That regard went both ways.
"She loved the Coastside very much," said Ogarrio, as well as Crystal Springs Reservoir, the view of the Pacific Ocean from the high school, San Francisco – and her students.
 Photos courtesy Greg Ogarrio Barbara Ogarrio enjoys a moment in her classroom at Half Moon Bay High School, when she taught there. |
"She would say, 'Thank you!'" said Ogarrio. "She took it as a compliment."
But, he noted, she also liked the hippie standards – truth and questioning authority.
Upon her death at 76 on July 4 in Burleson, Texas, not far from where she had moved with husband Joaquin in 2004, Barbara Sue Ogarrio left a legacy of inspiration and love of fine art in Half Moon Bay. She taught physical education and art here for 29 years, chaired the school’s art department and showed her own art in town.
“She was always doing something creative,” said Coastside resident Don Berry, the high school’s assistant principal for 18 years. He remembers strolling to Mrs. Ogarrio’s classroom to see what her students were up to.
“She let them be creative on their own. The thing I liked most was, she was never restrictive,” he said. “She was an outstanding teacher,” always seeking new techniques and ideas.
Carol Presse Krueger, a 1975 Half Moon Bay High graduate now living in Boulder, Colo., hailed Mrs. Ogarrio as a mentor, with her “tenacity and ability to problem-solve,” as well as a tireless work ethic.
“She was able to see things,” Krueger said.
Current high school art department chair Larkin Evans also praised Mrs. Ogarrio as a mentor who urged her to try art, even though she was teaching home economics.
Even after she relocated to Texas and became ill, Mrs. Ogarrio “gave me guidance,” Evans said.
Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Mrs. Ogarrio, daughter of a painter mother, earned a bachelor’s degree in art and then a master of arts degree at Wesleyan University. “She was always painting something – still lifes, landscapes, abstracts,” her son said.
Abstracts, full of meaning, were a favorite genre, he said. “You had to think about what was going on” in a Barbara Ogarrio abstract, he said.
She also added a whimsical, signature “dewdrop of red” in each painting, he said. She also worked with oil, acrylic and egg tempera. “That was the first time I had ever seen someone painting with eggs,” said Berry dryly.
In her art, Mrs. Ogarrio drew from her cowgirl childhood – she rode horses, wore boots and “lived the West as much as a city girl could,” said her son. But as a teacher she drew on classical art. She put art in historical and cultural context, and “encouraged me to bring art history back to the art program,” said Evans. “That was a really important foundation.”
Mrs. Ogarrio also mixed in practicality and humor. When students complained they didn’t get much out of studying art, her son said she’d tell them, “You need to understand where culture comes from, and you don’t want to make the same mistakes again. You want to learn from the past. If all else fails, at least you can impress women you go out on dates with.”
Mrs. Ogarrio sold her art through the Bay Area and through the Coastal Arts League. She was recognized for her work in pastels, in American and international art journals and the best-seller “Best of Pastels 2.”
Between 2000 and 2004, she created her magnum opus: “21st Century Apocalyptic Visions,” a series of abstract paintings inspired by the biblical book of Revelations.
In adulthood, discouraged by what she viewed as hypocrisy in organized religion, she became more spiritual. She also became interested in computers and programs like Adobe Photoshop. Exploring that, “She saw things. Later, she thought she had been inspired,” her son said. “Like any true artist, she started to see things in herself that went into her canvases.”
The series included angry orange hues, brooding and stark reds and blacks — and “The Promise,” in gentler pastel tones. She donated the final product, 24 abstracts on canvas that she called a “visual record of the Christian faith,” to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary when the Ogarrios moved back to Texas in 2004.
Perhaps just as lasting was Mrs. Ogarrio’s approach with students who did not easily fit in to the world around them, said her son.
“She liked dealing with kids who didn’t fit anywhere else,” he said. “I hope she inspired them.”
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