ABOUT Mr. Plourde

Mr. Plourde

Dorson Plourde is an Artist & Art Educator from Portland, Maine. Currently balancing a studio career as a picture book author, Dorson serves as the K-12 Art Curriculum Coordinator at South Portland School District. In his 8 years as an Art Educator at Waldo T. Skillin Elementary School & Frank L. Brown Elementary School Dorson has facilitated many collaborations with local artists, creative professionals, and art institutions in Maine including: Portland Trails, Maine College of Art, Might & Main, Portland Museum of Art, Maine Audubon Society at Gilsland Farm. His time in SPSD has provided him with valuable experiences that have helped foster his classroom management skills, strategies for differentiated learning, lesson adaptation, proficiency-based grading, and shape his teaching philosophy. Additionally, his vast experience with the K-5 cohort has helped cement the idea that quality learning exists via strong personal relationships, high expectations, and loads of fun.
When not in the classroom or behind a canvas, Dorson can be found exploring new cities, museums, or writing and collecting children's books. He is one to embrace the weird and ridiculous, brag about seeing a band, and the first person to bring up his cat in a conversation.

I am a firm believer that the classroom exists beyond the canvas.

The teaching of visual and material culture when allowed to bloom, is to launch students into an investigation of the world around them. It is the active exploring of various concepts, creative contexts, environments, neighborhoods (those familiar and new), various timelines, mindsets, and a collaboration with artists and creative professionals. The goal being the development of a fully curious individual.

My classroom is as much and outdoor investigation as it is a conceptual one. By giving students the tools to explore multiple creative contexts, via an organized and considered space, young artists are capable of connecting complex ideas and accessing modes for meaningful expression.

Classroom Composition:

Emphasis on concept and questioning: importance of why rather than what is made.
Fostering a space for Creative & Divergent Thinkers
Concept Based / Backward Design
Installations & Augmented Environments
Contemporary Artists, thoughts, and cultural concerns
Research & Inquiry
Group work & Self-Guided investigations
Technology & Tinkering
Alternative Materials
Global impact
Celebration of cultures
Strong Drawing Practice
Transparency of teaching practices (see: classroom blog)

Student-Built Willow Sculpture

Audubon Field Trip

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