A Teacher’s Life as An Artist: The Joys and Sorrows of BLACK HISTORY in America

Descended from a great-great grandfather who was enslaved in North Carolina, Newark resident Onnie Strother who maintains an Art studio in the Riker Hill Art Park in Livingston, has made a life’s work inspiring and teaching young people about Art, and educating people of all ages about the Black Experience in America.

He grew up in Newark attending Saturday Art classes for kids at Arts High at age 9, and later attended Barringer High School where through mentor John Morello, he discovered Black artists and got, as he says: “serious.” After high school, he attended New York’s School of Visual Arts on scholarship, and because this notable professional Art school had just become certified as a college was the first student to receive a bachelor’s degree. Spending a semester at Essex County College passionately focusing only on Black Studies was a life changing experience.

Subsequently at the suggestion of his next mentor in Newark, Ruth Assorson, he registered at Rutgers and got certified as a public-school Art teacher which led to a job at Columbia High School which serves the South Orange/Maplewood district. While there, he had a storied career and served for 24 years, in the process instituting numerous cutting-edge programs and courses.

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