As an experienced art educator, I love inspiring others and am very patient, positive, encouraging and energetic. I care deeply about my students and their success. I am adept at establishing an authentic rapport with and tailoring learning plans to my individual students.
I have served as an Art Foundations Team Lead and as a member of both the Chicago Teachers Union Arts Committee and the Chicago Public Schools Art Teacher Community of Practice. I established a successful partnership with the nonprofit, I Paint My Mind to bring contemporary art into the school and display student art in exhibitions and installations. I was honored to be the recipient of an art grant from Great Lakes Experimental Art for an interactive outdoor art installation in 2020.
I am experienced at differentiating instruction and in coaching students in self-exploration and goal-setting. I sponsor Art Club to create a supportive, positive community for students to gather, share, and spread art throughout the school. For National Kindness Week last year, my students created and gave away free artwork and adorned the school with positive messages.
As an educator, I strive to empower my students by helping them connect to themselves, to their community, and to the earth. Through environmental social justice, green initiatives, gardening and outdoor classroom experiences I help students engage in a more meaningful relationship to our planet. I teach from a holistic perspective and facilitate social-emotional learning using service-learning, journaling, mindfulness, and meditation. Utilizing my philosophy degree, I create interdisciplinary curriculum that engages students in exploring personalized essential questions and enduring understandings. My specialty is in creating projects that engage students in thinking critically about our world and their roles as active members in a community.
I use the Studio Habits of Mind philosophy, organic artist methods and art therapy techniques in my curriculum. By helping students create their own materials from natural sources, they comprehend and control their entire creative process with a deeper understanding and appreciation. Students leave my classes with the ability to bind books, print make, design their own zine, create and employ homemade glue, charcoal, clay, ink, and natural dyes from materials found in the home or local grocery store.
I have taught a myriad of courses including Art Foundations, 2-Dimensional Studio, 3-Dimensional Studio, Ceramics, Sculpture, AP 2-Dimensional Studio, AP 3-Dimensional Studio, and AP Drawing and Painting. Each class builds subject specific knowledge and skill, and students learn how to work in the field as self-sufficient artists, learning how to create digital art, slideshows, presentations, how to replicate and magnify their designs for distribution, prints, murals, branding, pricing, networking, and social media.
As a lifelong learner, I have extensive experience curating, developing collaborations, fundraising, leading art workshops, volunteer organizing, and event planning. These experiences provide me with a strong knowledge of how the art world functions, as well as how to successfully scaffold this learning for students. I am truly passionate about the transformative power of artistic expression.