Teaching

I have a wide range of experience, from teaching older adults and very small children to individuals with special needs.  I obtained my Masters in Art Education with an emphasis on Special Populations at Moore College of Art and Design. I discovered my love for teaching art at a day program for adults with intellectual disabilities. I then student taught at a local middle school and then received my teacher’s certification. In the recent past, I have taught private lesson for advanced students.  I am a classically trained artist who has taken many courses at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and have also taught at their summer camp.  I seek to teach students the elements and principles of art making within a student centered framework.  I often draw upon art history, poetry, and the beauty of nature to inspire my students. Currently, I teach at a local K-8 classical Catholic school.

“The skills required of a ‘teacher’ are not so much in how to draw or paint but more in how to intuit what is needed by each individual, whether it be a certain paint or color, a word of advice, or silence” (Sunseri 1986).

“We learn to be good listeners, almost reading between the lines, so we can better know how to respond to what is happening. We enjoy the pleasure of seeing people blossom and support them as they dare to try something new or different” (Greenberg 1991).

K-12 Certification

I received my teacher's certification in December 2018.  I student taught for both a middle school class and an inclusive elementary level class at Moore's Young Artists' Workshop. 

Since then, I have been delighted to teach for the past five years at a local K-8 classical Catholic school, where I have developed their classical art curriculum with engaging and inspiring lesson plans informed by the classical tradition and art history.

Special Needs

Teaching art at a day program for adults with intellectual disabilities was an inspiring experience.  For such individuals, art is a therapeutic process through which they can express emotions that might otherwise not have a release.  The work they create can often be a window into their inner worlds.  For my thesis work with my students, I integrated nature based lessons, to help students connect more with their natural surroundings. Here one of my students flies a kite he created in art class, decorated with tracings from leaves he chose.

"Each one of them has a special gift to give us."

                           - Jean Vanier from his Becoming Human.

A Classical Curriculum for Advanced Students

Part of being sensitive or "listening" to the needs of students is teaching to their level.  Some students may demonstrate an early interest in art and be ready for rigorous academic training.  Most art schools start students with a "foundation" year where they learn basic representational drawing and painting skills that become the jumping off point for their creative direction.  We see this period in many well known artists over the course of art history.  Pablo Picasso's early work is representational and consist of master copies of his teachers' work.  Many teachers believe this period is necessary for every artist no matter what direction their artwork takes.  With this in mind, I offer a classical curriculum in time honored drawing and painting techniques, for advanced students, in the setting of both private in-home lessons and at the middle school level at the school where I teach.