EMILY DAY

Shy people see more.  CMA School of Art Instructor Frank Dale has seen it time and time again.  A shy student sits quietly in the back of a class absorbing the world around them through downcast eyes.  Those with special talent turn their observations into wonderful art.  They just need a little encouragement and direction.  Sometimes the results tug at your heartstrings as was the case with a young woman named Emily Day.

One day Frank picked up the phone even though he didn’t recognize the number calling in.  It was the father of his student, Emily Day and he had a simple message.  “You have no idea what you have done for my daughter.  She has a whole new sense of herself.”  

A short time before, Frank had been so excited about Emily’s painting of a water lily that he paid her $200 for it and made sure she received a framed print.  According to her father, Emily went on to attend the Columbus Academy of Art and Design and was looking forward to a fine art career.

But Frank Dale wasn’t done with the Day family.  A year after Emily left for art school her mother, Kumi, also enrolled in Frank’s Classical Painting class.  It didn’t take long for Frank to figure out where Emily’s art talent came from.  Kumi had the same powers of observation.  The same outstanding sense of color harmony.  The same sense of gratitude to a teacher who loves to nurture hidden talents.  At the end of every class Kumi bows in a traditional Japanese sign of gratitude for the teaching.  Frank beams.