Hi! I'm Miss Alvey, I'm the one in charge of the circus that is Art@DoverMiddle. I'm a Dover Grad (2000) and I earned my BA in Fine Art from Arkansas Tech University in 2004. This will be my 18th year teaching Art! I began my teaching career in Crossett, Arkansas in 2007, teaching Elementary Art and I have been so blessed to be able to teach the last 12 years at Dover Middle School. 

I love so many forms of art making, which is why I prefer teaching in a Choice-Based Art environment. My favorite part of teaching Choice-Based Art is watching students develop into confident artists while they experiment with subjects and media that interest them. The last few years I've noticed students struggling to come up with ideas and seeing them through to completion. So I've decided to go back to project based assignments to help build their confidence and portfolios up so that they will have something to pull from when given free choice. My hope is to not only instill a love of Art in my students but to help them develop a love for learning and an appreciation for all forms of creating.

A couple of summers ago I started taking Oil Painting classes and I've also started experimenting with Encaustic Painting (colored wax paint...not crayons. ;-) ). I'm excited to experiment with these new for me, but very old mediums. The rest of my personal artwork focuses on Art Journaling and Travel Journaling, as well as Mixed Media Art, combining new layering techniques with mark making, and texture. ALL of the texture. Some of my current favorite artists can be found on YouTube: Jane Davenport, Minnie Small, Bob Ross (of course), and all things Gelli Arts (Monoprinting). I recently started following an artist named @tara.axford on Instagram. She does some amazing nature based abstracts that are really inspiring. Another favorite Instagram artist is @lisaelley who paints some incredible impasto (thick, mostly with a palette knife) landscapes in oil paint.