The Treasure of Volunteers

The Treasure of Volunteers

Steve Hovel is a Wisconsin Artist who is volunteering his time and talents at the Three Angels Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin. He is best known for his landscapes and duck paintings, but has many other accomplishments. Steve is recognized in the top 100 artists of US American National Parks by the Academy of the Arts.

Steve studied Art at Indiana University. He later developed a method of printing never been done before and can print about anything. Kansas State University awarded him as one of the Top 25 Drawing Artists in the United States. He is a magazine and book illustrator and is currently in the process of writing a book of his adventures. His art has been in traveling art shows and currently some of his work is exhibited in Door County, WI.

“Mr. Steve,” as the students affectionately call him, won an Air Force Art Competition. His drawings were spotted by his commanders in Vietnam and they called him for help. He accepted and was given the job to draw reconnaissance overlays of the major targets to destroy tanks and trucks. Steve created a system to draw common targets in ten minutes without having to recreate them over and over. During his time in Vietnam, God performed many miracles in his life and he is writing about those miracles in his book.  After Vietnam, Steve came back to the states and later settled down in Lodi, Wisconsin.

Three Angels students are privileged to have such a talented artist volunteer his time to help them learn how to draw and paint. For the past five years “Mr. Steve” comes weekly to instruct the students in grades 5-8. “It is all about eye and hand coordination; really looking at what they are doing,” he said.

This school year “Mr. Steve” had the students work on duck paintings to enter in the Junior Duck Stamp Competition, sponsored by Ducks Unlimited. His students took 12 awards out of the 18 entries!  Great job, Mr. Steve and students!

Volunteers are priceless to our schools. Consider sharing your talents and volunteering at your local school!

 

Sue Nelson, Superintendent for Education