Dr. Milt Heinrich is both an artist and a teacher. It’s the only way to provide the best educational experiences for his students. “ If I’m not an artist, my teaching is diminished,” he says. “If I’m not working on art right up front, I can’t relate to the students and the problems they encounter with their own artwork.” Heinrich’s work can be found throughout the Midwest. A site-specific artist, he has been commissioned to produce more than 50 works, including pieces at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, the Iowa State Judicial Building and Fort Atkinson, a historic site on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River where explorers Lewis and Clark first met with American Indians.

Having an artist-teacher is even more important at Dana, where students have more of a mentor-to-apprentice relationship with the faculty than at larger schools.

“ Dana provides students a longitudinal education,” Heinrich says. “They see the same profs over and over again. I know where they’re strengths and weaknesses are. What suits best for their talents.”

Heinrich found his talent while playing with blocks as a child. But it wasn’t until he realized that he was spending more time in the art room at college — without taking an art courses — than in his actual science classrooms, that he made the decision to make art his vocation. He still draws inspiration from the natural world, though, using those organic forms and images of transformation in his work.

But a student’s background isn’t nearly as important to Heinrich as that student’s perception of the world.

“ The most important thing is to look at the world in a new way — look at the mundane and reinvent it,” he says. “An artist gets people to see what the artist wants them to see. If you look at it the same way as everybody else, you’re not an artist.”

Outside of art — if there is anything outside of art — Heinrich enjoys observing nature on he and his wife’s 1.5 acres and being a grandfather. The experience of watching his grandchildren learn using technology not even conceived of 10 years ago has fed back into his creative process and made him a better teacher himself.

“ Creating art is secondary,” he says. “Now — what’s most important to learn is how to be a creative person. It’s all tied together in a cyclical fashion. It’s part of being a liberal arts professor.”

Dr. Heinrich received an associate of art degree from Concordia Junior College, and a bachelor of science degree from Concordia. Heinrich was awarded his master of science in education degree from Saint Francis College and a doctoral degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Dr. Milton B. Heinrich
Professor of Art
mheinric@dana.edu
402 426-7277
Office: MFAC 237