Ms. Barbrey's Art

Why show my work?

I believe that in order to get students excited in what they are learning, the teacher needs to be excited to share their knowledge. This is why I find it important that I continue to be a practicing artist outside of being a teacher. Creating my own art allows me to continue to learn through experimenting with new techniques, mediums, and subject matter in order to best teach my students. Above you will see the use of watercolors, oil pastels, acrylic, clay, and even shoelaces glued to a canvas. I enjoy creating a broad range of subject matter such as portraits, vehicles, animals, pots, and even abstract or non-objective subjects.

I will show my students the art that I am creating outside of school, so they can be inspired to do the same. I also think that allowing students to see my work validates my credibility to them. I mean, would you take advice from someone who has not shown you they know what they are talking about? Me either. Showing my work also opens the door for my students to be interested in my work like I am interested in theirs. In art class, we learn a lot about art history and those people can feel so distant from us so I hope that by showing my work it will allow them to see that even people close to them still create art today.