She Dreamed a Dream in the Name of Art

Some of Noele Reynolds greatest works of art occur while she’s in deep into a REM cycle, and she scrambles out of bed when she wakes to collect her thoughts on paper before they disappear.

“I keep a sketchbook in bed,” she confessed.

An art teacher at , Reynolds, of , once dreamed she was invisible and submerged beneath the sea on a black submarine. The dream later inspired an student art installation project on dark space and form involving handmade portholes.

After another inspiration, she directed her students to create enormous paper depictions of themselves that reached from floor to ceiling.

Over the years, her school projects have included an archeological dig in the main lobby and a botanical wonderland that made use of a decorative fountain donated by .

For the archeological project, Reynolds built a pit in the hallway and filled it with sand-- earning the ire of school custodians -- before scattering it with pottery created by the students. After snagging the fountain, Reynolds installed it in the lobby and used it to make water flow over bright pieces of pottery resembling flowers that students created after a trip to Phipps Conservatory.

Haine Middle School principal Steve Smith has learned to expect the unexpected.

“There are times she’ll come to me and she’ll say, ‘Steve, I just had this dream last night and it’s going to be the art show,’” he said. “Knowing Noele, it can be anything.” 

Recently, the results of her dreams led her to a spot within the Pittsburgh Society of Artists, which, at 300 members, is the largest guild of the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.

To become a member, an artist must submit three pieces of art during the group’s twice-yearly screenings for admission.

On a Sunday in October, Reynolds was one of 55 artists who displayed pieces at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts in Shadyside. Of those artists, 20 would be voted into the society.

For her entries, Reynolds used clay, the medium she is most passionate about.

On Monday, she heard word she had made the cut.

“I got an e-mail that said ‘Welcome,’ and I about fell off my chair,” she said.

One of her winning pieces was a 12-by-30-inch clay collage weighing close to 50 pounds and mounted on plywood.

“It’s one of my favorites,” she said.

Another entry, entitled “Lessons Learned,” featured the smashed remains of earlier pieces that Reynolds considered failures.

“I took all the pieces I did that were unsuccessful and I smashed them all,” she said. “I thought they looked more interesting smashed then they did together.”

One of the pieces she destroyed was a teacup she made in ninth grade. It was the first piece she ever created.

Not that she held any sentimental value to it. Reynolds didn’t have a second thought about crushing the cup, as she felt that action symbolized just how far she’s come as an artist. All that remained was the handle, which became part of the entry piece.

“It was just the crappiest little tea cup,” she said. “I thought, ‘I can do bigger and throw better.’ I’m not that 15-year-old girl anymore.”

Following her induction meeting, the board asked Reynolds to choose a piece to show at the artists’ reception on Dec. 16.

Fittingly, her chosen piece is called “Only in a Recent Dream.” It was inspired during a sabbatical she took from the district last January to concentrate on earning her Master in Fine Arts degree from Edinboro University. Reynolds also took classes at Carlow University.

“The sabbatical was just life-changing creativity,” she said. “I couldn’t sketch the ideas fast enough.”

Her piece will remain on display in the gallery at the Art Institute in Pittsburgh through Jan. 28.     

Not bad for a girl who, while growing up, was told she never would become an artist.

As a child, Reynolds said, she was scolded by a teacher for coloring her pumpkins purple instead of the traditional orange. But other educators believed in her, she said, and once she graduated high school, one of her art teachers gave her the pottery wheel she used for years.

“She gave it to me in 1986, and it still runs,” Reynolds said. “It runs like a dog.”

Today, the wheel sits in Reynolds’s classroom at the middle school, which is a paint-splattered, chaotic ode to color and strewn with art projects past and present.

Reynolds is working on a ceramics unit with her fifth-graders, but she soon will start preparing the students for the school’s annual art installation project, which is assembled from the students' individual contributions.

The installations, which are displayed in the main entrance to the building, often take up most of the space in the lobby.

As Smith well knows, Reynolds is locally renowned for them.

“Every year, we have numerous people come in saying that this is even better then last year,” he said. “She continues to take it to the next level.”

Once the pieces are in place, parents are invited for an art reception, an event so popular the district arranged for a bus to shuttle parents between the school and their cars.

Smith said he is happy Reynolds will have a chance to show off her work in other galleries. Reynolds’ acceptance into the Pittsburgh Society of Artists, he said, is a validation of her talent.

“I think it’s such a great opportunity for her,” he said. “She’s so creative and you can see that with the kids. I think in order to do that, you have to keep your own creativity going. I think this shows her passion. It benefits her and that’s going to benefit the students.”

Next up for Reynolds is a show at the Fein Art Gallery on Pittsburgh’s North Side on Jan. 25.

A mother of two, Reynolds already has a dedicated fan in her 10-year-old son, Jack, a student at Haine Middle School who will soon have his mom as a teacher.

“I think she’s going to become the next big artist from Pittsburgh,” he said. “Like Andy Warhol.”