Charcoal ho!

This year I will be embarking on a new adventure. This year I become an art teacher.

In my life I have played many artistic roles such as graphic designer, portrait artist, art enthusiast, web designer and art director. I have also had teaching roles such as teacher of catholic children’s liturgy and catechism, youth group leader, provider of one-on-one orientation and training for new employees and leader of workplace team training. Now I bring them together for this new challenge… teaching art to kids. 

So, a bit about me…

I am an honours graduate of graphic design from Ottawa’s Algonquin college. There I studied a variety of drawing media from sketching with pencils to marker rendering to drawing with pen and ink. In that program, these were applied to many different drawing styles ranging from realistic to wildly stylized. Over the years, I have also taken a multitude of art theory, history and studio classes through the Ottawa School of Art and Ottawa University. All these experiences have led me to excellent jobs in print graphic design and web design. Today I am the associate webmaster for a crown corporation where I act as web designer, project manager and art director. Art can lead to great things!

Now it's time for me to return to my roots. Back to the paper, pencils and charcoal that first made me fall in love with art. With these classes, we will focus on fundamentals such as shapes and lines, colour theory and shading and shadowing techniques. Over the weeks, time will be spent on practicing and learning these drawing skills to result in three to four final projects.

For younger kids, classes will focus on learning the skills by imitation and practice. For older kids, our class will focus on the same skills with additional analysis where students will be encouraged to explore and understand of the use and purpose of these techniques.

My primary goals are to instill confidence and to have fun! I too often see kids and adults (me included!) struggle with the desire to make their art project perfect and therefore making the whole experience painful. The need for a drawing to be absolutely perfect will be discouraged. Instead we will focus on grasping the basics and learning to enjoy the drawing experience! We will rejoice in the surprises we meet along the way!

Comments or suggestions for the class are always appreciated. Send them my way! Currently I am starting with a pre-set curriculum entitled “The Phonics of Drawing” developed by “Masterpiece Art Instruction”. Although I enjoy following this logical series of lessons, I am certainly open to new ideas and unique needs.