Baynes crafted a masterpiece career

Mike Baynes, master art teacher, is retiring after 18 years teaching at Sisters High School.

"As an instructor, leader, and mentor, he has the best disposition for allowing students to explore learning," said Bob Macauley, principal. "Mike's mastery of his craft is that of a master teacher. He excels in the relationship component, which allows even the least student to become the best student they can be."

Elementary school teacher Kirk Albertson was on the panel that hired Baynes 18 years ago.

"There was a great variety we saw in the applicants," Albertson said. "Then Mike showed up. He didn't bring his pottery; he showed all his kid's work. This was phenomenal, off the Richter scale. We looked at each other and said, 'Wow! Don't let this guy out of the parking lot.'"

Baynes himself is a master potter, yet it is not his art pieces seen displayed throughout Sisters High School, but his masterpieces: the students whose lives he has touched.

Fellow high school teacher Samra Spear, teacher of language arts and I.E.E. instructor, was also hired 18 years ago.

"Mike gives my students an opportunity to enhance my curriculum through art. He gives them the opportunity to respond to literature," Spear said, pointing to numerous art pieces lining the shelves of her classroom. "All my ceiling tiles are from the art students.

"He challenges them to do the best they can do. His philosophy is everyone can be an artist," Spear said.

Spear spoke about his impact on the community at large.

"In other schools, only the artists take art," Spear said. "Here, we have athletes and a wide variety of kids take art. He fights for it. I can't imagine our school ever cutting art. Not true elsewhere. Mike is a big part of establishing art in our school district."

"What I learned from Mr. Baynes," said Senior Loryn Cummins, "is that when you are in any place where art is present, have a positive attitude because it affects your art. What that means to me now, is that you can look at a piece of art and see what the artist is going through."

Baynes is known for setting high individual standards for each of his students, helping them excel.

"For many students that art room has become their home away from home," musician and Americana Project coordinator Brad Tisdel stated. "It's important that, more than anything, he creates a place where people feel comfortable being."

Local artist and owner of downtown business Bedouin, Janit Brockway, designed a T-shirt to honor Baynes' years as a teacher. Working an image of Baynes into a luncheon scene painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, she added several artistic subjects to the painting, including the "Mona Lisa."

"I wanted to put Mike into a famous painting. I think that Mike's influence is equal to all that," she said. Her friend Deb Sether added the earmarked title to the T-shirt: Mike Baynes - A Masterpiece.

After this school year, when the Sisters High School Web page is updated, visitors to the Web site will no longer see Mike Baynes' name listed under the Bs as teacher of Art / Jewelry / Ceramics. Another name will appear on the teaching staff list under the Bs as manning the art room at Sisters High: the name of Bethany Benhower.

Many in Sisters Country will recognize the name of the up-and-coming art teacher as a Sisters High School alumnus and Mike Baynes' art student during her four years at Sisters High School. Benhower recently returned while finishing her masters degree to do her student teaching under Baynes' supervision.

"She and I worked well as a team when she was a student teacher," Baynes said, "She never felt intimidated. I look forward to helping her when I come back from my trip to Spain."