Galeria del Norte, San Jacinto College North Campus’s art gallery, unveiled The Art of Teaching exhibit March 6 to showcase the work of the art faculty of Channelview High School.

“The Idea is to give Channelview High School teachers a venue to show their work in a professional setting,” North campus art professor Ken Luce said. “Channelview was ready for their art to be displayed and for students to view their art.”

Cynthia Diaz, a Channelview teacher and featured artists said the collection was created by pooling the individual talents of the faculty.

“We decided to use different types of mediums of art such as Mrs. Foster did sculptures, Mr. Quintanilla did graffiti art,” Diaz said.

North campus art major Lennie Caston-Miller said she was fascinated by the featured pieces on display.

“The texture Mrs. Foster used on her sculpture ‘Second Skin’ actually looks like skin, and also the ‘While You Were Sleeping’ by Jermaine Quintanilla is amazing because when you really look at it, the line between the graffiti and building looks like a separation that I can understand,” Caston-Miller said.

Charles Smoke, an English teacher from Channelview High School, said he was also impressed by the creativity of his co-workers.

“I like it, and I go to Channelview High School, and I wanted to come out and support our art department, our teachers, and we have some great art in this exhibit,” Smoke said.

“I really like this event. My art is very colorful, and my other colleagues art is very inspiring as well,” featured artist Jermaine Quintanilla said.

“I (am) from Los Angeles and I rode the bus everywhere. We didn’t have a vehicle, so graffiti was my first love. And I move to Houston in the early nineties, and I took my first art class in middle school; so most of my art is balancing fine art and graffiti,” Quintanilla said.

Furthermore, he explained the significance of creativity in the context of innovation.

“Education blends in with art. It includes left brain and right brain because when engineers look for people, they want somebody who are not just about numbers all the time,” Quintanilla said.

“They want somebody who can think outside of the box like Steve Jobs,” he said. “I always tell my students education and art go hand in hand. People who are innovative are creative as well.”