connie boneo

Art Teacher Takes Students on 'Journey of Discovery’

By Henrietta Gomes
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the Issue of 3/8/07)

Art transcends the regular paint brushes and pencil sketches that one may assume all art is comprised of in a grade school, at least it does in Connie Boneo’s class. For Boneo, the art teacher at St. Bernadette School in Springfield, the major components of art are history, religion, dreaming, traveling and therapy, which are all gelled into her classes.
Posters of paintings from Claude Monet, Blessed Fra Angelico, Vincent Van Gogh, and Georgia O’Keefe surround Boneo, who speaks with great passion as she is seated in a high director’s chair in the front of the classroom. “I knew that you could handle this project,” she said to her eighth-graders, who are currently creating books of memories in honor of those who were either killed or survived the Holocaust. For the last few weeks the students have been learning about World War II and pondering the events that took place. When students are educated and truly understand and reflect upon the atrocities which occurred, it helps them “build character and to live with faith and compassion,” said Boneo, who has been teaching at the school for the last eight years.
Her intensity for history seems to be equal to her intensity for humor. Behind Boneo is Leonardo, a tiny stuffed mouse who often speaks to the class with a French accent. She’s not exactly a skilled ventriloquist, but her efforts amuse the class.
Boneo’s imagination is larger than her petite stature gives her credit for, and she knows it. “I’ve always been a dreamer,” she said with a mischievous smile. “The world belongs to dreamers … .” Dreaming makes a significant impact in one’s life, she said. Boneo tries to evoke that same sense of dreaming and imagining in her students. When asked if she was always a dreamer, her bright smile slowly faded from her face and she carefully recounted the shock she felt when her parents were divorced. “I had to grow up fast,” she said, conceding, “but I didn’t want the child in me to die.” She would use her imagination to escape. Her face lit up again as the ethnic Italian who grew up in Argentina spoke of her childhood days playing in a park in Buenos Aires. Her vivid imagination would allow her to “travel” to different places and even “take” her younger siblings with her. “We would go to the Alps in Italy,” she said closing her eyes and breathing it in as if she were there again. She explained that her students also travel around the world without leaving the classroom. On the wall is a large map of the world with a thumbtack placed on the country the students travel to in their class.
Aside from sailing the seven seas, many of the art projects allow her students to express their emotions. “Art is therapy,” she said, noting how it can bring healing. “It’s such a powerful tool. Art is fundamental. People just don’t know how important it is for the development of the child,” said Boneo in a classroom with signs tacked up that read, “An artist is a dreamer,” or “Art raises us above reality.” Boneo, who also teaches Spanish at George Mason University said, “I want them to look at art and feel full. I want them to cry when they see the Pieta … I want them to think of Van Gogh and remember his Starry Night … .”
Boneo attributes her ability to motivate her students to her Catholic faith, which she said guides her while she teaches. “If I don’t have my faith I won’t have the motive to teach,” said the parishioner of St. Bernadette Church. She resides in Springfield with her husband and two daughters.
“God is the greatest artist ever,” she said with awe. “Everything around us is art. It’s Him,” said Boneo, who will be invested as a Dame of Malta this summer. Her classes always begin with a prayer invoking God’s guidance in the class’s art. “God is so generous and we need to discover the gifts [He gave] and use it for others.”
Boneo’s art program is “just another draw to come to St. Bernadette School,” said Trish Beeks, principal. Singing the praises of the art teacher, she said, “She lights up the room with her great excitement. Calling her a “dynamic member of the faculty with extraordinary gifts and talents,” Beeks said, “She draws you into the classroom and you just don’t want to leave.”
On May 12 the entire school will turn into an art gallery for a day as it does every year, and the students’ work will be on display for all visitors to view. “It will be a trip through the world,” said Boneo. The event is not just exciting for her students, but it is for her as well. In fact, she said she gets as much out of the class as her students. “[They] are my inspiration.” She said, “I love what I do and I wouldn’t be able to do it if I didn’t love it.”

Henrietta Gomes can be reached at hgomes@catholicherald.com.