“The two mediums I tend to focus more on are ceramics and drawing, although I do paint, sculpt and do printmaking. I would say those are my top five. As an arts educator, I do a little bit of everything but me personally, that would be my pecking order. I like abstract but in the way that it still makes you think about what you’re looking at rather than making it so simplistic you’re trying to guess what it is. And in my drawings, I take an object and then I create a story and it’s got a lot of tangles and designs in it, a little more complex in thinking.
I teach at Northridge High School in Middlebury and primarily I teach Intro to Art, Drawing all levels, Ceramics all levels, Photography all levels, Printmaking, Sculpture and that’s about it right now.
As an artist, I’ve enjoyed being part of community settings and being able to collaborate and work with others. I tend to want to put myself in the background rather than stand out, to my own detriment sometimes, but as a teacher, I think I’ve been a little bit more outgoing in that way and the other year I got Teacher of the Year for High School Art in Indiana and that felt really nice.
I absolutely love Goshen and its art and how everybody is helping make connections, whether it’s for a novice, a hobbyist, or someone who actually is developing an art business or a program. I take classes different places and I offer classes. I’ve gotten involved in the guilds also. I’m involved with both the Painters and the Photographers Guild currently. I help in those capacities for those two guilds. For the Photography Guild, I’m Vice President there and for the Painter’s Guild, I’m co-chair there. Again, it’s just trying to find opportunities to help bring in some of my talents as well as connections to make things better.”
