Two Revere alumni have invited an art teacher from Revere High School to hang his students’ artwork on the walls of their coffee shop.

The Ocelot Cafe in Richfield on Wheatley Road, which was bought by two Revere alumni in April of 2022, has invited Revere art teacher, Bob Pierson, to hang some of the artwork from his art classes inside of their business.

Liz Post, who graduated from Revere in 2014, and Jason Smith, who graduated in 2011, thought that it would be a good idea to hang the artwork in their cafe as a way to support and showcase the Revere art program. Post explained why she wanted to add Revere artwork.

“When you go to coffee shops, you often see artwork from the community and you see a lot of displays but I don’t, a lot of times, see coffee shops show student work, and the high school is right up the road,” Post said.

Smith explained how supporting Revere was important to both him and Post from the beginning.

“Just being alumni, we like to support the school that we went to and the students that are in it. So it was important to us from the get go,” Smith said.

Post worked at the cafe when she was in college. At that point in time it was called The Richfield Gourmet Cafe and had a different owner. The previous owner had asked Post to bring in some of her artwork to hang, and this is where the idea to hang current student artwork in the cafe stemmed from.

“There is a monotype on the fireplace, I made that when I was in high school . . . the owner was looking for some stuff, so I brought that in, and then we came back here to purchase the cafe and it was still on the wall,” Post said.

Smith said that when he saw Post’s artwork on the fireplace, he had the idea to reach out to Pierson.

“[I thought that] if we could get more current student art work on a rotating basis . . . it would just be a cool idea, it was kind of inspired by that piece,” Smith said.

Pierson said that he was very happy when Post reached out to him and gladly accepted the offer. Right now he says that, depending on the sizes of the artworks, he will hang around twenty-four of them and rotate them on a monthly basis.

Pierson is also a Revere graduate and explained how student artwork has not been hung up in public like this since he was in high school.

“When I was a kid, because I went to Revere, the Scholastic Art Awards used to be hosted by O’Neil’s [a department store] and they hosted it and had the artwork on display in the department store . . . to have it on display would be returning to something that we haven’t really done since the 1970s,” Pierson said.

Pierson explained that this is a great opportunity for the community to see what Revere students are doing in their classes.

“Students see the stuff in the hallway and that gets them into my classes but unless the community sees it, they don’t know what’s happening. . . . It’s good that people are coming in for the coffee and they can see something new,” Pierson said.

Pierson also spoke about the benefits on the students’ side and how having their art hung up in public is an accomplishment.

“There’s something to be said from having your work on display as an artist, having it for people to see, and it’s selective. It bumps things up a notch,” Pierson said.

Although they do not have an exact date, Post and Smith are hoping to extend the hours of their cafe in the future so that they can have more students come in. The coffee shop’s current hours are 7:00 AM to 2:00 PM, meaning students are not able to come in during the school week.

“We would eventually like to open up later so that we can have students after school and have a place for studying, so that’s the goal for in a year or two. . . . I want it to be inclusive, this isn’t just a place for one group of people, I want it to be all inclusive. I think that’s a huge step,” Post said.

Post and Smith both express their gratitude for Pierson through this project, they explained how easy he was to work with.

“He came in on a Saturday and helped us hang the rails, and he’s just been here since the beginning so it’s really appreciated,” Smith said.

Pierson also explained how happy he is for Post and Smith. Post was one of his students when she was in high school, so he has been able to see her grow.

“I’m so proud of what she’s done with the bakery . . . that’s a business I want sticking around so I’ll do anything that will promote her business. I’m hoping it brings more people into her business to buy coffee and look at the art work,” Pierson said.

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