Over Riordan’s spring break, the Art Club painted a marine-themed mural outside of a kindergarten classroom at West Portal Elementary School.

A vibrant, dynamic, and welcoming studio that lies nestled in the middle of the first floor is one where students let their imagination roam. Easels, brushes, and paint pallets are seen scattered throughout the organized chaos. Students’ artwork from years past are displayed, leaving minimal vision of the walls. The teacher that is in charge of all this creativity is Riordan’s own—-Irman Arcibal.

Arcibal has been teaching at Riordan for 16 years now, but he has been a teacher for 18 to 19 years. He hopes for the art program at Riordan to keep expanding and for students to pursue prestigious programs after their time at Riordan.

Starting from a young age, he noticed that he thinks through everything creatively. He is a visual learner and was often seen drawing on his worksheets and textbooks during school. Creating things has always been easy for him and he sees this trait shine through in his son.

Despite art always being a significant part of his life, Arcibal graduated from college with a science major. It wasn’t until after that he decided to take his passion for art further.

 “As far as artists and art teachers, I had an art teacher at a community college who really inspired me to take the next professional level,” Arcibal explained. 

This teacher saw his vision and passion for art and really encouraged him to continue; this is someone he still talks to today.

While he was in graduate school at UC Davis, Arcibal was a teaching assistant for an art class and this helped solidify his decision to pursue teaching.

As a teacher, he has inspired several students. Elise Fong ’27 expressed, “I loved sketching and painting before I took his class, but I never had any technique. After taking his class, I learned several different methods artists use to paint and sketch.”

Artists often have a difficult time getting their art displayed in public. Arcibal explains that people always have to be keeping an eye out for different galleries and displays that will best fit you and your artwork.

Social media and the internet has positively impacted many artists today. Arcibal stated that “Nowadays with the internet and technology, it is a lot easier. Before, you had to visit galleries in person or look for flyers in particular places. But now, there are websites that just put out calls for art.” He continued to explain that having connections to other artists is beneficial.

With hundreds of thousands of different styles of art, Arcibal gravitates towards drawings. He enjoys abstract processed based drawings. Currently, he has been focusing on taking papers that were crumpled by someone else and drawing in the spaces that were created by the creases.

Drawing, painting, and sculpting are a few of the techniques that are discussed in Arcibal’s art classes. Experimenting with color is also a main lesson in Art I and II.

Lola Guandique ’27 stated, “One of the most interesting things I learned from Mr. Arcibal’s class was how you can make artwork with just one color.”

She continued, “My favorite project in his class was when we had to pick one color and mix it with white and black… we were able to combine numerous shades and tones and create a piece of art.”

Outside of school, Arcibal has many goals for his art career. This year he hopes to have a piece of art displayed every month. He said it is difficult balancing teaching and his art but he finds time in between classes, before, and after school to work on the pieces.

He is going to have a drawing shown at Ruth’s Table in the Mission and hopes to have a piece of art displayed at a show called Rooted which focuses on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander artists.

Arcibal is truly one of the cornerstones of the art community here at Riordan. He continues to inspire students every day one brush stroke at a time.

Guandique said, “Mr. Arcibal has inspired me to try my best. Having a teacher that is lively, supportive, and knowledgeable can transform an originally uneventful experience to an entertaining and memorable one.”