Mr. Pedro Mena, Columbus Academy’s Fine Arts Department Chair, is in his ninth year teaching art.

Besides having lived in Ecuador, New York, London, and now Columbus, Mena has also worked in the music industry, from creating posters and album art to following independent music showcases.

Mena’s own work is mixed media: he starts with conventional forms such as painting, drawing, collage making, and photography-then “mixes is all up” and sometimes reworks the artwork on a computer.

Most of Mena’s artwork and teaching styles revolve around repurposing the old to become new. He finds old materials, like vinyl records, and has the students recycle them into something different.

Skills like reusing materials and being resourceful aren’t conventionally taught in school, so Mena teaches them to his students through art.

He recognizes that art and creativity foster confidence and the proficiency to think outside the box when it comes to making students’ ideas happen.

Mena always saw himself as becoming an art teacher, as some of his family members were art teachers, like his grandfather.

Mena is trying to honor former Middle School art teacher Scott Neal’s years at Academy by “bringing the old into the new.”  On Mena’s desk sits Neal’s old skeleton figurine. Neal’s  former workbench also resides in the room.

Mena sees this as a pilot year as he figures out what works best for projects as he gets to know his Middle School students.

Photo by Maggie McCann’17