Profile
Artist & Educator.
Teaching Philosophy
The classroom is an active studio. Students develop technical skills and creative confidence through sketchbooks, critique, process work, and revision — with an emphasis on drawing, painting, and mixed media.
Studio Practice
Interdisciplinary work spanning drawing, painting, installation, and performance. Investigates identity, labor, domesticity, architecture, and social sculpture through material process and endurance.
Teaching Experience
Classroom & Studio History
Developed and facilitated studio-based instruction in drawing, painting, mixed media, and composition. Guided students through project planning, critique, revision, and final presentation. Maintained structured classroom routines and a safe, organized studio environment.
Maintained classroom continuity and instructional standards across diverse subject areas in secondary settings.
Taught drawing, painting, and mixed media to students at varied skill levels using demonstrations, guided practice, and project-based instruction.
Supported mentor teachers and classroom instruction. Observed and practiced instructional routines and student engagement strategies.
Supported cinema, media, and interdisciplinary arts courses. Facilitated critiques, demonstrations, and student feedback sessions.
Student Work
Instructional Skills
Core Competencies
Studio Practice
Selected Works
An interdisciplinary practice spanning drawing, painting, installation, and performance — investigating identity, labor, memory, and material process.
Painting
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Drawing & Works on Paper
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HomeSweetHouse
Performance & Installation
Video documentation — add your YouTube video ID to the embed URL above
Credentials & Education
Licenses & Degrees
Active — IEIN 933335
Illinois Professional Educator License
Visual Arts / Fine Arts, Grades K–12. Substitute Educator License valid through June 2029. ICTS 214 Visual Arts — Passed.
DePaul University · 2025
Master of Education
Teaching and Learning: Secondary Visual Arts. GPA: 3.9. TEACH Grant recipient 2023–2025.
Columbia College Chicago · 2014
Master of Fine Arts
Interdisciplinary Arts and Media. GPA: 3.744. Graduate Thesis Exhibition, Manifest Urban Arts Festival 2013.
Eastern Illinois University · 2005
Bachelor of Fine Arts
Studio Art / 2-D Studio Art. Fine Arts Scholarship 2001–2005. Study abroad: Lorenzo de' Medici, Florence 2004–2005. First Place, Florence Painting Competition 2005.
School of the Art Institute · 2007–2008
Certificate — Painting & Drawing
Continuing Studies, SAIC. Additional portraiture coursework, Moraine Valley College.
Selected Recognition
Awards & Publications
AUSL Teaching Residency Scholarship 2023 · HomeSweetHouse Monograph 2014 · Ruth C. Boyd-Cook Painting Award 2004 · RISD Portfolio Award 2001 · Perfect AP Art Score 2001 · NAEA Representative, Metropolitan Museum 2001.
Teaching Resources
Lesson Plans, Philosophy & Curriculum
Sample Lesson Plans
Grades 9–12
Students develop foundational drawing skills through contour line studies, close observation, compositional planning, and visual analysis of urban textures and architectural details. The lesson begins with low-stakes drawing exercises and moves into a final drawing connecting line, value, texture, and composition to place, community, and lived experience.
Essential questions: How does slowing down observation change what we see and draw? · How can formal choices communicate a sense of place? · How does critique help artists make more intentional decisions?
Teacher demonstration on contour, proportion, and value. Students complete thumbnails then build a full drawing in stages — light construction lines, contour refinement, gradual value development. Closes with critique focused on observation, effort, and revision. Differentiation through visual scaffolds, guided checkpoints, and adjusted object complexity.
Curriculum Overviews
Drawing Foundations
Observation, contour line, proportion, value, composition, negative space, sketchbook development, critique, and revision. Drawing treated as inquiry — students slow perception, plan ideas, test compositions, and build confidence as image-makers.
Graphic Design I & II
Typography, layout, image editing, visual communication, digital production, and portfolio development. Students move from research and sketches through digital drafts, critique, refinement, and final presentation.
Studio Art / Mixed Media
Drawing, painting, mixed media, 2-D design, composition, color, material exploration, critique, revision, artist statements, and portfolio development. Emphasis on both technical growth and individual artistic voice.
Teaching Philosophy
My teaching is grounded in a structured, studio-based visual arts classroom where students learn through observation, experimentation, making, critique, revision, and reflection. I believe visual arts education should help students build technical skill, visual literacy, creative confidence, and independent artistic judgment.
Drawing remains central to my teaching because it strengthens observation, planning, patience, spatial reasoning, and visual decision-making. I treat drawing as a form of inquiry — students use it to slow down perception, plan ideas, and make their thinking visible.
Critique is an essential part of this studio culture. I teach students to describe what they see, analyze formal decisions, interpret meaning, listen to peers, and revise with purpose. Assessment reflects process: I value sketches, drafts, experimentation, reflection, revision, craftsmanship, participation, and growth alongside final outcomes.
I build inclusive classrooms through clear routines, visual scaffolds, demonstrations, adaptive project structures, and multiple entry points. My goal is to help students feel supported enough to take creative risks and challenged enough to grow.
Artist Statement
I am a Chicago-based interdisciplinary artist and visual arts educator whose work spans drawing, painting, mixed media, installation, performance, and related studio practices. My practice investigates how identity is shaped by environment, labor, domestic space, memory, material process, architecture, and the body.
A recurring concern is the relationship between making and endurance. Repetition, physical effort, and sustained attention are not merely methods of production — they are part of the content of the work. I use drawing, installation, performance, and mixed media to explore how action becomes form.
Teaching and studio practice inform one another. In both contexts, I value discipline, iteration, material sensitivity, observation, risk-taking, and reflective decision-making. Representative works: Work in Progress Series, Endurance Ladder Dives, The Constituted Torso, Corporal Housing, Blue Artist, HomeSweetHouse, Paneled.
Exhibition History & Publications
Selected Exhibitions
Graduate Thesis Exhibition — Columbia College Chicago, 2014
Manifest Urban Arts Festival — Chicago, 2013
International Exhibitions — Florence, 2004–2005
EXPO CHICAGO · Zhou B Art Center · Best of America Mixed Media
Publications & Features
CanvasRebel Interview, 2023
HomeSweetHouse Monograph, 2014
Paneled MFA Catalogue, 2014
College Art Association contribution, 2013
Download Full Documents
Contact
Open to Teaching Opportunities
Chicago-based and available for high school visual arts positions, visiting artist roles, and studio collaborations. Illinois PEL in Visual Arts / Fine Arts K–12.
Available for hire