Wilma Bethel has been leading children’s fine-art classes through Louisville Visual Art for more than four decades. Bethel, who retired as Crosby Middle School’s art teacher in 2012, still teaches LVA classes to middle and high school students, meeting in community centers, spare rooms at U of L, churches.
While growing up in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, Bethel often followed around a cousin and mimicked his drawings. She remembers creating mud sculptures after a rain, crafting at church. She went on to earn an undergraduate degree in fine art at Morehead State University and a master’s in art education at U of L. She estimates that she has taught 150 students per year, multiplied by 40-plus years. “There’s a lot of artists and art teachers that I’ve taught,” she says. While in class, she’ll say, “How many of you love art? I have both of my hands up!” She tells her students, “Not everybody is creative in the same way, but we’re all creative.”
This originally appeared in the September 2018 issue of Louisville Magazine on page 98. To subscribe to Louisville Magazine, click here. To find us on newsstands, click here.
Photo by Mickie Winters, mickiewinters.com
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