“There really isn’t a reason to get a master’s (degree) if you didn’t intend to teach in art,” said Professor Eric Sanchez, who is a newly tenured faculty member in the Art department at Los Medanos College.
Sanchez began his journey teaching at Diablo Valley College and transferred to CSU East Bay, receiving his bachelor’s degree in art in 2001. He then worked his way through San Francisco State University for a masters degree in Printmaking in 2005.
One key element Sanchez reminisced from his own college experience was the variety of art courses that were offered. Through these courses, he was able to learn interdisciplinary skills. Once graduated, he went on to work with CALA, (California Assisted Living Association), a non-profit organization that allows him to practice art and utilize his designing and printmaking skills.
Originally, Sanchez did not plan to pursue a career in education and instead wanted to go further as an artist. However, after his time working with CALA, he realized that he enjoyed teaching art as much as he enjoyed practicing it.
He eventually came to work at LMC in the fall of 2011 as a member of the classified staff supporting the Art, Journalism, and Drama departments.
In 2019 Sanchez applied for a new faculty position in the Art department and began teaching his own classes in drawing and other visual arts.
Sanchez views teaching as a way to further develop his own voice to experiment with and share ideas.
Choosing to teach at a community college was mainly about paying things forward as he was more interested in working in places where students don’t normally get much exposure to art.
Sanchez said that teaching for him was “to provide opportunities for art that don’t get much variety.”
Sanchez has even been a part of the Study Abroad program as both a student in his time in college and as a professor with a group of students in Florence last spring.
He felt that there was a full circle moment, as he could receive and provide a lot of offerings in art.
Sanchez’s inspirations as a teacher and artist comes from a mixture of mentors in education from Los Medanos and individual artists that he has encountered, as they each provide a different kind of brilliance.
He adopted many techniques, such as work ethic and the attention to craft and applied them into his class.
Sanchez has also become an inspiration for some of his art students as well. Blake Amis took Sanchez’s drawing class in his first semester. Sanchez has been his mentor helping him improve in his art and education since then.
“He has a very calming presence,” Amis said. “You’ll learn a lot, not just about art but about life.”
Amis shared a time when he encountered a mishap when experimenting with charcoal. Sanchez was very diligent during this time and reminded Amis to learn from this experience and build from it, as he only wants to see his students succeed.
According to Amis, Sanchez pushed him to consider countless different possibilities and opportunities with lasting advice for his portfolio, and college and internship applications. Amis plans to graduate in spring 2024 with a degree in animation.
“He’s made my goal as an animator attainable,” said Amis.
Sanchez has his own goals which usually change every five years. His goal for the spring semester is to expand the art program and offerings at the LMC Brentwood Center.
If anyone else is interested in the Art program at LMC or seek to contact Sanchez, he can be reached via email at [email protected].
You may also check out his commission works at indubitabledesign.com.
