EILEEN PRINCE: 35 YEARS OF SHARING HER ARTISTRY The best lesson I took away was that art was not just a collection of techniques and
having a teacher with a long-standing tenure like Eileen’s is
styles, but a window into and expression of a culture and a society. My ability to
the institutional memory and perspective.”
distinguish the different types of Greek columns became a running joke in my family. But, more than that, it inspired a lifelong passion for art that has brought me so
When Prince started, Sycamore was renting space from
much joy. – JOEL MARTIN | CLASS OF 2001
a church. That meant teachers were sharing rooms and putting away all supplies and projects in a small closet at the
There has never been a school year in the past 35 years
end of each day. “As an art teacher, you can imagine the
that Eileen Prince has not been in her Sycamore art room,
limitations,” she says. “Children brought their own pencils,
teaching Sycamore students.
markers, crayons, scissors, glue, and watercolors, and we supplied paper. There were no student art displays in the
“To still have a founding teacher at Sycamore in 2020 is
halls. I got slides for my lectures from the Indianapolis
amazing,” says Diane Borgmann, Sycamore’s Head of
Museum of Art, spending hours culling each batch.”
School. “Probably one of the most meaningful aspects of
