Many of David Borzo’s drawings, including the detail here, honor classics from art history.
Writer: Barbara Dietrich Boose
In his mid-40s, David Borzo left a successful career in hotel and food-service management to teach special education. But when Edmunds Elementary School needed an art teacher, he took the chance — and found his calling. He plans to retire this spring after 15 in the classroom.
The job let him devote more time to his own art, but he poured himself into teaching, too. In addition to teaching art to all the school’s students, from kindergarten to sixth grade, he jumped into several roles he continues today: coaching the chess and art clubs, the Boys 2 Men youth leadership program, the after-school group OASIS (Oakridge Achievers Successful in School) and its OASIS yearbook team.
Even though his first art classroom lacked sinks and counters, he was undaunted. “You couldn’t throw enough at me that first year,” he said. “I love my students and am so proud of them.”
His commitment to teaching didn’t diminish his own artistic pursuits; it fueled them. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he sketched portraits of 75 students and teachers in masks for a series he titled “Students and Teachers United Under the Mask.” He also helped students create murals to honor the diversity of the school where 45% of the students are English language learners and only 7% are white.
Borzo has staged several shows of his personal artwork at area businesses and exhibition spaces. His numerous awards include blue ribbons for drawing at the Iowa State Fair, best in show and merit awards at the Polk County Heritage Gallery and first place in the Des Moines Women’s Club annual juried competition at Hoyt Sherman Place.
But even those achievements he connects to Edmunds. “Everything I do zeroes back into publicity for the school,” he said. “If I win an award, it gives me the opportunity to promote Edmunds and advocate for my students.”
A lifetime of art, learning
The eighth of nine children, Borzo grew up in a lively home full of Old World art, classical music and thousands of books. His father, Henry, taught history at Drake University and forbade his kids to play television and rock ‘n’ roll at home, so “there was a lot of learning going on,” David said. He credits his interest in art to his mother, Ann Marie, who loved art and played violin with the Des Moines Symphony.
Borzo played football at Dowling High School and was active in the chess club, but art was always part of his life plan. At Drake, he majored in studio drawing and painting, “the last thing you do to make a living,” he said. He worked at Godfather’s Pizza and Mustard’s Restaurant, laying the groundwork for his first career, while cartooning and illustrating for Drake’s campus newspaper, the Times-Delphic. He also sold paintings and drawings he produced in the Forest Avenue house he shared with friends.
His drawings are complex and rich in detail, and most of them incorporate aspects of his life, including books, family heirlooms and his two grandchildren. He also includes nods to other artists’ works, like Picasso’s “Guernica,” and current events, such as the 2020 murder of George Floyd.
“My ideas start with looking at something — the façade of a church, a set of stairs. I find something that strikes me artistically and then build around it. That’s where my muses come in,” he said. “Everything in my art means something.”
One might wonder how an artist with such highly refined skills can relate to nearly 260 students at Edmunds, but Borzo respects their ideas and seeks to inspire them. He’s decorated his classroom with a 14-foot banner of King Tut and works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Frida Kahlo and other famous artists.
“With his being such a creative, deep thinker, you’d think it would be hard to bring kids into that,” said Brooke Maxwell, a longtime Edmunds teacher. “But he uses his passion for art to make it accessible to kids. He exposes them to art they may not otherwise have seen, and he lets them see how they can be artists, too.”
Every week, Borzo rotates students’ art in display cases. He worked with Maxwell to establish a program to recognize an “Art Student of the Month” who receives a special T-shirt. “It’s a very big, important thing that draws attention to our artists and creative thinkers,” Maxwell said.
Phil Roeder, who directs communications and public affairs for Des Moines Public Schools, said Borzo’s classroom is “one of those classrooms, when visiting, you want to linger a little longer because you know he has something to teach everyone, no matter their age or background.”
Borzo’s teaching style extends beyond art. He’s partnered with second-grade teacher Shelby Oelmann to teach lessons in music and science. When he monitors students standing in line, he quizzes them on art, history and geography and hands out chocolate coins for correct answers.
“They get so excited to answer his questions. He strives to create a deeper understanding of other topics through art,” Oelmann says. “He uses his gift of art to uplift others, and he’s a natural at community-building.
“I love that this is his second career path,” she added. “That shows he’s doing the career he’s passionate about.”
Borzo’s artistic influences include Picasso and Joseph Cornell, who is best known for assembling objects into boxes. Borzo strives to incorporate similar depth in his drawings, as well as the cross-hatching of Leonardo da Vinci, the Renaissance genius who studied science, engineering, anatomy and architecture.
Every four or five years, Borzo dresses as da Vinci to talk about the artist’s interests, achievements, successes and failures. “I hope students come away with greater curiosity and a desire to just learn about things,” he said. “Learning itself is its own reward.”
David Borzo draws inspiration from everywhere, including Easter Island.
