PORT ST. LUCIE PEOPLE
The RETIRED ART TEACHER
After 31 years of teaching art in Martin County, Tom
Prestopnik says he took his watch off and never had
a reason to put it back on. “It was the best job in the
world. I tell that to everyone who will listen,” he
says. But since retiring, he has gone in many new directions,
journaling his adventures.
A member of the Florida Art Educational Association, he
has attended every annual conference, even in retirement.
A keynote speaker and friend, Professor David Y. Chang of
Florida International University in Miami, presents a workshop
with a slideshow of France yearly.
Having visited Vincent van Gogh’s birthplace in the
Netherlands in 2000, Prestopnik’s desire was to attend an art
tour in France, walking in the footsteps of the Impressionists,
painting and sketching in the same locations. Finally, the time
was right in 2012 with Chang as the guide.
“There were 13 of us; 12 females, mostly in their 20s, and
me. They probably thought I was too old to keep up,” Prestopnik
says of himself, “but the gals complained about their
feet hurting from too much walking.”
Prestopnik stood on the hallowed ground that van Gogh
once trod when he painted fields of wheat dotted with crows
two months before his death. At Auvers-sur-Oise, Prestopnik
painted his own version: Wheat Fields — No Crows.
His journal entry reflects the emotion he felt there:
“This is a day that I’ll remember for a long time. We were all
set up with easels and paints and painted…for about three hours.
Tears in my eyes all day and not because my easel blew over and
my canvas landed in the mud, or because of the high winds. Most of
you know of my admiration of Van Gogh and his passion for his art.
This was a special day. Just thought you should know. T.”
Prestopnik attended art school following his time in the Air
Force, joining the service because he didn’t know what to do
with his life, but knowing that being a starving artist wasn’t >>
58 Port St. Lucie Magazine
JOHN BIONDO
Retired art instructor Tom Prestopnik stays active as a roadie for the tribute band McCartney Mania. His vast collection of vinyl LPs and 45 rpm records
number in the tens of thousands.
BY DEBRA MAGRANN