Head of School Jennifer Borman remembers John Tashjian

School One recently lost a gifted teacher and alumnus, John Tashjian, class of 1986, who died in an accident in April 2009.  I wanted to share my own memories of John and invite you to contribute yours by clicking the link below.  We’ll compile these stories and tributes and share them with John’s family and friends. 

John had been teaching art classses at School One for many years, from Art’Cetera to Small Worlds to his famous course Chair.  He was incredibly passionate about art and equally passionate about helping his students grow as artists. In his sculpture class, he’d take students on walks to find objects -- broken branches, bottlecaps, twine – and then help them weave the objects into conceptual art.  In all of his classes, John scheduled regular critiques with his students.  Seeing John take their work seriously, they began to take themselves more seriously as artists.

John was equally passionate about his own art. He would often whirl into my office and show me a piece of jewely he’d finished.  His technique was exciting – big links of hammered silver, chains, bone and wood – and his concepts were evocative: the Armenian genocide, violence against women, family memories.   I felt like I needed to touch every piece he showed me and I was always reluctant to give them back to him.  He recently donated a gorgeous bracelet cuff for our Scholar Dollars auction and that was only one of the many ways that John and his family supported School One.

John also wanted School One to start a jewelry program and we had begun talking about writing grants to fund it.  This was only one of the many plans he had in the works.  In the short term, he was excited (and proud and relieved) to finish his degree from Rhode Island College in June.  He was also incredibly committed to spending time with his family and furthering his career as a jewelry designer.

This reminiscence has been longer than I intended but it allowed me to spend more time with John as I wrote it, seeing his incredible gray-green eyes and feeling his vibrant energy.  I hope you’ll add your own memories as we celebrate and mourn John.

If you would like to share your comments and memories of John with his family and School One, please e-mail them to juliav@school-one.org

The John Q. Tashjian Memorial Fund

School One alumnus, teacher, and artist

John’s spark, creativity and commitment will always be part of School One