ABOUT

Teaching Philosophy

Diversity Statement

Resumé

In the fall of 2020, when our local schools were struggling to fill staff positions because of COVID-19, I was asked to be a substitute teacher for a sophomore English class. Though I had expected the six-week gig to be challenging and interesting, I hadn’t expected it to unveil a new purpose. Connecting with students and discovering their learning styles and senses of humor was an absolute delight. I even enjoyed the difficult task of adapting my approach in an effort to reach each one of them. It was a meaningful experience that revealed a new calling: to share my passion for and knowledge of art and design with young people discovering the magic of creativity.

After working more than two decades as a graphic designer and business owner, I bring a unique perspective to my students — partly because of my grasp of composition and color, but more importantly because I have experienced again and again how art can tell a story, influence people to think differently or take action, and open the minds of both its creator and its audience. I love witnessing how artmaking fosters self awareness and creative thinking as well as an understanding of people and the world. 

I studied art history and studio art at Colorado College. But when I graduated, I was unsure where to take my creative interests. I made a detour to my second love, writing, and began a career in journalism. After earning a Masters of Science in Journalism at Northwestern University, I worked as a TV reporter for the CBS affiliate in Fargo; a Capitol Hill correspondent for KOMO radio in Seattle; a producer and writer for C-SPAN; and a freelance reporter for WAMU radio in Washington, DC (where I was lucky enough to have one of my pieces picked up by National Public Radio). Interestingly, I found journalism to be a perfect foundation for my art career: in its essence, it is about seeing, listening, discovering, and storytelling — all of the elements great art embraces.

When I finally became aware of the field of graphic design, I was unable to resist the itch to return to creative work. I left my writing career in 2003 to pursue a graphic arts degree at Pratt Institute in New York City. This launched a nearly 20-year design career in which I worked for a media company and Vogue magazine in New York and Lapchick Creative here in Portland. I launched my own studio in 2009, which I had planned to continue until that fortuitous substitute teaching opportunity.

I completed the masters program in teaching at Maine College of Art + Design where I honed my skills in scaffolded instruction, formative and summative assessment, differentiation for individual needs, and lesson planning that meets the Maine Learning Standards. I have enjoyed and greatly benefitted from teaching in a number of local schools, and have found that my new role in the classroom feels like coming home. 

I am fiercely excited about our visual world. Whether a fabric on a pillow, a patch of garden, a beautiful meal, a striking photograph, or the way a row of books are displayed on a shelf, I see art in every nook and cranny. I am excited to not only share the pleasure of creating with my students, but also the pleasure of seeing. There is beauty, layout, color, form, composition, unique decisions, and creative solutions everywhere. I am grateful that my long journey in journalism and design have brought me back to where I started: enjoying and sharing the acts of making and discovering in the art room.