I am an art educator and artist with professional training in drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, and digital art. This allows me to provide guidance to my students who are interested in various media and processes. I also studied many other content-area topics within art history, leading to me being able to teach important historical information to students as well. Having a well-rounded understanding of studio practices as well as historical and philosophical knowledge of art allows me to provide multi-faceted assistance and guidance for students of all ages, including those in grades 9-12.

        In my class, it is my objective that every student is making work that adheres to advanced state and national standards in visual art, including experimentation, analysis, and interpretation, while also encouraging them to never stop improving. I also strive to ensure that art is seen as an essential subject, not just an elective. Art promotes cognitive and motor development as students become problem solvers through the process of creation. Art is all around us; media we consume, logos we recognize, colorful decor we admire—all these works have been touched directly by the hands of an artist or designer who was once an art student. Because of this, I work hard to prove to those outside of the arts that art instruction is essential. I also work with students within the arts to show them that they can take their work many places outside of our classroom if they wish to do so. Along with this, one of my goals is to provide the most equitable art education for all students and to promote getting more art resources into the school; with this desire, I presented research and advocacy around this topic at a regional conference.

         Within my educational philosophy, I strive to make my students think about their own creative processes to make the best art that they can. Art is about both craftsmanship and expression; my students should learn skills and gain confidence through practicing them. Much of their focus should be on exploring ideas that are of great personal interest to them as well as finding means of creation that they find fulfilling and enjoyable.

        Art is beneficial for every student. Creating art, presenting what they create, responding to other art they are seeing, and connecting art to themselves and the world around them allows for self-reflective, introspective learning and serves as a vehicle for communication skills. The unique pieces of text introduced in art classes, such as artist’s statements and art reviews, directly relate to the critical analysis as well as the facilitation of discussion. Art historical texts provide students with important information directly related to both the reading and social studies curriculum, making art beneficial not only within its own realm, but across the curriculum as well. Studio practices such as mixing paint, firing ceramics, and creating photographic prints allow students to not only learn about processes in chemistry but to experience them first-hand and explore why they are happening. It is important for students to explore the connections between science and the artistic process they utilize. Digital art allows students to develop skills in technology as they learn new programs and understand how to best utilize and troubleshoot them. All these cross-content connections are among the reasons I find art to be important but essential to the school curriculum.

        All these experiences have given me direct involvement in helping students complete projects that allow them to develop tactile skills while also learning how to find and implement their own creative voice and unique ideas in their work. With this considered, I provide high school students with a robust art education.