Retiree Tributes

Joan Greenblatt Newcomer has been teaching art at McDonogh since February 4, 1974 - more than 44 years! The length of her career and the lengths she will go to in order to support her young artists are simply remarkable. Joan has taught thousands of children that no matter how reluctant or intimidated they may feel at first, every one of them has something unique and important to say through their artwork.

For the first 20 years of her McDonogh career, Joan was the only art teacher in the Lower School. At her busiest, she taught 20 different classes a week and was responsible for the art education of 306 students.

Joan enjoys exposing her students to art in all its forms and all its mediums. She uses paint, papier mache, pastels, clay, chalk, wood, and wool to coax creativity from her students.  Art projects fashioned by the hands of lower schoolers brighten the walls and table tops of Elderkin and Dudley Halls during the Imagination Celebration, an art show which Joan created. Work by our youngest artists also appears in the Tuttle Gallery during the All-School Art Exhibit. These projects are then carried home to live long lives on bookshelves and refrigerator doors as well as in keepsake boxes. Please raise your hand if you still own a wooden car, wooden boat, Super Hero figure, Kachina doll, or a ceramic leaf that you made in Mrs. Newcomer’s class. Thank you, Joan, for adding so many colorful memories to our lives!

In retirement, Joan plans to pursue a number of endeavors, including returning to her own artwork. If she is willing, perhaps we will display one of her new creations in next year’s Imagination Celebration. Joan, thank you for adding so many colorful memories to our lives! We wish you a wonderful, well-deserved retirement.

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