that happens HE GIVES A QUICK PEP TALK.

12 40 I do want you to be critical, but maybe I?ve created a monster. so lighten up on yourselves a bit. these look fine.

FOR 35 YEAR?S FEID?S BASEMENT classroom HAS BEEN A REFUGE.

KIDS COME DOWN HERE DURING LUNCH OR FREE PERIODS.

THEY WORK ON PROJECTS, OR JUST HANG OUT.

SUPERINTENDENT BRUCE LABS.

15 127 everybody picks on him and he picks on them back. and you oftentimes see kids there like you might not see them anywhere else. // a sense of humor where you might not see it in another classroom. or talking about something you might not ordinarily hear.

PERHAPS IT?S NOT SURPRISING THAT STUDENTS TAKE SHELTER HERE.

FEID HIMSELF WAS SOMETHING OF A REFUGEE WHEN HE CAME TO THIS SMALL NORTH COUNTRY TOWN IN the late 60s.

35 50. you really want the truth? the truth is I had a wife and a new baby, the draft was going on, I had a fairly low number, and I was against the war, so I said what can I do to support my family and not get drafted? I hit upon woodsville, which was deferrable.

THERE WASN?T A LOT OF MONEY FOR ART, SO AT FIRST FEID CIRCULATED AMONG FOUR DIFFERENT SCHOOLS.

31 30 I wd have a box of art supplies, a cardboard box, and I wd travel from school to school and I wd be in first grade one hour. an hour later hgih school. than an hour later third grade.it was kind of a crazy schedule the first fifteen years.

FEID DIDN?T REALLY EXPECT TO BE HERE FOR FIFTEEN YEARS, NEVER MIND 35.

HE SAYS HE STAYED BECAUSE OF THE STUDENTS.

from the first day to the present day there?s been this great resource of students who are turned on by art and who are good at it. I?m never without students who are talented.

FEID HAS HAD THE SATISFACTION OF SEEING SOME OF HIS STUDENTS BECOME PROFESSIONAL ARTISTS.

LAST YEAR THREE WENT ON TO ART SCHOOL ? NOT BAD FOR A CLASS OF 60-some GRADUATES.

BUT FEID SAYS WHAT HE?S REALLY PROUD OF IS INTRODUCING THOUSANDS OF RURAL STUDENTS TO ART AND CULTURE.

EARLY ON, HE STARTED LEADING FIELD TRIPS TO THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS IN BOSTON.

MANY OF HIS STUDENTS HAD NEVER BEEN TO A CITY.

they?d be confronted with monets and picassos. but the high point of the day for them was the escalator. they?d ride the escalator in the museum up and down, and that was the high point.

//
it?s basically a farm community, here

CHRIS MAY TOOK FEID?S CLASSES FOR THIRTEEN YEARS ? KINDERGARTEN THROUGH TWELFTH GRADE.

HE TOOK AS MANY AS THREE CLASSES AT A TIME IN HIGH SCHOOL.

HE SAYS FEID WAS HIS ONLY CONNECTION TO ART.

even if you go to anywhere a little bit larger there?s public sculptures and so forth. there?s nothing like that here.

AFTER GRADUATING IN THE LATE 80?S, MAY BECAME A CHEF.

HE still LIVES IN WOODSVILLE.

SITTING OUTSIDE THE RESTAURANT WHERE HE WORKS, HE CAN STILL RECALL one of Feid?s field trips to Boston.

For the first time in his life May SAW ONE OF MONET?S FAMOUS WATERLILY PAINTINGS.

29 00 when you?re 17 years old to have it in front of you, because they?re huge, theyr?e a lot larger than you realize. and to see that for the first time, that made a big impact.

MAY SAYS ART IS STILL A FORCE IN HIS LIFE.

THESE DAYS HE PAINTS TO RELAX.

27 10 I don?t sell anything I do. // I do paintings and give them away for xmas. my mom has a bunch of paintings (laughs)

FOR CHRIS MAY, FEID?S CLASS WAS A DOORWAY TO A WORLD BEYOND HIS TOWN.

FOR CHRISTOPHER FIELD, IT WAS A DIFFERENT KIND OF REFUGE.

FIELD CAME TO WOODSVILLE HIGH FROM ULTRA-HIP BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA.

I felt so out of place, I guess I have to be honest, and dale was so welcoming and kind of my life saving force that year

FIELD STAYED IN WOODSVILLE FOR JUST A YEAR, BUT IT TURNED OUT TO BE A CRUCIAL YEAR.

HE SPENT A LOT OF TIME IN FEID?S ROOM STUDYING JAPANESE POTTERY.

THAT HELPED LEAD HIM TO AN UNUSUAL CAREER.

japanese sample

FIELD WENT TO WORK IN JAPAN AFTER COLLEGE.

HE?S NOW AN INTEPRETER IN THE BOSTON AREA. THAT WAS A SAMPLE OF AUDIO FROM HIS WEBSITE.

HE NOTES THAT ALL JAPANESE STUDENTS STUDY ART

FIELD WONDERS WHETHER MORE ART EDUCATION in this country WOULD LEAD TO , SAY, FEWER STRIP MALLS.

a lot of america is pretty ugly. my theory is a lot of that is tolerated because people don?t have a visual sense

BACK IN HIS CLASSROOM, DALE FEID TOO ARGUES ART SHOULD BE PART OF A BASIC EDUCATION.

37 144 we study their cultures by their art forms, and I think we want to leave behind something of equal value to represent us. I also think as you go thru life you need to be surrounded by beautiful things and undersatand why they?re beautiful in order to appreciate them. I think its sad to pass a great landscape and not be able to appreciate it.

THAT MESSAGE SEEMS TO RESONATE, AT LEAST IN WOODSVILLE.

IN RECENT YEARS THE DEMAND FOR FEID?S CLASSES HAS BEEN SO STRONG, HE?S TEACHING FULL-TIME AT THE HIGH SCHOOL.

THE DISTRICT HAS HIRED MORE ART TEACHERS FOR THE LOWER GRADES.

SUPERINTENDENT BRUCE LABS CREDITS THE COMMUNITY FOR SUPPORTING ART IN THE SCHOOLS.

BUT FEID?S EXTENDED RUN IS WINDING DOWN.

HE SAYS HE?LL LIKELY RETIRE IN FOUR YEARS.

When he does, HE?LL LEAVE BEHIND A LEGACY OF STUDENTS WHO, thanks to Dale Feid, DISCOVERED ART, CULTURE, AND BIG-CITY ESCALATORS.

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