Community Involvement

In my student teaching experiences I was eager to explore the ways in which educators engage with their community. Through Clay Club (both times!) and Roots and Shoots I was able to connect with each of the communities I was a part of. Building community is one of my top priorities as an art teacher, art allows us to explore our ideas and the world around us. Art makes space for our community across languages, barriers, and circumstance. I hope to facilitate community building into my work to promote support for my students and their arts programs.

Clay Camp

In Summer of 2024 I cohosted Clay camp with my mentor Julie Woodrow. We worked with students to share the reality of selling artwork locally, the process of creating multiple works for sale, pricing, displaying, and managing their work at The Worthington Arts Festival. This year I took Julie's place to support the students and it was a great opportunity for students to explore the possibilities of art as a career, make a profit off their artwork, and raise funding for their ceramics program!

*All students in this video submitted signed release of image forms to utilize this video for sake only of this portfolio.

Clay Club Community Mural

At Kenwood my mentor teacher wrote a Dream grant to create a community mural. The idea stemmed from a memorial for a father who was an active community member and reached to a piece to memorialize many lost loved ones in the community. In this I was able to offer knowledge of clay, tile making, and worked solely with my mentor to create the center figure of the tree. I was able to cohost many clay clubs where students and family were able to construct many other clay tiles, I assisted in teaching families, designing the tree, ensuring tile edges were smoothed, firing, and glazing tiles.

Roots and Shoots at the Bristol Senior Center

Students of the Roots and Shoots club make community their first goal! Students visited the Bristol Senior Living Center where residents eagerly engaged in a clay bird workshop! I was able to assist students in material organization, overall structure, and assisted several residents in the creations of their birds! What a fun time!