Artist Statement: Arts in Education and Art Integration 
I
am a sculptor. I received a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Ceramics from
the Ohio State University in 1986. I began
working collaboratively with teachers and students in schools in Ohio
in 1987. I was asked
by many schools to work in tile to create murals for their schools. In
an effort to be able to work more sculpturally with students, I taught
myself how to use paper mache to make sculpture in 1990. Because
my background and expertise is in creating sculptural forms from clay,
I began using newspaper in an additive manner, as if I was building
up a clay form.
I have several goals for all collaborations with
students. The
first involves giving the students an opportunity to experience the joy
of creating with their hands something that exists in their minds. I
try to instill a sense of confidence within each student about their
creative and technical potential. I tell every student that we are all
artists. I promote collaboration and communication within the context
of the learning experience with the thought that it will act as a model
for other aspects of their lives. I hope the experience fills them with
a renewed sense of excitement and enthusiasm for exploring, discovering
and ultimately learning. I want students to be incredibly proud of their
individual as well as group accomplishment.
The arts help us celebrate our individuality while
simultaneously helping us make connections to each other, to our communities
and to the world. The
arts connect learning to the real world of experience. Different people
learn in different ways and if, through the arts, I can involve a student
who is typically disinterested, or simply not able to access a subject,
I feel I have accomplished something important. As a parent and
an educator I know how joyful it is to see my child come home from school
bubbling with excitement about what he learned and how much fun it was.
What if every child felt that way?
During the past two years I have been doing consulting
work for The Galef Institute as an artist coach helping teachers in
Arizona learn to integrate the arts within their curriculum. I
am interested in continuing to help teachers expand their abilities
to use the arts within their learning experiences. It is my hope
that the arts become an integral part of their teaching practice and
a tool that they feel completely comfortable with. So often teachers
think of the art experience as something to be done after the learning
happens to showcase what students learned. I
am trying to reverse that notion and share with teachers that the art
can be woven into the learning from the start.
I am grateful to work with
students and teachers who inspire me and remind me that within every
individual lay a unique and wonderful vision of the world that can be
explored, celebrated and honored through the arts.
