Donations come in many forms

Longtime Sonoma Valley High School photography teacher Andy Mitchell delivered this speech to an audience of donors at the Plein Air Art Festival last month.Donations come in many forms. It makes us feel good to make a difference in others lives and the community at large. In many cases, we know that what we are doing is worth it even if we don’t see the end results. I am here tonight to tell you, that your generous donations are unprecedented. You are helping give the gift of creativity and beauty, achievement and problem-solving. You are giving passion and purpose. You are helping students in the Sonoma Valley communicate and see the world differently. You are giving the gift of ART.I can say with experience, after teaching close to 2,000 students, that because of you, Sonoma Valley’s students are allowed to experience art in many different ways. Lab fees can no longer be required. Money that used to pay for necessary materials such as clay, papers, paints and film, are only on our shelves because of you.At the high school, we have been able to upgrade and expand what we teach in a climate where art classes are considered expensive, or not applicable to what students need in the real world. In reality, the jobs that are currently being designed, demand creativity. Art allows one to think independently, reflect on multiple perspectives, and travel into curious realms that have no limits.At the high school, your donations have helped several hundred students experience art galleries, to see Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings at the De Young Art Museum and to view up close the treasures of the Louvre at the Legion of Honor. My students have gone to the largest privately held photo collections at Pier 24 in San Francisco, where they ended their day at the Ferry Building to try out street photography.Your donations have taken a group of students to Rayko Photo in in the city where they learned wet plate collodian photography – a photo process that is more than 150 years old.Many of you are artists, and I want you to think to that first time that you put paint to a canvas. Or the first time you finished your work and said, “That’s IT!”You might have given that piece away to a loved one, or still have that piece on your wall or your shelf. That is what you are giving. And it matters, it is appreciated on behalf of all of our students and art teachers, I want to personally thank YOU.I want to leave you with just a few statements that I have heard over the years, “I have learned how to take photographs, and I have fallen in love with art. I am going to miss the darkroom. If I didn’t have photo, I probably would not have shown up to school. Thank you for the opportunities. Thank you for helping me develop skills for something that really makes me happy.”• • •Andy Mitchell has taught photography and overseen the yearbook electives at Sonoma Valley High School for 17 years. He graduated from Antioch High School, then attended Diablo Valley College and graduated from Sonoma State University in 1997. You can see what his students are creating at svhsphoto.com.