Local Art Teacher's Students Paint Beyond the Numbers

There’s a room in Nancy Koenig’s basement that’s a work of art. 

That’s no surprise, considering that she is a painter and art teacher who specializes in watercolors and acrylics.

But Koenig isn’t the artist. And these paintings bear no resemblance to the lovely impressionism of Mary Cassatt, Koenig’s favorite painter of the moment.

They’re the names of the hundreds of children who’ve studied art with Koenig over the years, painted in their own hands across the room’s walls, ceiling boards and exposed pipes.

For nearly two decades, Koenig has taught private art lessons to local children out of the basement of her Darien home.

Koenig studied art at Eastern Illinois University and taught for seven years in Evergreen Park. These days she’s an occasional substitute teacher, but her true love is the private lessons where she gives kids the kind of instruction she wishes she’d had.

“I had great art teachers in college, but they never really showed me how to do it,” she said. “They’d just grade it.”

The lessons started when a grandmother and granddaughter asked Koenig if she’d teach both of them to paint. From there, word spread so quickly that Koenig’s never had to advertise. She now teaches six lessons a week, grouped by age and ability. 

Koenig’s students mostly range in age from five to 18, though she also teaches the occasional adult. 

“It’s a great job because the kids really want to be here,” she said.

The kids were also the ones who started the tradition of painting their names on the walls. Koenig said she’s painted over the names a couple of times, but soon enough new scribblings begin to appear. (This writer caught one student in the act last Wednesday.)

student Keelyn, 8, began taking Koenig’s classes about four years ago. When she first signed up, the beginner classes were full, so Keelyn enrolled in an intermediate class populated mostly with seventh-graders.

Keelyn was so shy back then she barely spoke in class. But now the third-grader said she enjoys the chance to chat and paint with friends every week.

“I like doing art, and I like painting,” she said. “And Ms. Koenig is a hard-working teacher.”

Many of Koenig’s students see great success in local art competitions. She said nearly all of her current students placed in the Darien Woman’s Club’s most recent Creative Youth Art Fair. Older students regularly receive Gold and Silver Keys in the prestigious Scholastic Art Awards.

Jessa May, 14, an eighth-grader at , recently placed first in the seventh- and eighth-grade division at the Creative Youth fair. She also made it to states in the Reflections art contest.

“[From this class,] I’ve been able to learn to paint, and now I’m able to do stuff I wasn’t able to do before,” she said.

Though Koenig said she teaches students of all ability levels, she estimates about 98 percent have real talent. Then there are the kids who just come for a good time. 

“They just like to make stuff,” she said. “So you can’t knock it either.”

During the summers, Koenig teaches a workshop but also spends time in Canada where she focuses on her own painting. But before she knows it, it’s back to Darien and back to class—and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“You’re in a room with a bunch of people who enjoy what you enjoy,” she said. “How can you go wrong?”