When he was just a kindergartener, Shawn Ramos discovered his love for art. All it took was a childhood show to spark the passion and devotion he has for art today.
“I used to watch this show called Gargoyles and I would draw my own gargoyles,” Ramos said.
Ramos’ love for art wasn’t the only thing that began from an early age. His interest in teaching developed along his teenage years, and he found that becoming an educator was the most fit path to pursue art.
“I think back in high school I would help my friends finish their projects,” Ramos said. “I kind of enjoyed showing them how to do it, so I think that was kind of conducive into the teaching world. Like sharing my knowledge and sharing how to accomplish art.”
However, what the art teacher did not expect was to be recognized for his exceptional educating skills. Ramos was presented with the “Outstanding Arts Educator Award” by the Arts and Cultural Empowerment ceremony a couple weeks ago.
“Honestly, it was a really big surprise to me.” Ramos said. “I didn’t apply to anything, and I wasn’t even asked about it. They just emailed me and said that I was a finalist, so I was very surprised.”
Ramos has been teaching for about 12 years, and it is clear that art is an important element of his life. Whether it is fine arts or physical art, it is all critical to him, and he does a great job of passing on his knowledge to his students.
“I think art is very important, very crucial in brain development,” Ramos said. “I think some of the brightest people we have now had some kind of background in fine arts. We can look at our valedictorian of last year, Jun Park, who was a master violinist, so fine arts is very important.”
He is experienced with a multitude of different mediums, and provides his students with many opportunities to experiment with these techniques. Some of the most prominent are acrylic painting, watercolors and sculpting. All of these art forms encourage the expansion of creativity in unique ways.
“My current favorite medium is painting,” Ramos said. “I think it allows for a huge variety of different styles, and it helps because I get to fix my mistakes.”
Ramos’ growth and teaching abilities have also been recognized by those around him. Christopher Mayfield has been next door to Ramos since the opening of Memorial High School, and has gotten first-hand experience with his educating abilities.
“I think he connects with the kids in his class pretty well, and he relates to them,” Mayfield said. “He gets really good work out of them.”
As well as getting to see Ramos’ teaching, Mayfield has been able to frequently observe his art. In fact, he has expressed that he enjoys the other’s art style.
“I like that his work is controlled more so than mine,” Mayfield said. “My stuff is more expressive than his, and his is a little tighter—a little more controlled—than mine.”
