Creativity and talent can blossom within a person at any point in life, under any circumstance, and the same can be said for Bowie’s AP literature teacher John Flickinger and his artwork. Flick, as he is affectionately know by students, dabbled in many forms of creative arts throughout his life, from doodling at a young age, taking art classes in high school, publishing novels, and running a middle school theater company. He ended up settling with visual art.

“I’ve always been creative,” Flick said. “I think that’s one of my passions in life, is just creating.”

For Flick, he had already done some work with pastels and charcoal in his 20s, but paused when he started writing. He took visual art back up during lock-down and began painting as a way to pass the time while there was nothing to do but stay inside.

“I revisited my visual artistic endeavors during Covid,” Flick said. “I taught myself to watercolor paint, I started a graphic novel and I realized I didn’t really want to do a graphic novel, I just wanted to do individual pieces.”

Five years, later, his work can be found hung up around his classroom and posted on websites like Instagram, X, and Facebook.

“He has an Instagram,” junior Hayley Curtis said. “I think it’s cool. I think it helps him promote what he does, and then maybe inspire other people that are starting art or want to do art with their life.”

Flick’s pieces are mostly surrealist portraiture, using watercolors and ink, but during times he’ll combine the two. He took inspiration for his pieces from many well known artists, such as Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso, among others. More recently, though, he took inspiration from fellow Instagram artists, including an artist from Spain, who mixes the unnatural with the natural into their works; not to mention different forms of art that put emphasis on imaginative and emotional qualities.

“I’m often inspired by surrealist work,” Flick said. “But I also really like romanticism and some of the daunting figures of a lot of southern painters.”

Flick also includes, within his art, messages he wants others to glean.

“There’s beauty in the terrifying, and there’s inspiration in the surreal,” Flick said. “I think one reason that I started painting and put away the writing was because so much of my life is based on finding the deeper meaning. And sometimes I just want to paint a pretty or scary picture and look at it and have other people look at it.”

AP studio art teacher Mindy Le Jeune commented on the many aspects of his work including the painting of hands.

“Drawing hands is always really difficult,” Le Jeune said. “And he did a very good job capturing that.”

Le Jeune also notes the colors and the way his paintings come together.

“I think they are all unified very nicely with color, tones, proportion, and, of course, subject matter,” Le Jeune said.

And while gaining recognition for his art around the Bowie campus, Flick had also gained a reputation through his teaching. A reputation that reflects his love of teaching, one that can be seen through his students.

“He’s a really good teacher,” junior Hayley Curtis said. “I feel like I’m learning stuff in his class. He teaches super well and he makes sure that we all understand; and he has conferences where we can just go up and ask for help.”

His teaching reached the ears of Le Jeune as well, across campus in L hall.

“I’ve heard that he is very passionate about his classes, and he gets the students really involved in stories and writing and healthy debates,” Le Jeune said.

Like his passion for teaching, Flick holds a passion for his art that Curtis recognizes.

“I feel like he’s very passionate about what he does,” Curtis said.

When looking at his art Le Jeune also took in a feeling of how much Flick enjoys his work.

“He seems so proud about his artwork,” Le Jeune said. “That when you see an artist who is so enthusiastic about their artwork, it makes you feel happy that they’re creating something they love.”

From taking a few art classes in high school, to teaching himself to watercolor paint, Flick also reflects on his own art and the ways it has changed and evolved.

“I would look at my progression as an artist as a form of, hopefully, inspiration for other artists,” Flick said. “Because I look back at works when I first started that I thought were cool, and I’m like ‘wow, I really have gotten a lot better!’.”

There is a message Flick has in that for other aspiring artists as well.

“I would encourage people to pursue their passions,” Flick said. “And trust the process, because the work that you put into it could end up being worth it.”

This story was originally published on The Dispatch on October 21, 2024.