ABOUT THE TEACHER
When I'm not teaching, you can find me hiking and camping in the Catskill Mountains with my husband Max and our two energetic boys ages 6 and 10, photographing with my Hasselblad, or studying my family history in New York City & Brooklyn (back to the 1870's so far.)
Over the last 15 years I've run multiple darkroom and digital photography programs within the NYC Department of Education. During that time, over 1500 students have walked through my classroom doors.
My teaching practice is a labor of love. It is my hope that when students walk into my classroom they learn to break preconceived ideas about what art is or whether they are artists. I focus on building a foundation of accessible technical skills, then help them enhance those skills to empower students to take leadership over their creative vision.
Hands-on exploration is at the core of art making. While I teach a theory and technique, it is just as important to grant students time to simply "make" and explore. I find that allowing students to learn, fail, and then learn from their failures empowers kids to become more comfortable with the risk-taking that leads to innovation and confidence. Teenagers are too-often inhibited by the idea of perfection, only to lose out on the opportunity for discovery. When given the emotional space to explore, I am always overwhelmed by the self-discovery students are able to find.
Arts enhance interdisciplinary learning. Breaking down and understanding an artwork enables critical interdisciplinary thinking. Students gain deeper understanding of science when they explore color theory, comprehend social studies when they analyze photojournalism, and math is built into every aspect of visual composition. The academic nature of strong art education cannot not be overlooked.
Even so, the art classroom offers social and emotional support that adolescents crave. It is within this context that I create curricula that support the whole person, so that students gain a richer sense of self expression while they expand their understanding of their place in the greater world.
