Adam Reinhard – Art

Mr. Reinhard is the new art teacher at Western Albemarle. He grew up near Roanoke, Virginia, and went to University of Virginia. Reinhard has lived out of state as well in DC, and Savannah, Georgia. Although this is his first year teaching Advanced Placement Art, he has taught many other classes in that same field. He has taught at many different schools over the years, but he says that in Western, “It seems like there’s a lot of freedom…a lot of trust between students and teachers…and that type of freedom really prepares students for the real world.” 

Q: What brought you to Western?

A: I was actually teaching in Elementary School at Woodbrook Elementary for the last 5 years, and then this position opened up when Ms. Hale left for Richmond, and I’ve wanted to teach AP art for a long time, so I was very excited to come here.

Q: So, what do you like to do outside of school, like hobbies, what’s your favorite TV show, movies, that kind of stuff?

A: I like to run. I like to cook, a lot. I obviously like to paint (I am an art teacher). I would say I love to read a lot, especially when it’s nice weather I like to sit on my hammock or sit on the porch and read. TV shows, I like dark stuff like Walking Dead, Ozark, and Breaking Bad. 

Q: What are your pets? Do you have any?

A: I do not have any pets. I used to have a dog, a Coonhound named Birdie, so I love dogs. I used to have a goldfish named Rickie. He was my all-time favorite pet. He lived for 3 years.

Q: What is your favorite style of art and who is your favorite artist?

A: So, I am a painter. I really like landscape art. That’s what I do most. I would say it’s a little more abstract, like not super realistic. And honestly, I am super into it right now, on Instagram, it is really easy to follow artists who are alive and working now rather than just like old, historical artists who are long gone. There’s this one painter named Tommy Kim right now who does some amazing watercolor landscapes and he travels around the world and he just paints all these cool landscapes in watercolor like that (shows a watercolor painting). That’s the life, right there!  

Q: So, where’s your inspiration for art?

A: I will be honest. I had a really boring art class. I mean, I think there are some really boring projects, and I wanted to avoid those. So, I think my inspiration for projects is looking online on Pinterest, on Instagram, and finding projects that I think I would like to do, even just as an adult, but definitely when I was a student. So, when I find a project, and I am like: “That looks cool. I would like to do that!” those are the ones I pick for my students because I don’t want anyone to be bored by art.

Q: Who is your role model in art? Or just in general/overall?

A: I would say I have always really looked up to my dad. He’s not an artist, he’s a doctor, but he’s a psychiatrist and he’s really excited about helping people, especially people that are struggling or have a hard time helping themselves. He deals a lot with mental health and drug addiction. He works in his community of southwest Virginia, not too far away from here, and I just think that’s admirable. If we can do what we love and also help people along the way then we aren’t doing too badly.

Q: What is your favorite piece of art that you have created? And why?

A: I think my favorite piece of art that I have created was for my cousin. They live in Texas, and she wanted a Texas landscape, but nothing real, she wanted it to be kind of imaginary. So, she gave me four or five pictures and said “Can you invent a landscape?” I was nervous and didn’t think I could do it and I wasn’t sure it was going to turn out right and then it was kind of freeing. It was like different than what I had normally done and it turned out kind of cool. To date, that’s my favorite one. 

Q: What do you think makes a good artist?

A: I think having originality is what we are all striving for. You know if you can be original obviously you have to be good at your craft. You know, it’s fine to have ideas but you have to actually be able to make them look appealing, but it’s gotta be original. No one is going to be famous for a knock-off idea. But if it is something that makes people think and it’s an original idea, I think you have a really good chance of making a name for yourself, and a career in the arts.

Q: What is the most impressive student piece that you have seen and why?

A: I’ve gotta say, at every school, I have had a student that has blown the assignment out of the water. I have only been teaching at Western for a week and I have never seen so many high-achieving art students. I have a few in my handful of students who made both projects better than I could have. And that’s mind-blowing, you know?! We are working on this circular landscape project right now and there are just so many like I said, original solutions and there’s one project where the above view is from a pond. So much detail. And you can see that she made the little koi fish sort of 3-D, and the lily pads. I just thought that the layering and the technique were exquisite. You know, it’s, I feel like it’s a moving mark and you know, I think in a week from now there’s going to be another best project. Seems like we have a lot of very talented artists at Western.

Q: Which sport are you most looking forward to watching this school year?

A: Good question. I want to make it to at least one game of all of our varsity sports. Obviously, I think football is going to be really fun to see the crowds there, but I will make sure that I try to make it, especially if I know that I have students that play on the teams I will try to make it to at least one game of every sport. 

Q: So, what do you think of Western so far?

A: I think it’s great. There seems like there is a lot of freedom for the students, which is awesome, and I think that shows a lot of trust going both ways with students and staff. It reminds me a lot of the High School that I went to growing up which I loved, and I loved getting to choose what your path was and you know which classes you wanted to pick, especially in Art. I think it’s awesome that students get to go anywhere for Warrior period to catch up. I think that being anywhere in the building for lunch is awesome. That type of freedom prepares you to be adults in the real world, where you actually get to do what you want without having to ask. It’s good practice to make responsible decisions when you walk around. I can tell there’s a lot of stuff that’s happening at Western which I’m excited to participate in. Can’t wait to go to the first home game!