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Artist, teacher wins contest painting local river scene
Debbie Griffin River Falls Journal
Published Friday, December 01, 2006

Rocky Branch Elementary School art teacher Randy Schwark said a friend from Hudson told him about an American Diabetes Association call for artwork entries.

One-and-a-half years after entering, he’d heard nothing.

“I had all but forgotten about it,” Schwark said about the organization picking his “Kinni Sunset” watercolor to be on its 2008 Gift of Hope calendar.

The association plans to put it on the month of February.

He paints in three mediums — watercolor, oil and acrylic. Local scenes inspire much of his work.

Schwark painted a special picture of River Falls ’ Swinging Bridge by Glen Park when Romelle Kelly, a longtime Rocky Branch teacher, retired.

He said over the years Swinging Bridge had became an integral part of her and her husband’s lives, and that the painting moved Kelly to tears. She took the original, and a print hangs at Rocky Branch School .

In the school library hangs a huge, colorful rose Schwark painted. Another of his paintings hangs at the River Falls Public Library.

“It seems the work I get the most out of is that which makes an impact on others,” he said.

That’s one reason Schwark is dedicating his winning painting to two of his K-5 students who have diabetes. He said he knows there have been times when it really affected them.

He likes that his work will be featured by an association with the mission: “To prevent and cure diabetes and improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.”

Schwark has cousins with the disease and can remember them getting insulin shots as kids. The artist who referred him to the association’s call for entries had someone in her life with diabetes.  

Local artist and teacher Randy Schwark (right) dedicated to two of his students with diabetes, Austin Colburn (left) and Veronica Castillo, his “Kinni Sunset” painting that the American Diabetes Association will feature in one of its calendars. Debbie Griffin photo  

He also dedicates his “Kinni Sunset” painting to retired UW-River Falls art professor Bill Ammerman, whom he says is a strong mentor and close friend. He studied under Ammerman during college, who first taught him about oil painting.

“He’s been a huge influence, a real positive influence,” said Schwark.

Mentor and student remained friends after Schwark graduated in 1990.

Artist’s world

Schwark said his dad wondered what exactly he’d do with an art degree, but he credits the man for getting him started drawing. When he was four and growing up in Shell Lake, his father, an over-the-road truck driver, taught him to draw a horse using simple shapes.

After that, he was hooked.

Schwark got a teaching degree at UW-RF then worked in Durand and Superior for a while. He also mentions a time in Las Vegas when he did work the for the Humane Society.

He’s been teaching art at Rocky Branch since 1999 and said he’s lived in River Falls three times.

“I keep coming back like a boomerang,” he laughs. “It feels better being in River Falls .”

Schwark started out teaching high-school-aged kids, moved on to work at a middle school and says he enjoys working with elementary kids now. He calls them energetic, charming and endearing.

“It’s so fun,” he said. “It’s really fun.”

Other job

The artist not only has a day job but also cranks out at least two paintings per month — at least that’s his goal.

He said, “Anything more is a bonus.”

Schwark said self promotion isn’t his strength, but his art is for sale. He hopes to have his online gallery — www.schwarkart.com — back online soon.

He makes prints of his work at home with a digital camera/scanner type of tool that creates an image he can manipulate and color correct.

Schwark said people have asked him since winning a spot on the calendar, what it feels like to be a winner.

“I tell them I’ve always been a winner,” he said.

In his application to the American Diabetes Association, the painter describes his winning work this way: “My painting is titled “Kinni Sunset” after a renowned trout stream that runs through this area of Wisconsin known as the Kinnickinnic…My hope is that it conveys a sense of stillness and peace to those who view it. Despite the fact that it is a winter scene, the open stream and warmth of coloration let you know that better days are ahead…”

Reach Debbie Griffin at dgriffin@rivertowns.net or 426-1048.