Title: Creative Specialist, Teacher
Company: Father Tolton Catholic High School
Location: Columbia, Missouri, United States
Lonnie Tapia, Creative Specialist at Father Tolton Catholic High School, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Educators for dedication, achievements, and leadership in painting, sculpting and creative direction.
Through his marketing, packaging, repositioning and reimaging expertise in the retail industry, Mr. Tapia has helped various companies, including Venture Stores, Inc. and Lane Bryant Inc., become billion-dollar companies in a short period of time. He finds his greatest motivation and a better sense of accomplishment as an artist and has been recognized regionally, nationally and internationally for producing art in a wide array of mediums, and his many years of creativity led him to develop instinctivism, producing art without any preconceived idea of the outcome, a unique approach that affords him the highest level of creative work he can possibly do.
Since 2013, Mr. Tapia has served as a teacher, creative director and soccer coach with Father Tolton Catholic High School in Columbia, Missouri. In honor of the school’s tenth anniversary in 2021, he was commissioned to create the painting entitled ““The Light that Guides the Faithful,” which features the school’s namesake, the Venerable Father Augustus Tolton, the first Black priest of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.
After obtaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in commercial art from Columbia College, Missouri Mr. Tapia owned and operated a small marketing company, worked as an illustrator and book designer for children’s books, as well as a sculptor in multiple media.
Attributing his success to his constant pursuit of creative challenges, Mr. Tapia maintains that his profession has taught him the importance of establishing a creative process. In every project he works on, he applies the philosophy of saturate, incubate, and illuminate. He feels that it is important to work hard and aim to excel in each of those areas, as this is the cornerstone of a great creative.
For more information, please visit:
Catholic Missourian Online Feature
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