Clyde Gaw was was inducted as a Art Education Association of Indiana Distinguished Fellow at the organization’s awards dinner last month.
Submitted photo
NEW PALESTINE — Walk into the art room at New Palestine High School on any given day, and you’ll likely find a room full of students and a teacher fully engaged.
Clyde Gaw, the longtime art teacher with Southern Hancock schools, is all about encouraging students to express themselves through their art in an environment where the only rule is there are no rules.
Gaw, who has received state and national recognition for his own creations, was recently recognized for his work in the arts and was inducted as a Art Education Association of Indiana Distinguished Fellow.
The honor was announced at the organization’s awards dinner in October at Guerin Catholic High School in Noblesville.
“I’m humbled and honored from this recognition by my colleagues at the Art Education Association of Indiana,” Gaw said. “It’s always been my view that real education reform begins with expanding the creative learning opportunities of children.”
Gaw is the 23rd educator in the history of the organization to be named one of its Distinguished Fellows. He previously was a winner of the organization’s Outstanding Elementary Educator of the Year and also has received two of its President Awards.
He also has served in numerous roles with the organization. In his current role, he keeps members apprised of legislative actions related to art education; publicizes issues affecting art educators; represents the membership in communications with lawmakers; and testifies in legislative hearings. An example of one of his successful advocacy actions was helping save 15 Indianapolis Public Schools art teacher positions through a presentation in 2011.
Gaw has always championed the power of the arts and the transformative strength it entails by encouraging students to create far outside the lines.
“The transformative power of experiential, multi-sensory learning activities through the creative spirit should never be underestimated,” Gaw said.
Modeled on a program of the National Art Education Association, the Art Education Association of Indiana’s Distinguished Fellow program recognizes extraordinary contributions to the field of art education.
Induction as a Distinguished Fellow is the highest honor that may be bestowed on a member. Nominees who are chosen by the Distinguished Fellows to join their ranks are experienced educators who have extensive records of service to the organization and have the background and expertise to act in an advisory capacity to the board and president.
Gaw is known nationally and internationally as a researcher and expert on some of the most prominent approaches to art education, including choice-based education and Teaching for Artistic Behavior. He is a TAB board member, faculty member and studio manager for the TAB Institute at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and co-founder of the Midwest TAB Network, which has over 8,000 members in the United States and abroad.
An actively exhibiting professional artist, he also lends his time and talents to organizations including the Chinese Education Delegation, the National Alliance for Mental Illness, the Indiana Arts Education Advocacy Partnership and CAFE, the Community Alliance for the Far Eastside (Indianapolis) Committee on Education.
In 2010 Gaw and Sugar Creek Elementary Art Teacher Clark Fralick founded Blocks-Paper-Scissors Children’s Art Camp, which in 2017 created a podcast of the same name.
Gaw noted the importance of developing a creative mind and quoted George Washington Carver to express his personal view: “Since new developments are the products of a creative mind, we must therefore stimulate and encourage that type of mind in every way possible.”
