Gifted and talented art teacher awarded KY Art Educator of the Year

By Nila Harris

Michelle Lustenberg, longtime Pendleton County Gifted and Talented Educator, often attends the Kentucky Art Education Conference, but this year’s conference seemed extra important for two reasons. This was the first KyAEA conference since the Covid pandemic, and Lustenberg knew that she had been nominated for the Kentucky Art Educator of the Year award. But she didn’t really expect to win. For this reason, she didn’t ask her three daughters to attend and was a little surprised to see Joe Buerkley, Superintendent of Pendleton County Schools and Laura Pugh, Executive Director of Teaching and Learning in attendance.

Lustenberg had mixed feelings about going to the conference, yet felt like Pugh was coaxing her to go. When Lustenberg noticed that Pugh and Buerkley were at the gala, she thought, “I will be so embarrassed if I don’t get it since they came.”

But she did win, and as an added bonus, former student Rachael King Burriss presented the award to her. Burriss is currently an art teacher at Cooper High School in Boone County and President-elect of KyAEA.

Burriss and Pugh are two who nominated Lustenberg for the Art Educator award. According to Burris, “I knew early on in middle school that I wanted to be an art teacher, because I wanted to be like her. Her students love and trust her; she is tirelessly dedicated to her craft, and she was able to make everyone feel seen and heard. I was lucky to be able to have her as my teacher in elementary, middle, and high school, and then I even came back while in college to help do workshops with her gifted kids and participate in GATES alumni activities. She is the epitome of everything I strive to be with my own students. I love her dearly and look up to her on the daily.”

This is Lustenberg’s 31st year teaching. Her entire teaching career has been in Pendleton County which began at Northern Elementary teaching art. A few years later, she became the Gifted and Talented teacher for the middle school and high schools. At that time, there were three G/T teachers and one part time position.  Currently, she is the only G/T teacher in the county.

Lustenberg says that she had always wanted to teach high school but NEVER wanted to teach middle school. However, no matter which position she held (elementary, middle, or high), Lustenberg quickly fell in love with her students.

One of Lustenberg’s favorite projects has been the community mural this year. It began with another former student, Alex Carson, and her discussing a community paint by numbers. “If you can find me a canvas, I’ll gather the kids,” Lustenberg told Carson. “I wanted the kids to be able to paint on it and make it theirs.” She and her students looked at the artists Paul Klee, Miro, Kandinsky, and Dr. Seuss and decided to do a “mash-up” of the group. They set some guidelines and primed the wall. At the Ewenique Art Walk, around 200 people painted the wall. “I don’t think there was anything negative said (that day),” even though Lustenberg got a little stressed over the long lines and no more lower places for the younger children.