A natural interest in drawing and painting has led local teacher Renu Mathew down many interesting paths in life. In addition to teaching her craft at Olds High School, an interest in cosmetology has also led her to work on several different movie and television sets.
Last summer, Mathew worked on the second season of the television series Hell on Wheels, which can be seen on the AMC network. She also worked on Drawing Home, a movie due for release later this summer.
“I've been able to use my summers to work on TV shows or movies and then bring those experiences back to the classroom to share with students, which is really quite fun because it's a totally different environment,” she said.
Sharing her experiences from film and television sets also gives her an idea of the type of time constraints that students would be up against if they wanted to pursue cosmetology in film and TV as a career.
“And also to justify why (students) are learning certain things. Even though they seem kind of ridiculous to learn a hairstyle or something that doesn't seem relevant now, but if you're working in an industry like TV or movies, then you're going to have period pieces that are set at different times,” Mathew said.
She said she teaches about 100 students per semester in art and cosmetology. She said there are many similarities between art and cosmetology – using imagination to create an effect – but the mediums are different.
“So instead of using art supplies, you're using hair or nail polish or makeup in an artistic way. And it can be expressive, or it can be just for aesthetics,” she said.
Mathew was raised in an artistic family. Her uncle in India is a sculptor and both her parents are artistically minded.
“I think I just had a natural interest towards art. I took art throughout school and … I decided when I graduated that I wanted to be an art teacher, so I did an art degree in university,” she said, adding she also finished an education degree.
“I focused on sculpture and I also did other things as well; painting, drawing.”
Mathew said she enjoys working with students, bringing her artistic passion to the classroom and feeding off the energy of the students.
“It's something I like to do on my own time as well as do at school. There's a lot of energy at school. Nothing gets boring,” she said.
She also enjoys seeing students learning techniques and using those techniques to create something unique.
“I love when a student comes to me and doesn't necessarily have the skills, but once they learn techniques to use, it's kind of like a light bulb goes off and they figure out how to use that skill to make their artwork better and you can just tell that they're happy and proud of what they've done and it's really satisfying as a teacher when that happens,” she said.
