Friday, March 29, 2024

Renowned artist Tabor retires from GHS

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As one of the most respected western expressionistic artists in the country, Mike Tabor has certainly done a lot of drawing. Now he is drawing the curtain on his day job as an art teacher for the Granbury school district.

Tabor has officially retired.

For 28 years, art students at Granbury High School were taught by the renowned painter and sculptor. Before that, he taught for a year in Fort Worth and spent 12 years working on a ranch.

A 2016 recipient of the chamber’s coveted Howard Clemmons Distinguished Service Award, Tabor was commissioned by the Texas Rangers (baseball club) last year to create four western-themed paintings for the new Globe Life Field in Arlington. Other artists were commissioned, too, but Tabor’s paintings were chosen to hang in the owner’s suite.

Tabor’s other commissions have included life-size bronze sculptures that are on display near the starting line of the Boston Marathon in Hopkinton, Massachusetts and the Stephenville campus of Tarleton State University.

“The amount of work that I’m getting is increasing,” the artist said from the studio at his ranch that is in both Hood and Somervell counties. He lives at the ranch with his wife Suzy.

For 24 of his 28 years at GHS, Tabor’s students won Best High School awards at the Fort Worth Stock Show Art Contest — an achievement that led to him being featured in the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo’s Fall 2020 newsletter.

Tabor credits the students for those wins, not himself.

“That’s their art, not mine,” he said, adding that students were the ones who “put in the hard work.”

He stated, “I think the biggest thing that I did was just kind of guide them and direct them on talent they already had. I don’t know that I was a big impact. I tried to share with them everything I know.”

While Tabor may feel unsure about his influence, others do not.

Rhonda Rezsofi, whose daughter Caroline is graduating from GHS and was among students who received top honors at last year’s Stock Show Art Contest, said that Tabor helped the teenager “become a better artist.”

She said that Tabor’s “encouragement and guidance” helped Caroline decide to pursue art as a career. She starts at Savannah College of Art and Design in the fall.

GHS Principal Jeremy Ross also praised Tabor, calling him “a fierce educator and an all-around amazing person” who he has been lucky to call his friend for the last 11 years.

“Mike is an icon at GHS and even the surrounding area,” Ross stated. “He runs a perfectly balanced classroom – maintaining high expectations while still comfortable enough to laugh and enjoy the relationships with his colleagues and students.”

The principal said that the culture in Tabor’s classroom and in the art wing fostered creativity among students, resulting in “amazing projects that would be the envy of collegiate art programs.”

Ross added, “In fact, our art students who submit a portfolio to the College Board almost always receive Advanced Placement college credits.”

Tabor’s classroom, or lack of one this past year, played a role in his decision to retire at 65.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he taught online from his studio instead of interacting one-on-one with his students.

“I’m not effective teaching that way,” he said.

Where COVID-19 is concerned, Tabor must be extra-careful. He is a leukemia patient. When he was a child, one of his cousins died from the disease.

Due to the chemo medication Tabor takes, his doctor at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston said it would be best for him not to have a COVID-19 vaccine, at least not for a while. Tabor said he is also unable to get a flu shot.

“Jeremy Glenn was just really, really good about letting me teach from (the studio) this year,” the art teacher said. “I told him I didn’t feel comfortable going back into the building.”

Although he tries not to take unnecessary risks, Tabor said that his leukemia is “totally manageable” and that there are people who have been taking the same medication he is on for 20 years.

“As long as mine doesn’t turn into acute leukemia, I’m in good shape,” he said.

Tabor said that he will miss his colleagues at GHS, and the students.

“A lot of these kids just need somebody to talk to,” he said. “I know that school is a refuge for a lot of kids.”

Tabor said he feels that the art hall provided a safe haven.

As he begins a new chapter of his life, Tabor has his own refuge: his studio.

“I’m perfectly content here,” he said.