Delta College’s Art Department is losing a well-known teacher.
Joe Mariscal will be retiring at the end of this semester along with a handful of other professors.
Mariscal grew up in Stockton and attended Delta College.
After college he left for war in Vietnam and returned to attend school at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla in Mexico.
Mariscal received his Bachelor’s degree in Art History and continued his education at Sacramento State to earn his Master’s degree in Ceramics.
He originally wanted to be an artist.
“That wasn’t such a realistic goal,” he said.
Yet, he still was interested in art.
“That was it, so I switched from wanting to be a social worker to an art major,” he said.
Mariscal got the position at Delta through former instructor, Bruce Duke.
“That was [in] 1975. I was 16 years part time and then in 1991, I got hired full time. That means between Bruce Duke …[and] myself we locked down this job of ceramics for 70 years,” said Mariscal.
In regards to retiring, Mariscal thinks its time for someone else to take over.
He said it’s a good place to work and it pays well.
In terms of the future, Mariscal would like to travel to Brazil.
“I’ve been to Brazil three times. It’s a wonderful country,” said Mariscal.
There is also a possibility of him returning to campus.
“When you retire you have to lay off [for] six months. At the end of six months then I’ll know if I want to do it or not. We’ll see what the future holds,” he said.
