Teacher Left Artistic Mark on Huron

Art is to be enjoyed by the masses. And retired Huron High School art teacher Rose Calienni spent more than 30 years sharing the challenges and satisfaction that can be achieved by creating a piece of art that is enjoyed by others.    
When the Bellevue native graduated from Bowling Green State University in the late 1940s, her father gave her a trip out to southern California to visit a sister. She soon fell in love with the balmy weather and ocean views along the Orange County coastline.
“When I saw a classified ad for a teacher at a parochial school in Santa Ana, I decided to stay a while and enjoy the sunshine,” she reminisced.
For the next 17 years, the adventuresome Ohioan taught art and home economics at Matre Deis High School. “It was, and still is, the largest parochial school west of the Mississippi,” she recalled proudly.

Lured back to Ohio by the pull of family ties, Miss Calienni started the art department at Vermilion High School and was there for several years until in 1969 the late principal Rockie Larizza convinced her to come and teach art at Huron High School.
“Miss Rose,” as she was known to her students, could spot artistic talent from a mile away and had a knack for making them see it, as well.  Each holiday season, students vied for the honor of decorating downtown Huron store windows with Christmas scenes. “The boys and girls really got into it and I was always so proud of them, when people complimented us on their artistic skills,”
One picture in particular stands out in her memory. It was during the conflict in the Gulf, that a student painted a picture of a GI standing at attention, holding his weapon and looking wistfully at the infant Jesus and Mary shown in a stable on a small hill in the background.
“I always let the students pick their subjects, it helped them become more involved and instilled a sense of pride in their work,” said Calienni of the scenes, which were created using tempera paint so that it could easily be washed off.
Miss Calienni’s art class created a huge mural for Huron’s new city building, depicting a collage of local scenes. The wall had to be removed several years later when new windows were installed, and the “mother hen teacher” is still miffed about it.  
Seriously injured in a 1980 auto accident, she was forced to retire from teaching, but has found a way to share her talents with neighbors and friends. Each year, shortly after Thanksgiving, the talented artist paints a holiday scene on the front picture window of her Huron home. Former students often stop by to check out this year’s picture and visit a while with one of their favorite teachers.
Several of her students have gone on to life careers in art. Andrea Bowers first met Calienni when she was only 7 or 8 and her parents realized that she had a talent for drawing.
“My mom asked Miss Rose if she would give me some lessons and she had a special knack for teaching me the ‘meat and potato skills’ of basic drawing, something that isn’t taught any more,” Bowers recalled. 
Now based in Los Angeles, Bowers describes her work as political art, featuring activists for various causes from around the world. She blends pencil drawing with videos that she shoots herself. These are displayed together as multi-media installations at prestigious galleries in New York, Los Angeles and Europe. The versatile artist is a noted sculptor and also creates handmade books.
Another HHS grad who headed west with his portfolio and stayed is Charlie Baker, who earned a degree in architectural history from the University of Virginia and now does interior design work and creates specialized carpet installations for a company in Los Angeles.
Rose Calienni, an amazing octogenarian, has helped hundreds of young people better enjoy art, and guided dozens of others into sharing their artistic talents with the world.

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