Making lemonade

Beyoncé’s roots in Houston schools should spark a call for better arts programs.

There’s painters, and then there’s artists.

There’s poets, and then there’s bards.

There’s pop stars, and then there’s Beyoncé.

The Houston native on Saturday released her second visual album, “Lemonade,” to an audience left in the dark until the last minute.

It was worth the wait for a work that the New York Times called “bolder, deeper and more uncomfortable” than anyone could have imagined.

That’s funny; pop isn’t supposed to be uncomfortable.

Beyoncé fuels her hour-long personal opus with the power of her own pain — a pain that flows from the alleged infidelity of her husband, Jay Z, and their disintegrating marriage. It is a pain that she identifies as inherited from generations of black women mistreated by their husbands and by society. But it is in that sisterhood where Beyoncé finds her resilience.

“I had my ups and downs, but I always find the inner strength to pull myself up. I was served lemons, but I made lemonade.” That’s a quote that Beyoncé pulls from Jay Z’s own grandmother, Hattie White, at her 90th birthday party.

“Lemonade” is a visually stunning endeavor as it elevates video into art, lyrics into poetry, and the personal into political and back again.

In a media industry often dominated by creative founts in New York or Los Angeles, Beyoncé offers an aesthetic that is uniquely Gulf Coast, uniting seemingly disparate genres of country, R&B, rock and reggae into a singular vision. It is the reflection of an identity that Beyoncé — like so many denizens of our swampy city — draws from her parents’ mixed heritage.

“My daddy Alabama, Momma Louisiana / You mix that negro with that Creole make a Texas bama,” Beyoncé sings.

Like her 2013 eponymous visual album, “Lemonade” is interspersed with home videos of Beyoncé’s personal life, including a clip of the singer as a toddler.

Even at a young age, her charisma and talent are palpable through the screen, and it should be no surprise that she stood out to her dance teacher at St. Mary’s Montessori School in the Third Ward. It was here where Beyoncé originally honed her skills, first in the music magnet program at Parker Elementary School and then at the Houston School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

She describes her family as trees growing toward the same light, and it is clear that her artistic fruit is born from gumbo soil. As an HISD student, Beyoncé’s talent was nurtured by programs specifically designed to encourage those artistic students who have stars in their eyes. But as HISD reworks its magnet funding, and public schools as a whole suffer from a budget crisis, Texans should wonder if we’re denying the next Beyoncé the chance to bloom.

The arts are lagging in public schools. HISD has no guarantee of specialized art and music classes. Officials have expressed concerns that this thin offering of fine arts may even violate the requirements in state law.

Not every arts student will become a Beyoncé. And not every computer science student will become the next Bill Gates. But in both fields, the skills that students learn and their exposure to new ideas will be worth every dollar and every minute.

No Scantron can help children experience their local culture. No standardized test can train students to create art.