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The Artful Life of Max Bunnell
By Cami Cox
Staff Writer
Artist Max Bunnell has spent his life molding the minds and encouraging the talents of many students. While the young lives he influenced over several decades of teaching are his true masterpieces, the former Dixie State College art professor's own talents manifested on canvas can currently be seen in the Sears Art Gallery, located in the Eccles Fine Arts Center at Dixie State College. “A Retrospective of an Artful Life,” showcasing the works of Bunnell, will be on display through Aug. 25.
“I'm delighted that they even wanted to have it,” Bunnell said. “I never thought I'd ever have a one-man show at Dixie, to be honest.”
But the honor is well-deserved, longtime friend and fellow Dixie State College art professor Glen Blakley said.
“He is a master,” Blakley said. “Very few people in the country (are) anywhere close to being as good as he is in pencil. He's excellent at watercolor – he can stand up against anybody in the country. But his great gift has been in teaching, and there are a lot of people out there that are doing extremely well because he was a teacher.”
Like many art instructors, Bunnell's own work was largely suspended over the years in the interest of teaching. He pursued his own artwork (his medium of choice is watercolor) sparingly, painting or drawing on weekends and during school breaks and spending the rest of his artistic time demonstrating for students in the classroom. But though the bulk of his time wasn't spent in creating his own artwork, Bunnell did spend it doing what he loved.
“It comes down to one simple thing,” he said. “If you like what you're doing, you do well. I love to teach.”
A professor of art at Dixie College for 20 years, the now-retired Bunnell didn't originally set out in life to become a teacher. Originally an architecture major at Brigham Young University, Bunnell altered his path when B.F. Larsen, the head of the art department at BYU, saw a few watercolor renderings Bunnell had made and convinced the young student to become an art major.
“He said, 'You need to major in art,'” Bunnell said. “Then I started majoring in art, and I got to thinking, 'What am I going to do in art? Not very many people make a living in art.' So Larsen said, 'Well, I've got a plan for you, and you're going to be a teacher.' And that's how I ended up being an art teacher.”
Though it wasn't an intended route for Bunnell, it was one he ended up loving.
After completing his education at BYU, Bunnell began his teaching career at Moapa Valley High School in Overton, Nev. He later relocated to Salt Lake City to teach at a junior high school there, but then returned to Moapa Valley and taught art until his retirement at age 59.
“I went back to Overton and stayed there until I retired. Then I came up here (to Dixie College) and retired again!” Bunnell said. “I got two retirements – one from Utah and one from Nevada.”
Bunnell has influenced many young lives throughout his career as an educator, friend Blakley said, including that of one former student he taught at Moapa Valley High School. Among others who attended Bunnell's Sears Gallery exhibit opening in May, this student traveled a great distance to be present and pay tribute to his former instructor, addressing the crowd gathered at the gallery in honor of Bunnell.
“His comments related to the power of what good one person can do,” Blakley said. “He said, 'I owe everything I have now to this one teacher, Max Bunnell.' He was all choked up.”
A migrant worker from South America, the student was 19 years old and spoke very little English when Bunnell met him.
“His father had talked him into going to school, so he came in at 19 to the high school and said to the principal, 'I want to finish high school. Can I come back to school, as old as I am?'” Bunnell said.
The principal granted permission for the student to enroll and set up a plan for him to complete his high school education within a year and a half. Among his classes, the student took art courses taught by Bunnell.
“He and Max had this bond that made it possible for him to get through school,” Blakley said. “He was going to quit, and Max wouldn't let him.”
Though he'd had no prior training, the student excelled in art, Bunnell said. The teacher encouraged him to develop his talent throughout the remainder of his high school pursuits and later helped him get an art scholarship to BYU. Today, Bunnell's former student is a successful businessman and owns a wilderness survival program for wayward youth.
“He didn't realize the potential in himself, and I think we tried to show him how great he could become,” Bunnell said. “He does a little (art) now, but mostly he's saving young boys and girls. ... I've had two or three success students like that.”
In addition to his own influence, during his years as a teacher Bunnell made several connections with well-known artists that ended up benefiting his students.
A group of Disney animators and special effects people used to make regular trips to Nevada's Valley of Fire to paint and sketch. They were staying at the Overton Motel on one occasion when the proprietor told them about this local art teacher they should meet. The group was introduced to Bunnell, and they soon became friends.
“They'd all come up and we'd go out and paint in the Valley of Fire in the winter,” Bunnell said. “I think the one that taught me the most was (Disney animator) Josh Meador. He'd take me out and he'd show me all kinds of little tricks.”
“These are people that worked on movies like 'Snow White,'” Blakley said. “Once they became friends, when they needed somebody to demonstrate or they needed paintings for the (Moapa Valley Art Invitational) show, these guys would come up and demonstrate.”
As a result, Bunnell's students received the benefit of instruction from some of the most well-known animators in the film industry at that time, and through his friendship with the men, Bunnell got to play his own small part in Disney movie history – or, rather, his car did.
During the time spent with his Disney friends, Bunnell owned a Volkswagen Beetle that one of his daughters drove around town.
“She called it Herbie,” he said. “Then the (Disney) movie came out with a Volkswagen named Herbie. (Disney animator) Ralph Hulett said that's where they got the name from.”
When he retired from Moapa Valley High School, Bunnell moved with his wife to St. George. His passion for teaching quickly called again, though, and within a year of his first retirement, he was back in the classroom, this time at Dixie College. He remained a teacher there for 20 years.
“Last year is when I hung it up,” Bunnell said.
Now that he is “officially” retired, Bunnell has time to focus on his own artwork as he couldn't before, but it has been bittersweet for the teacher.
“I don't know if I like it or not,” he said. “I do miss teaching. You could see people change their lives because of you. ... If you can see them change and believe in themselves, it's worth all the money in the world.”
Bunnell and his wife, Julia, now make their permanent home in Overton, Nev., though they own a residence in St. George. The teacher reflects back with pleasure on his teaching experience at Dixie College and the portion of his life spent in St. George.
“I enjoyed my time here. I didn't know whether I could teach college or not, but I sure had fun,” he said.
“The people in St. George are the greatest there are in the world.”

Max Bunnell's art exhibit, “A Retrospective of an Artful Life,” can be viewed in the Sears Art Gallery at Dixie State College, 225 S. 700 East in St. George. For more information, call 652-7909 or visit culturalarts.dixie.edu/sears_gallery.htm.

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