Now retired, Diane Davis-Deckard led a storied, decades-spanning career as an arts educator. She credits her success to the work ethic that her father, a world-famous trumpet teacher, instilled in her. Her father’s professional prowess was due in part to his intense love of his work, and he encouraged his children to stay active in their pursuits.
Ms. Davis-Deckard, who also inherited her father’s incredible energy, participated in ballet, piano lessons, and weekend art classes as a child, all of which fostered her love of various art forms. From 1992 until 2018, she was a visual arts teacher for Bloomington High School North, a public high school in Indiana and part of the Monroe County Community School Corporation. Ms. Davis-Deckard taught drawing in the morning and painting in the afternoon, and she is proud to have stayed after school every day to focus on her own pieces or help students improve their artwork.
Ms. Davis-Deckard began her career in education with Lakeview Elementary School in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1980, after which she became an art teacher at Spencer Elementary School and Gosport Elementary School from 1981 to 1983. As a prolific educator, she gleaned valuable experience with Poston Road Elementary School, Centerton Elementary School, Clear Creek Elementary School, Batchelor Middle School, Grandview Elementary School, and Broadview Elementary School. At Bloomington High School North, Ms. Davis-Deckard is proud to have completed a project titled “An Evening of Mexico” in the 1994-1995 academic year. Among her achievements, she is proudest of developing a program for full-time drawing and painting education and creating an art club with Bloomington High School North. As part of the art club, she organized visits to museums in Indianapolis and entered her students’ work in art contests, which they frequently won. Ms. Davis-Deckard believes that most of her program’s success in securing scholarships for her students was due to her commitment to sharing her students’ work through contests.
A dedicated member of her community, Ms. Davis-Deckard has been the fundraising coordinator for Bloomington High School North’s visual arts department since 1998. She coordinated “Evening of the Arts” from 1995 to 2018 and was involved with the Jiffy Treat Mural Project, the Bloomington Hospital Landscape Painting Project, and the Stuff-a-Bus Poster Project. Ms. Davis-Deckard has also been affiliated with the First Presbyterian Church in Bloomington, Indiana, and was involved with the Bloomington Hospital 100th Anniversary Celebration in 2005. A graduate of Indiana University, she earned a bachelor’s degree in 1973 and a Master of Science in art education in 1985. Moreover, she earned her teaching certification in 1979, her teaching license in 1980, and her life license in 1986.
Ms. Davis-Deckard enthusiastically advises the next generation of arts educators to believe in themselves and remain committed to their goals. While serving her students for decades, she remained committed to pursuing her own artistic projects and created the department crests for Bloomington High School North in 2011. Among her other creative works, Ms. Davis-Deckard panted the Dew Drop Hoosier Hills “Restaurant” Landscape Wall Paintings in 2015 and 2016 and made the Cougar Wall Mural in 2006. She painted newspaper boxes for Bloomington Chamber of Commerce and The Herald Times and created a window mural for Kroger grocery store in 2001.
Lauded for her accomplishments, Ms. Davis-Deckard has been included in the Marquis Who’s Who Millennium Magazine and the 25th edition of Who’s Who of American Women. She received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017 and is a Marquis Who’s Who Top Educator. In 2005, she was named the Monroe County Educator of the Year by the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, among numerous further accolades. Ms. Davis-Deckard received an MCCSC Star of Excellence Award for Outstanding Service and Dedication from the Monroe County Community School Corporation in 2015 and the Brown County Art Gallery Indiana Heritage Arts Teacher of The Year Award in 2014.
Since her retirement in 2018, Ms. Davis-Deckard has been a member of the Indiana Retired Teachers Association. Throughout her career, she was a member of Pi Lambda Theta, Phi Delta Kappa, the Monroe County Art Teachers, the Indiana State Teachers Association, the Monroe County Education Association, and the Bloomington High School North chapter of the National Art Honor Society. Looking forward, Ms. Davis-Deckard hopes to focus more on her own painting. She enjoys creating art in various media, including drawing, painting, quilting, photography, cross-stitching, and stained glass. When she is not working or creating art, she enjoys hiking, gardening, and reading.