Art teachers show off their skills in Garden Gallery exhibit

It's a well-known saying that those who can, do and those who can't, teach. It's also a much-despised saying among many of those who do, in fact, teach.

A new exhibit at the Garden Gallery on Broadway aims to prove that area art teachers are still practicing their craft while teaching future artists.

The show, titled "Art Educator's Fine Art Exhibition '08" or AEFA, features 23 current or former art teachers from New Madrid to Zalma to Ste. Genevieve.

"These art teachers are still practicing art outside the classroom," said curator, artist and former educator Edwin L. Smith. "Most of these people are doing a piece especially for this show."

Smith taught sculpture and art education at Southeast Missouri State University until he retired in January 2007. He travels to Santa Fe, N.M., every summer to make sculptures for a gallery there. Smith was convinced by the local art teachers to organize the art show because he was the one who had the time and authority to herd everyone up.

"They are all students that I've had in class at one time or another," he said.

He mailed out 22 invitations soliciting a recent work in painting, printmaking, sculpture or drawing.

"This is going to be an exhibit of fine art," Smith said. "We think of fine arts as the classics."

The exhibit opens at the Garden Gallery for the First Friday reception from 6 to 9 p.m. and will be on display during gallery hours from noon to 5 p.m. through April 24.