EDUCATION AND WORK

  In 2010 I graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Art Education and in 2011 I completed my Single Subject Art Credential at California State University Long Beach. It was a joy to know that I would be able to take my love of art and make it relevant in today's society by pursuing a career in art education. I was also able to practice such an amazing variety of mediums with art education as my focus. The service learning experiences at Woman to Woman and Stephen's Middle School in Long Beach were invaluable. I completed my student teaching at Long Beach Polytechnic High School in 2011 under Suzette Way.

    While I was finishing school I became employed at a fantastic, little art studio called Canvas & Clay (formally KidsArt) in Redondo Beach. For over five years I taught at Canvas & Clay and helped them build their ceramics studio. Not only did I teach, but I also designed curriculum for all of the ceramics classes. Being able to teach such a broad range of ages has helped me understand the importance of developmentally appropriate curriculum and variety.

    My first experience teaching in a public setting was when I was employed at South High School from 2014-2015. I developed curriculum and taught two levels of art and one ceramics class. At the end of the school year I made the extremely difficult decision to stay home with my daughter when she was born in 2015. After that, teaching was never far from my mind.

    In 2019 I took the leap to start my own art business, Mother of Spiders. It has been an incredible experience making art to sell and to develop my business over the past couple years. I plan on continuing my own art journey while I go back to teaching in a school setting.