Thursday, June 12, 2025
Eloise Mahoney and her 7th graders in her last art class at the San Miguel School
Photo courtesy of Kim Martel, San Miguel School
When Brother Lawrence Goyette, FSC, opened the San Miguel School for middle school boys in Providence in 1993, he wanted to give his students, who came from impoverished families, an opportunity to appreciate the value of education early in their lives.
It was a tall order, as Brother Lawrence intentionally sought students, who, besides being from low-income families, were already lagging in educational accomplishment—in math, writing, and reading. As a new private school, dependent on donations and fund-raising events, San Miguel struggled financially in its early years to be able to afford salaried teachers to offer all the educational opportunities its students needed to succeed.
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Brother Lawrence, himself an artist, knew the value of art for middle school students. He saw public schools, however, eliminating art from their schools because of budget issues. There wasn’t enough money to hire an art teacher at San Miguel until 2003. There were always competing school needs. Finally, Brother Lawrence convinced the school’s Board of Directors that there was enough funding to hire a part-time art teacher.
Paul Mahoney, a San Miguel Board member, came home one day in March of 2003, after a board meeting, and told his wife, Eloise Mahoney, that the school wanted to hire a part-time art teacher. Eloise, with a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) from the Rhode Island School of Design, and an accomplished artist in several media herself, and who had taught art for several years in the Attleboro, MA school system, decided to apply. Eloise and Paul had two young daughters under the age of five at the time, but Eloise decided “to jump at the opportunity.”
This June 2025, Eloise gave her last art class at San Miguel after 22 years of service to hundreds of students who might not have had the hands-on opportunities to create art without Eloise’s patient and impactful teaching methods. Eloise is now going to take her passion for fabric art and punch needle work to grow her company, Plush, which sells a variety of punch needle products.
Recently, Eloise reflected on her experience teaching art at San Miguel. “I learned very quickly that it was not going to be easy to hold the attention of middle school adolescent boys. It was very difficult to hold their interest in the art of the Masters, like Van Gogh. So, I showed them relatable art from their own city and from the different cultures in Providence.
And they wanted more than just appreciating art. They wanted to learn art by doing hands-on things. We learned how to work with clay, to do printmaking, to do photography in the neighborhood, and to make art by punch needle yarn. Most of my students will never become artists. Though one former student of mine is designing sneakers. Turning all my students into career artists wasn’t my goal. As an art teacher, I wanted to provide San Miguel students with joyful opportunities to stimulate their imagination and to let them see their own creativity. Along the way, I discovered that success in their art endeavors also inspired them to be more confident students.”
Mel Bride, the current Executive Director of the San Miguel School, articulated a unique value of Eloise’s work: “Eloise opened up a world of personal expression through hands-on learning. The self-portraits that the boys do every year reflect a deep acceptance of self that most middle school students wouldn’t have the courage to do. Eloise created an environment where students felt confidence and pride in doing their portraits.”
Former San Miguel Executive Director, John Wolf, loved witnessing the joy that Eloise’s teaching created at San Miguel: “Einstein is quoted as saying, ‘Creativity is intelligence having fun.’ Generations of San Miguel men have found joy and meaning in self-portraits, learning perspective and color theory, and letting their inner selves shine and be appreciated. We have been blessed to have had Eloise at San Miguel for so long.”
Eloise Mahoney demonstrated that art really matters to all students. You don’t have to come from a home where income and culture is abundant to appreciate art or to be an artist. She saw her humble classroom as an opportunity to joyfully stimulate the creative imagination of all her students every day.
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