Drawing and painting do not always come naturally to many students at Brookline High. Many students arrive in the Drawing I classroom just to inform the teacher that “they aren’t really an artist.”

For visual arts teacher is Elizabeth Brennan, playing a role in cultivating each and every student’s artistic talent has been her passion for most of her professional life. Even more rewarding to Brennan than the ‘wow factor’ that comes with a student finishing their newest creative piece are the personal relationships that she forges with her students to bring out the very best in their individual abilities.

According to her daughter, senior Sinead Brennan, her mother is a caring teacher who genuinely wants to help students, regardless of artistic talent.

“As a teacher, I would describe her as really friendly. If people come in really late to class she understands. I think she wants people to enjoy what they’re learning in her class” Brennan said.

As a colleague of Elizabeth Brennan, visual arts teacher Donna Sartanowicz appreciates their friendship, which she attributes to similar teaching styles.

“We were a really serious team and you know [it] got to the point where we [could] finish each other’s thoughts and knew what each other was thinking,” Sartanowicz said.

One of Brennan’s favorite parts about teaching at the high school is when she gets a student who isn’t initially interested in the artistic world.

“I have kids who come in and say ‘I have no idea why I’m here.’ I usually respond with ‘well, let’s see,’ and then they come to really love it,” Brennan said.

Brennan believes that drawing can be taught, no matter what level of raw talent a student has.

“I usually say to students on the first day: I promise you that I have a lot of tricks, and I will help you figure out how to make your drawings look more realistic,” Brennan said.

Brennan also enjoys it when students develop their own communities within the classroom amongst themselves. She says that students talking to each other on a thoughtful level about their work brings their best creative ideas in some of her classes.

“The students excelled in that class because of the community they built. It was amazing,” Brennan said.

Although students may not always form communities in every class that she teaches, Brennan herself always wants to develop personal relationships with her students. Sartanowicz appreciates how Brennan takes a personal interest in her students, attributing the personal relationships Brennan forms to her years spent teaching as as elementary-school art teacher.

“I think that for me, she really taught me to pay attention to what goes on in the lives of students beyond the classroom because that impacts the way that they operate within the classroom,” Sartanowicz said.

Brennan fondly remembers how one of her former students, Katie Hart, emailed her to let her know that she is now working at a jewelry company in San Francisco, and how much she appreciated the jewelry-making classes at the high school.

“Even if she’s not working as a jeweler, just remembering the opportunity that she had here at the high school [is really cool],” Brennan said.

Brennan teaches jewelry-making, drawing I, and drawing and painting II, but her favorite class to teach is printmaking.

“It’s probably one of my most favorite things to teach because the students respond in such a great way because there is this element of surprise of not knowing quite how the print is going to come out,” Brennan said.

The most fulfilling moment of teaching for Brennan comes at the end of each semester of classes.

“I just love it when students are like, ‘I can’t believe I did that,’” Brennan said.