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I was in my second semester of college and had a problem. I wanted to drop a course but needed the credit hours to qualify as a fulltime student for financial assistance. At a friend’s suggestion, I decided to approach Bernard to ask him if I could sign up for his Art Appreciation class.

Even though it was already three weeks into the semester, Bernard agreed, telling me I could start the next day. But I begged off, asking if I could start the following Monday, because I had a salon appointment. Why he still let me into his class is beyond me. Maybe he understood that split ends were a college coed’s worst nightmare?

So I showed up at the last minute on Monday (but with perfect hair) figuring I’d razzle-dazzle him (a talent of mine) by whipping together a few lick-and-a-promise term papers and feigning some enthusiastic class participation. In other words, do just enough to get the "A" to maintain my GPA, so that I could get on with the more interesting stuff. I was tired of all this introductory fluff and wanted to get to the meat and potatoes. I wanted to study Yeats and Shakespeare and Dickenson.

But Bernard had plans, big plans. And nobody, including me, was going to get to pass the buck. Was he a slave driver? One of those professors, who bellow rather than teach, torture rather than engage, berate rather than excite? Quite the contrary. Bernard just happened to be passionate about art and expected that same enthusiasm from his students. Perhaps expected isn’t the correct word. It was more like he believed. Yes, that’s it. Bernard believed that we were hungry to grow our brains, expand our hearts and increase our awareness of the world in every possible direction.

It didn’t take me long to figure out that that my usual charm and trickery would be useless, that I was going to have to do some serious work for this professor. But a funny thing happened on my way to becoming an academic rock star.

Because while Bernard taught us, he also showed us. Yes, we learned about Rococo and Byzantine. Of course we studied Rodin, Picasso and O’Keefe. We analyzed paintings, movements, architecture, sculpture and everything in between. And then Bernard taught us about “stepping out of the box.” That it is ok to break the rules, once you’ve earned the right. But you earn the right by learning and living by the rules first.

So Bernard showed us. He showed us how big the world is—and that knowledge is the magic carpet that gets your from here to there. He showed us that every heart deserves to be blessed by beauty, but even blessings require hard work. He showed us that ignorance is not bliss and less is not always more.

I got my "A" in Art Appreciation 101, but I go so very much more. Quite literally, Bernard changed the way I looked at the world. He taught me about art, but he showed me how to live.

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