This piece was written by Michael S. Taheri, an art student at Villa Maria College.
Taheri is a seasoned criminal defense attorney based in Williamsville, New York, with a distinguished career spanning over three decades. Admitted to the New York State Bar in 1988, he co-founded the law firm Taheri & Todoro, P.C., providing dedicated legal representation to his clients. Beyond his legal practice, he contributed to legal education as an adjunct professor at the University at Buffalo Law School.
Now on the “other side” of the classroom as a student, Taheri continues to share his wealth of knowledge with his fellow classmates.
When I retired from teaching and practicing criminal law in 2023, I was looking for a new challenge. I believed it was important to my physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional health to be involved in something new. At age 66, I wanted to stay engaged in a learning community, take a few risks, have new experiences, and continue to learn. Perhaps by Divine inspiration and a desire to learn more about Art, I ended up on the Villa campus.
I began auditing Professor Kyle Butler’s Contemporary Art class and Adam Weekly’s Art History class in 2023. These excellent instructors encouraged me to take 3-D Design. Professor Butler told it was time to “make” something – to create a piece of art. I hardly knew how to use a hammer and a screwdriver, let alone create an art object, but I embraced his suggestion, met with Professor Walp, and signed up for 3-D Design.
Six weeks into class, Professor Walp asked us to select an item from nature that we would first draw and then turn into an abstract design. He provided a series of specimens to choose from for the drawing. My first thought was, “Holy S&^t!” For some reason, I did not think there would be any drawing in this art class. Why? I don’t know.
I explained to Professor Walp and the nine students sitting around our work area that I had no training and virtually no skills in drawing. Maybe I could render a stick man or a tic-tac-toe chart, but never an image from nature. As we talked, I learned this was an upper-level course where the students had taken Drawing 1 and Drawing 2. Despite this, Professor Walp did not give me any breaks. Instead, he said: “Try and do your best. Look at the object and draw what you see.”
I looked for the easiest object to draw and selected a tiny fern enclosed in plastic. The fern looked like a little tree with leaves and a root, and was very basic and nonthreatening. I thought I could fake it to make it. Meanwhile, the art students were selecting complex starfish, scorpions, and a hermit crab for their drawings, and I realized this exercise would be embarrassing for the old guy. These were serious students with talent. I was out of my league.
My mind raced, and I decided that if I drew something very small that looked like a Christmas tree with a few branches, I could finish the assignment with the least amount of pain. We had 15 minutes to sketch our object. I was done in 7 minutes, and it looked pretty lame. I felt even more pathetic as I looked around the room and saw what the real art students had drawn. Details, shading, proportions – their work looked great. It was embarrassing, but at least we were done and would be moving on to the next part of the project.
Not so. Professor Walp explained that we now had to present our drawing and have it critiqued by the other students. I cannot recall another time in my life when I felt so out of my element. With no classes in drawing, no natural talent, and no experience, I now had to hold up this tiny, poorly shaped sketch of a fern for critique by talented and experienced young artists. Could it get much worse?
It did. Professor Walp asked me to go first. I had to hold up my childlike sketch in front of nine talented, bright, and experienced art students to hear their comments, and I was sure to endure a few laughs.
They say suffering can be redemptive for the soul, so I did as asked and held up my tiny fern for the students to gaze upon. Dead silence. Candidly, I was not really ready for the upcoming pummeling, but I just said to myself, “Suck it up. It’ll be over in 5 minutes.” Endure it and move on.
Once again I was wrong. The experience of being critiqued by the students was a game changer for me. Instead of laughing, mocking or otherwise torturing me about my tired fern, they made incredibly helpful suggestions about how to improve my use of line, form, shading and other details. They offered gentle, thoughtful, serious reflections and even had some nice things to say about the drawing. Expecting I pummeling, I found myself being pampered with kindness. The students became my teachers.
By the time the critique was concluded, Professor Walp and the students made me feel like I was Van Gogh painting water lilies. It was a heartwarming and personal growth experience. These kind students gave me wonderful feedback on how to draw. They even began calling me “Mike,” and several students commented about how they think it is “cool” to come back to school just to learn. I was accepted by the students as just another person taking the course.
As we undertake new projects in this class, my confidence about showing my “art” to the students for their critique has grown. Professor Walp and the students have been tremendously helpful and made numerous suggestions that are centered on helping me improve as a student. Although I am not an artist, I consider myself a student enjoying the process of learning. The faculty and the students have given me the confidence to continue moving forward on this new journey.
Being allowed to take classes with these exceptional students and teachers has shown me that risk-taking – putting yourself out there- can be exciting and healthy at any age. There is still so much to learn and experience while we are healthy and interested in life’s new challenges. We just have to be humble enough to meet the challenge. Villa Maria College has a very unique sense of community, which has made a difference in my life, especially in my retirement. Words are inadequate to express my gratitude to the entire Villa community for providing me with an opportunity to audit these art classes. President Matt Giordano, the faculty, and the students have been very kind and welcoming to the oldest student on campus.
