from Gates Elementary School (K-6) — Acton, Massachusetts

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Biography

I LOVE teaching children art! I have been teaching since 2002, and from 2008 on at Gates Elementary School. My goal as an art educator is to inspire students to create in ways that develop the Studio Habits of Mind and encourage them to express their individual artistic voice. In the Gates art program, students are encouraged to assume creative control of their art and art-making processes within an environment designed to support individual inquiry and the development of artistic behavior. In a choice-based art room, it is the individual student, not the teacher who defines the project, so you will see artworks of many different subjects and made from various media. I believe the artistic process guides students to make meaning of their world; and in turn, will expand students' understanding of themselves, the society they live in, and other cultures beyond. Students are taught to work like real artists at Gates, practicing the following Studio Habits of Mind as they create: Develop Craft, Stretch & Explore, Envision, Observe, Express, Engage & Persist, Reflect, and Understand the Art World

I'm an artist, too! My own artwork is primarily based on fantastical notions of the natural world. I work sculpturally in a variety of fiber and craft applications & materials as well as in drawing and painting. Through a combination of outward observation and inward imagination, I create work that I hope inspires viewers to examine their visual world more carefully and open their minds’ more flexibly. I think of each of my sculptures as having a distinct evolutionary narrative. Close observation of my new invented “life form” offers a glimpse into an imagined alternative universe. As I work through the process of art-making, I investigate the relationship between nature and imagination, and come to a better understanding of who I am in the world around me.

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