Copyright Baton Rouge Advocate
During the week you’ll see her teaching art classes at Southside High School. On weekends you might find her at the downtown art walk selling homemade purses and jewelry. But last month she was in Lake Charles being named Louisiana Art Educator of the year. It’s an honor that reflects 32 years of educating and instilling the passion of art into a generation of students. Riehl’s classes cover just about every medium of art you can imagine, from pencil-work and acrylics, to pottery wheels and watercolors. There isn’t a style that she herself doesn’t enjoy immensely. It’s been a long journey for Riehl since she started out making glass beads and jewelry when she was 14 years old. She began her teaching career at St. Martinville High School, before moving on to St. Thomas More where she spent 19 years. There she worked to build STM’s art program from scratch alongside her colleague Kim Thibodeaux. “It was a great family-oriented faculty," she said. "We really worked together to make an amazing art department there, and eventually we just kind of said ‘we’ve done all we can do here’ and decided to move on to public school.” She has now spent the past eight years at Southside High School in Youngsville, where she has worked to build their program in a similar fashion to her years at STM. Allison Bloomer, who serves as Southside High’s principal, is thrilled about Riehl’s recognition. “Ms. Riehl inspires every student who steps into her classroom to see the world through an artist’s eyes”, said Bloomer. “Her passion for art and teaching continues to enrich our school and community, making her a true example of excellence in art education”. Across the three decades of teaching, she has poured into many students. And many of them have been equally inspired to pursue art and teaching. Those former students can’t say enough about her impact. “She has been an extremely influential and important person to me”, said Alex Angers, who was taught by Riehl at St. Thomas More and now works as a graphic designer. “Mrs. Ange's exuberant teaching style, and way of living life made me excited to create and encouraged me to challenge myself in areas of art with techniques I still use today," he said. "She taught me that you can make a living as an artist, and reminded me often that I had the skills and creative mind to do so. After graduating ULL and working as a graphic designer for eight years, I still use design principles she taught me in her class.” Ann Clare Fremin, another former student from St. Thomas More, credits her time in Riehl’s class with how she approaches her own career as an educator. “I am a high school teacher, and I try my best to evoke Mrs. Riehl's authenticity, positivity, and passion in my own classroom," she said. "I still hear her voice in my ear encouraging me to create more art, and I often dream of becoming an artist.” “She always celebrated and delighted in our work. But she was also determined to make us better” Reihl said as an art educator, her primary goal is to teach students how to speak the language of art. “You definitely have students that are looking for the recipe and start out asking ‘how do I get the A?’. That’s the thing though. There isn’t just one right answer or formula," she said. "To many students that can be freeing, but for other students it can be chaos that they can’t wrap their heads around. If you give those kids some criteria to work with initially, eventually they’ll have that ‘A-ha!’ moment where they get it.” In her spare time, Reihl still enjoys making the glass beads and jewelry she fell in love with as a teenager, which she now sells at the monthly Art Walks in downtown Lafayette, as well as every year at the National Art Education Association conference. She also makes homemade purses. Riehl says that teaching art has made her a better artist. “I never truly learned things like perspective until I had to start teaching perspective," she said. "A lot of art teachers shy away from it because it’s not only difficult to grasp, it’s also difficult to explain. There’s a lot of learning and re-learning in teaching art. There’s never a time when I’m not learning a new medium.”
