Great to meet you! I have been teaching art at Bell school since 2001! Before working at Bell School, I worked as a case worker and art teacher at Sarah's Circle, as an Art and Program facilitator with the Chicago Park District, and muralist. I come from 2 generations of artists and this creative upbringing infused my passion for sparking curiosity, expression and imagination in my students. My hope is that art class will be a haven and respite, filled with learning, asking questions and thinking about our art, our feelings and our active, considering our impact on our global sisters, brothers, animals, plants, air, water and all of nature. Our students face an unprecedented future and I feel that all of the art are the healing salve they require to endure the complicated world we live in as a community.

Here is some information about me!

Hometown: University City, MO

Education: BFA in painting and printmaking from the University of Kansas with Honors and a MAAE from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Passions: Collaboration, culture, day dreaming,  gardening, healing, creating, tinkering, roaming, imagining, re-imagining, wonder, equity, spirituality, nature, curiosity, not being perfect, finding flow in all things, learning new skills, spreading love and hope especially when life feels hopeless. 

Hobbies: Daily Qi Gong, Awareness/Contemplation, Meditating, Healing, Hiking/Nature, biking, reading, making art, Moon gazing.

Little know fact: I am a Reiki Master Teacher, co-created a weekly community peace circle in June, 2020 called "We Are The One's We've Been Waiting For" and have public murals in and around Chicago and Marrakech, Morocco where half of my family lives. I have re-occurring art exhibitions at Uncommon Ground. I have a published essay in the book, Makers, Crafters and Educators Working for Cultural Change and authored a civics guide with The Earth Guardians for starting a youth crew for the "We The Future" Amplifier campaign. I am a long time volunteer with programming and in person art teaching pre-COVID with girls at Project Soar Marrakech, a girl's empowerment NGO in Douar Ladaam where my partner, Mohamed Danja and I lead Art/French and cross cultural workshops. In 2018, my artivist/civics collaborator, Bell Social Studies teacher, Peter Barash and I won the Inaugural, Civic Education Leadership Award for our work on the ongoing Legacy Mural Projects and uplifting student voice at Bell.

Spouse: Mohamed Danja, Lane Tech Arabic and French teacher. in 2014, Mr. Danja and I led a Fund For Teachers Fellowship conducting research of artisans, musicians, storytellers and NGOs in World UNESCO heritage sites around Marrakech, Morocco. You can read about it here. This cross-cultural project inspired the We Can Change The World murals at Bell that came a few years later.

Son:. Abrahim is a creative, funny and caring son who I am very proud of. He is in the 9h grade and loves STEM, biking, video games and caring for our little dog, Kipo.

Neighborhood: Avondale/East Irving Park, Chicago, Planet Earth