"Don't wipe out the masterpiece!"

July 4, 2012 7:34 AM

During his lunch break, teacher Gregory Euclide creates beautiful drawings on his classroom's whiteboard - and then wipes them away.

"My students were shocked when I would erase the original, because they saw it firsthand, and they were disturbed that it was destroyed," said Mr. Euclide.

At his students' urging, Mr. Euclide is releasing ten special edition portfolios, each containing eight prints of his whiteboard drawings. His work will also be on display at an upcoming exhibit at the David B. Smith Gallery in Denver, CO.

Mr. Euclide's work has previously appeared in New York's Museum of Arts and Design (YouTube link), at the Nevada Museum of Art, and on the cover of Bon Iver's most recent album.

posted by pecanpies (36 comments total)

Interesting introduction to impermanence for kids, i.e. yhe physical original is gone, but the photo or video of it remains and is widely dispersed.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:46 AM on July 4, 2012

His students give him a mixed review as a teacher.

This interview shows the drawings on the actual whiteboard.
posted by Houstonian at 8:02 AM on July 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

I was prepared for some interesting, simple drawings, but these are incredible - the work of a true, professional artist. What the hell is he doing teaching with that incredible skill at his disposal?

Just blown away.
posted by Phreesh at 8:08 AM on July 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

What the hell is he doing teaching with that incredible skill at his disposal?

Maybe he wants to be a teacher. It's not just a fallback option, plenty of smart, talented, hardworking people choose it as a career.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 8:20 AM on July 4, 2012 [28 favorites]

His students give him a mixed review as a teacher.

Uh, that's for a total of six student reviews. And compare the rather amazing drawings you can see with your own eyes with this comment: "terrible teacher who has NO Eye for art". Yeah, right.

Advantage: Euclide.
posted by mondo dentro at 8:26 AM on July 4, 2012 [4 favorites]

Wow, stunning.
posted by gwint at 8:26 AM on July 4, 2012

What the hell is he doing teaching with that incredible skill at his disposal?

Making the world better.
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:28 AM on July 4, 2012 [3 favorites]

"And who is paying for the dry-erase markers, which this 'teacher' uses up at a rate of two a week, three times the average? That's right - YOU, the taxpayer!"
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:36 AM on July 4, 2012 [9 favorites]

I love this. Cheers to teachers who find ways to instill wonder in their students. Cheers too to talented people who don't feel like fame and fortune are the only possible outcomes of a well-lived life.
posted by Rory Marinich at 8:39 AM on July 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

What the hell is he doing teaching with that incredible skill at his disposal?

This is a very depressing sentence for a human being to utter.
posted by absalom at 8:41 AM on July 4, 2012 [34 favorites]

I too was stunned at the quality if these drawings. I'm actually in disbelief that they can be made in 25 minutes!
posted by UKgroundcare at 8:57 AM on July 4, 2012

What the hell is he doing teaching with that incredible skill at his disposal?

You're right. He should totally be doing porn.
posted by cjorgensen at 9:01 AM on July 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

This is a very depressing sentence for a human being to utter.

There are 'the way things should be' and 'the way things are'.

Teachers are overworked and underpaid; they don't receive social security and their state pensions have been decimated by the economy and mismanagement, and are under further attack. Teachers are openly vilified by one of the two major political parties, and schools are a battleground for wedge issue politics. Society as a whole seems to have lost much of the former respect for teachers, and parents tend to blame teachers for their kids' failures. Districts squander huge chunks of their budget on bureaucracy but go cheap on teachers; they tend to hire minimally qualified teachers they can lock in at low salaries, then 'train up' (instead of hiring highly qualified people straight up). When it comes to layoffs, teachers unions favor seniority over competence.

As much as I wish it were otherwise, pretty much everyone involved in the process has made the teaching profession unreasonably difficult if not outright miserable. It's great that some people love the job more than the abuse and are willing to martyr themselves for the greater good, but there shouldn't be anything even remotely surprising that others wince that someone would choose to do so.

It's not a knock on teachers, it's recognition of the very difficult reality they face.
posted by Davenhill at 9:25 AM on July 4, 2012 [7 favorites]

What the hell is he doing teaching with that incredible skill at his disposal?

He should be a professional artist. Then he could become rich for sure!
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 9:27 AM on July 4, 2012 [10 favorites]

Am I the only one disappointed that he used sumi ink instead of dry-erase markers? Seems like a cop-out.
posted by scose at 9:27 AM on July 4, 2012

Interesting introduction to impermanence for kids, i.e. yhe physical original is gone, but the photo or video of it remains and is widely dispersed.

The photos and videos ruin the impermanence lesson, imho - - it's the same principal that caused me to stop taking my camera hiking and replace it with binoculars.
posted by fairmettle at 9:30 AM on July 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

Looking at his CV, he seems to be a professional artist who also teaches. This isn't exactly uncommon, except that he teaches high school instead of university.
posted by jeather at 9:31 AM on July 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

His artwork is also featured on the 2012 Grammy Award winning album cover of rock group Bon Iver's eponymous album.

I'm gonna hazard a guess that Mr. Euclide is a cool dude.
posted by redsparkler at 9:31 AM on July 4, 2012

I'm actually in disbelief that they can be made in 25 minutes!
Is the process he is using not dissimilar from the street artists who use spray paint, newspaper, pot lids, etc., to come up with space beach forest etc scenes? Some effects are missing (if the ink is not sprayed, obvs), but working with the thick layers to create texture and landscape seems to run the same. Anyway, those pictures can look quite cool and take less than five minutes for pretty neat stuff.
For example: one-minute painting (youtube; music)

Regardless, they look cool and would be a welcome visual distraction in a lecture. Good on him for continuing to practice and stretch his creativity.
posted by whatzit at 9:43 AM on July 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

I compared his 25 minute pictures to his more polished work, and the difference is quite obvious. His work is really neat -- I'd probably buy it if I saw it and could afford it.
posted by jeather at 9:50 AM on July 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

His students give him a mixed review as a teacher.

You really can't put much stock in what ratemyteachers.com says. If you go by that site then you should point out that he's a racist, too (check the second comment).
posted by benito.strauss at 10:07 AM on July 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yeah, it's basically a street artists' trick, which isn't to say it's not a really neat trick. Notice that they're all pretty much the same thing, like the guys who do those spray paint space-scapes.
posted by cmoj at 10:12 AM on July 4, 2012

Euclide's a really excellent name for a teacher. It's just a pity he doesn't teach math. The woman I had for geometry was named Circle, and no one else in the class thought there was anything remarkable about that.
posted by pdq at 10:19 AM on July 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

If you go by that site then you should point out that he's a racist, too

He does seem suspiciously partial to whiteboards.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:47 AM on July 4, 2012 [3 favorites]

The segregation of blackboards out of mainstream schools over the past decades in favor of whiteboards is an affront to SCOTUS's Brown v. Board of Education decision to desegregate American schools.
posted by Groundhog Week at 12:05 PM on July 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

I took one look at the artwork link and went "BON IVER!". And so it was.

Dude needs to keep the art on the black/whiteboard and teach his kids some respect for talent.
posted by flippant at 12:26 PM on July 4, 2012

Dude needs to keep the art on the black/whiteboard and teach his kids some respect for talent.

What?

What's wrong with impermanence, and how does it mean that his students won't respect talent?
posted by kenko at 1:16 PM on July 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Somebody buy this man an eBeam
posted by The Gooch at 1:29 PM on July 4, 2012

Alvy Ampersand: "And who is paying for the dry-erase markers, which this 'teacher' uses up at a rate of two a week, three times the average? That's right - YOU, the taxpayer!"

Well, actually, according to the first link, he uses Japanese sumi ink, so it is not surprising he can do what he does. Would be hard with dry-erase pens, I'd say. I bet the fancy brush-tip felts don't come in dry erase ;)
posted by Listener at 2:36 PM on July 4, 2012

Alvy Ampersand: "And who is paying for the dry-erase markers, which this 'teacher' uses up at a rate of two a week, three times the average? That's right - YOU, the taxpayer!"


If their system is like our system here, the teacher not only pays for the erasers out of pocket, but for any extra-curricular materials they utilize in the class.

I belong to a couple of casual groups who pitch in to donate so that the teachers don't have to pay for that stuff. We adopt two classes each school year.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 2:49 PM on July 4, 2012

The impermanence thing has a very sand mandala kind of vibe to it. I saw a group of monks construct one at my college a few years back and yeah - it was really disconcerting to see something so beautiful summarily destroyed, but that was indeed the whole point all along.
posted by sonika at 2:55 PM on July 4, 2012 [3 favorites]

halfbuckaroo, I love you,
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 4:17 PM on July 4, 2012

I saw a group of monks construct one at my college a few years back and yeah - it was really disconcerting to see something so beautiful summarily destroyed

It is an amazing act to witness.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:48 PM on July 4, 2012

I love it.
posted by jonbro at 3:15 AM on July 5, 2012

true, professional artist. What the hell is he doing teaching with that incredible skill at his disposal

As a fellow teacher and professional artist, I can tell you exactly what he's doing. He's passing on his knowledge and incredible skill to the future in the most immediate way possible, consequently improving all of our lives whether we realize it or not.

Professionals artists tend to create their own work in a vacuum. The obsessional aspect of it makes it quite solitary, usually.

Professional artists who also teach ( there are millions of us, by the way ) directly engage with the next generation so that that which has refined our skills and brought us joy will not die when we do.

It can be a tremendously difficult job. Most of the important ones are.
posted by Hickeystudio at 6:50 AM on July 5, 2012 [2 favorites]

The interesting thing to me is the reaction impermanent art gets. I think the root of it is the idea that artists aren't normal people like everyone else who have devoted themselves to getting really good at something but have some sort of mystical skill that must be bottled and sold to be realized.

The dude spends 25 minutes. In terms of sketch drawing, that's a pretty short time. Figure artists would consider that a mediumish period for a sketch. Amazing what he can do, not a lot of time. Freaking out about "ZOMG erasure!!" is the effort equivalent of freaking out about "ZOMG, freshly cut lawn growing!"

Also, when I look at his technique, I think his effects are more "Bob Ross" than Tweaker Spray Artist, but YMMV. Never knew you could dry-erase sumi: the things you learn.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 1:49 PM on July 5, 2012