Mr. Donovan’s path to Belmont Hill began in Stow, Massachusetts, where he grew up surrounded by apple orchards and pumpkin farms. His interest in art also began at a young age. His mother teaches art and is currently at Groton; his grandmother taught art history, and his sisters became artists as well. Surrounded by a family of artists, Mr. Donovan developed an early appreciation for both creating and understanding art and its history.
His appreciation for art soon followed him to Groton, where he experienced the independent school environment that would eventually lead him to Belmont Hill. At Groton, he participated in theater set design and later returned to the school during his college life at Yale to work. His experience at Groton, he said, helped him fall in love with independent schools and working closely with students.
Mr. Donovan continued his studies at Yale, where he double-majored in art and art history. His academic and artistic interests often overlapped, as reflected in his two theses. For his art history thesis, he studied the work of Edward S. Curtis, a photographer who documented members of more than 70 Native American tribes across North America between 1900 and 1930. Curtis often staged his photographs, dressing subjects in traditional clothing and removing signs of contemporary life to create an idealized image of Native American culture. Donovan described studying Curtis’s work as an “interesting experience,” particularly because the people Curtis photographed “were dressed much like everyone else at the time.” Yet Curtis often placed them “in these traditional clothes,” Mr. Donovan explained, reinforcing particular images of Native American life.
For his art thesis, Mr. Donovan researched “mummy brown,” a pigment historically believed to have been produced using material from ancient mummies. Rather than simply reading about the process, he vividly recreated parts of it himself. He mummified a duck over roughly 70 days using historically accurate materials, including resins, saps, perfumes, and cotton. He then experimented with painting on parchment made from goat skin.
The project reflected the kind of art Mr. Donovan values: work that combines experimentation with historical research. It also forced him to learn unfamiliar techniques and materials rather than relying solely on traditional studio methods.
After college, Mr. Donovan continued working at Groton through its summer program. His responsibilities ranged widely. He served as a teaching assistant for AP World History, helped with theater, lectured, and worked as a painter.
At Belmont Hill, Mr. Donovan now teaches Ceramics I and II, AP Ceramics, and Drawing and Painting I and II. He also works in theater set design and co-directs with Mr. Ojeni in the Lower School. He said one of the attractions of Belmont Hill is that students have “a little more room to do art,” giving them opportunities to explore ideas rather than simply complete assignments.
Outside of school, Donovan’s interests remain broad. He enjoys movies, reading, stained glass, new media, and Japanese woodworking. His favorite film is The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, though his movie interests range from Braveheart to horror films.
For Belmont Hill students, his approach may prove especially valuable. Donovan does not treat art simply as a finished product. His own work suggests that the process matters just as much as the result.
