Blues-Playing Artist Returns To The Classroom

Video: Brad Holmes talks about his art and music

Brad Holmes retired after 34 years as a high school art teacher, but never left behind his passion for music-infused sculpting.

Holmes has played harmonica for years in blues bands. When sculpting a piece in his home studio, listening to music, he’ll pick up his instrument and play along.

“Sometimes, you’re just looking at your artwork (thinking), ‘Where am I going to go, what am I going to do next?’” he said. “For me, to play music while I’m working on this allows me to clear my head.”

A self-described Calumet “Region rat,” from northwest Indiana south of Valparaiso, Holmes grew up in farm country, the son of two teachers. After service in the Army, he came home to enroll at Purdue University. His first thought was engineering, but he realized that wasn’t his passion.

“I really wanted to be happy with what I was doing, so I had a heart-to-heart with my mom and dad and said, ‘Do you guys really like teaching? Because I wouldn't mind being a teacher if I could teach something that I really like.’”

What he really liked was art, which led to his three-decade career at Lawrence North High School. Holmes specializes in three-dimensional bas-relief sculpture, with his figures slightly raised from a flat background. For a show of his artwork last year, former students came from across the country to say thanks for his encouragement and inspiration.

Arts programs at some schools, from Chicago to Hawaii, have faced possible cuts from districts weighing their budget-trimming options. Holmes says cuts would risk taking something important from the students.

“I don't feel like the arts are going to be gone, but they can certainly be reduced--and that would be sad, because there are a good number of students who really need this sort of thing to have an identity of their own,” he said.

“Not everybody's going to be great in math. Not everybody's going to be great in in the sciences or English. So, this gives somebody else an opportunity to be great at something.” 

Holmes has a daughter in college, and to help pay those bills he’s gone back to work, teaching art at Marian University in Indianapolis. That connection between his career and dual passions for music and sculpting brings a sense of peace.

“It's really calming to me and it's relaxing,” he said. 

Holmes paused after a spirited blues riff on his harmonica, looking over his current sculpture and thinking about what to do next.

“It's about mental and physical well-being,” he said. “Playing music and marking art, all combined, make me the best version of myself I can possibly be.”

Story and video by John Strauss