NAME:
Mrs. Jan Nemitz
SCHOOL:
Friendswood High School
CLASS:
Art 1,2,3,4 and A. P. Art
SCHOOL PHONE:
281-482-3413
I was born and raised in Chicago. I attended Chicago State University
where I earned my Bachelor's of Science in Education in 1967 with a
minor in art. My Master's Degree is from Illinois Institute of Technology's
School of Design where I received a Master of Science in Visual
Education in 1974. I taught Junior High art for two years in a suburb of
Chicago and at a high school in Dolton, Illinois for eight years. My
husband and I spent a full year in Europe traveling around and toured
twenty three different countries while we drove over 44,000 miles. Then
we moved to Texas where I taught in H.I.S.D for one year and in
Dickinson for two years.
I have taught art at Friendswood High School for 30 years.
My husband, Jim, and I have lived in the Clear Lake area for over 32
years. Our interests are plants, ballgames, attending art festivities and
golf. We have no children and 2 cats, Gilda and Sooner.
2010 was another great traveling summer for the Nemitz's. We were able to visit
Milwaukee and Chicago, my home town, to see family and friends and enjoyed the beautiful city
and all it has to offer.
My Husband and I also went to Russia for the first time. We were on a Viking
Cruise entitled "Waterways of the Czars". It was a two week riverboat cruise that began in
St.Petersberg where we spent four days enjoying palaces, monasteries and best of all, the Hermitage
Art Museum. It was huge and quite spectacular with over 1,000 rooms. We found our favorites: the
Impressionists, the Picassos and the Malechite Room. It was amazing to wander through such a
huge building that used to be a live in castle. We attended the Russian Ballet and saw Swan Lake,
which was spectacular. All of our meals were provided for us on the boat and served by young
Russian students that belong to the School of Tourism in Siberia. We boated over 700 miles down
the Svir to the VolgaRiver, making stops along the way in small towns with special attractions and
hand made crafts. We ended up in Moscow where we spent four days seeing the Pushkin Art
Museum, several churches,palaces, markets, Red Square and the Kremlin. We rode the underground
metro all over the city, which was interesting and challenging since we don't understand the Russian
language. We found the people to be very friendly and helpful. It was a trip of a lifetime and we
found it to be educational and very enjoyable since we met people from New Zealand, London,
Seattle and New York to name a few.
We highly recommend a trip like this to anyone interested in learning about a
foreign culture and seeing how people live. Living on a boat was comfortable,
very clean and convenient. Another nice feature of traveling like this is
that you only have to unpack one time!
2011 - This was a very busy summer for my husband and I. We took four trips so living out of a
suitcase became normal for us. We visited Lafayette, Louisiana for a REAL Cajun Wedding and some
great food. The drive was enjoyable and having time with some old friends was a great time.
We went to Paris, France for nine days and enjoyed all the art museums and they were unbelieveable!
We stayed right in the middle of the city and rode buses and got lost all over the city (it's a great
place to lose your way!). The architecture was outstanding and we saw a lot of it. We visited the
Louvre, of course, the Pompidou, Rodin's Home, the Monmarttan, a beautiful exhibit of Monet's
murals, La Petit Palace, Musee D'Orsay, Notre Dame, Sacre Coure, a beautiful Church up on a hill that
overlooks the city. We also rode the train to see thePalace of Versailles.
We visited Austin where I took an excellent course in Advanced A.P. Art Studio at the Univeristy of
Texas. It was very beneficial and enabled me to bing back a load of new art ideas for my students.
In the evenings my husband and I explored a variety of restaurants offred in the Austin area.
Last but not least we went back to my hometwon of Chicago where we visited with family and
friends. We enjoyed several of the Chicago resataurants and the beautiful downtown area. Summer
is just spectacular in Chicago and is the VERY best time to visit to enjoy the lakefront and all their
summer activities.
It was a great summer but its always great to get back home!
To further education and interest in art through classroom assignments
and exploration of various medias. Hopefully, students will consider
art a part of their lives and will learn to appreciate it and incorporate it
into their lives. They should realize that art is everywhere and that
everything we use and buy began with a drawing.