Art teacher Chia Hersk stands in front of her classroom, scissors in hand. Through a strong smell of paint, she commands her students to find their own pair, and draw them. They do.
This lesson was focused on perspective – a class she designed to teach her students about the art of shading, and how light reflects.
As her class takes up a pair of scissors, she comes up to a hard-working student and demonstrates which angles to look at the scissors from, and how to begin the drawing.
“It’s just so much fun to teach,” she said. “I love that [moment] when students get something.”
Ms. Hersk has a long history at OVS.
A graduate of both the Lower and Upper campus, she first started working for the school in 1994 as an equestrian assistant for summer camps and did that job for about two years. She went on to earn a degree in art and cultural anthropology from Long Island University Global College, where she studied art in New York, Costa Rica, Panama and Japan.
Ms. Hersk returned to OVS in about 2004, and worked as head of the girls’ dorm at the Upper Campus for about six years. She left for three years, became certified by the California Department of Justice as a crime and intelligence analyst, and then returned this year to teach art at the Upper Campus.
OVS has always been a large part of Ms. Hersk’s life – and the art position is her dream job. Although she looked at other job opportunities, she said she chose to return to OVS because it is where she belongs.
She is excited about the opening of her newest chapter at OVS, which she feels will be a perfect fit, especially since her mom taught art at OVS for nearly 40 years.
“It’s sort of in my blood,” Ms. Hersk said. “My mother was a teacher and my father was a teacher.”
To Ms. Hersk, art is eye-opening.
“The more that you’re exposed to [it] and the more that you see, the more open-minded and accepting you are,” she said said.
She has brought that philosophy into the classroom, and so far, her students are happy with how the year has started. They’ve learned a great deal and have enjoyed her teaching style.
“She’s really good at teaching art,” said junior Julia Boldt. “As an artist I really haven’t seen her draw much, but I think as a teacher she does pretty well. I think I’ve learned a lot.”
So far, Ms. Hersk’s new teaching job is a perfect fit. She loves every aspect of art, and looks to express that as much as possible.
“I like creativity, whether it’s through art, or music, or the written word,” she said. “I just like creativity in general.”
