DATE: Friday, August 8, 1997                TAG: 9708060215

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 02   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth 

SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan 

                                            LENGTH:   57 lines

ENDOWMENT MAKES A DIFFERENCE FOR ARTIST WITH PORTSMOUTH TIES

In a recent column I defended the National Endowments for the arts and humanities and encouraged readers to write their congressman to keep the endowments in tact.

One of the first of many responses to the column came from John Tobin.

If you've been here for more than 13 years, do you remember his whimsical clay pieces, including crazy teapots, frog people and auto replicas? Back in the early 1980s, he worked for the arts center here and lived in Shea Terrace in a house he still owns.

``I'm home for the summer from Japan,'' he told me on the telephone. ``I wanted to call you to tell you that the Endowment changed my life.''

Although I own a couple of small clay figures by John, I had no idea what had happened to him. As it turns out, he's traveled around in the world, teaching first in Germany and now in Japan.

Tobin, now 50 and graying, said he was trying to figure out what to do with his life when he became a National Endowment artist-in-residence for the Norfolk schools back in 1980.

Then he was chosen for an Endowment-sponsored workshop for art teachers at the Hermitage Museum in Norfolk.

``That really boosted my ego and I needed that boost,'' he said.

Teaching kids clay techniques was a great way to teach.

``I found out I could relate to the students,'' he said. ``I realized teaching was fun, that I was good at it and that they liked me.''

Tobin still makes his whimsical clay works and he still chuckles a lot when he shows pictures of them, just like he did years ago.

And he mentioned getting a master's degree by attending classes offered by Michigan State in England, Thailand, France and Japan. ``A good way to travel,'' he said.

But he really wants to talk about teaching.

``It has meant so much to me and without that National Endowment grant, I never would have known about teaching,'' he said.

His wife, the former Carolyn Flowers of Virginia Beach, also is an art teacher and also teaches in the schools run by the Department of Defense for children of Americans overseas.

``But not like John,'' she said. ``He just relates so well to students.''

The couple have taught in schools on American military bases at Goeppingen, Germany, and Yokopsuka, Japan.

This week John was headed for Denver, where he would participate in a group writing a curriculum for the gifted and talented program in DoD schools.

``I love teaching,'' he told me several times. With art, he says, you can ``push and stretch students'' and that's important to him.

There you have it, a good case for continuation of the National Endowment.

We certainly need more good teachers who are as enthusiastic as John Tobin. And the chance of finding good art teachers probably is greatly enhanced by the artist-in-residence program. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

One of John Tobin's whimsical clay art pieces.

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