SB ART & CULTURE
BY URSULA BRANTLEY
W
hen it comes to the arts, there are countless ways that people connect with and express themselves through. These mediums allow them to show the world what impassions them. Shreveport native Edward Allen is one of those individuals who has not only immersed himself in the freedom of artistic expression but has made a career of guiding others towards that same freedom. Though he had always enjoyed drawing in his younger days, it was not until his time at Grambling State University that he realized that teaching the arts was his calling. Allen initially enrolled at the well-known HBCU as an English major with goals of becoming an English teacher. His advisor suggested choosing art as a minor. Allen took a chance and began to look at art as a minor. He found everything about it so interesting that he changed his major. Graduating in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science in Art Education, Allen began the search for his first teaching job. Fate had other plans. His first teaching job was right at Grambling State University. Having graduated early and being a star student at GSU, Allen was asked to teach an art class for a professor that left mid semester. He took the position and completed the year as the teacher of the class. As the summer went on, he waited to hear back from various school systems including Caddo Parish. Before the summer was over, he had accepted a teaching position in Amarillo, TX where he spent the next 5 years. The passing of his mother and other family obligations brought Allen back to Shreveport in 1969. Though the return home was a somber one, his coming home meant the beginning of a legacy that would touch numerous lives. Allen’s first teaching job once returning to Shreveport was in 1969 at Valencia Junior-Senior High School
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APRIL 2021
| SBMAG.NET
