When I interviewed at Millikan Middle School in 1981, I said, “I’m an artist and I would love to teach art.”  Mr. Mortensen, the Principal at the time, said, “I don’t need an art teacher; I need a math teacher.”  So, I taught Math for 10 years.  When the Drama teacher went on maternity leave, and decided not to return, I said, “I’m a writer; I would love to teach Drama.”  The Principal at the time, said, “Fine, teach Drama,” and so I taught Drama (along with Math and Teen Living, a class I wrote) up until the time Millikan became a Performing Arts Magnet, with an emphasis on Musical Theater; trust me, you wouldn’t want to hear me sing.   So, again I said, “I’m an artist; I would love to teach Art.”  Thankfully, our Principal at the time, Mr. Pete Ferry said, “Then teach Art.”  And that is exactly what I’ve been doing (along with teaching Math and Rainbow Council) for the past 10+ years; that is along with other things I pursued along the way, including teaching for 4 universities, designing jeans and sweatshirts, being a family therapist, writing scripts, lyrics, and curriculums, and currently also teaching at CHAMPS, Charter High School for the Arts.  (Search ‘Advanced Art’ on www.champscharter.com)

My art philosophy is simply this; if teachers teach, students learn. As a student in middle and senior school, my art classes were fun, and I never improved as an artist because my art teachers never taught; they simply assigned work with any rhyme or reason. One day we’d be on drawing. The next day, we’d be on collage.  And the day after that, we’d be painting.  There was never any continuity in what we were doing from day to day and never any learning taken away from these classes.

 

College opened up my eyes as to what could actually be learned in art classes. So, when I had the opportunity to take over the art department at Millikan Middle School, I did so with the intent and blessing of the Administration to create an Art program that actually teaches middle school students what they would normally have to wait until college to learn-

    Static, Dynamic, Curvilinear, and Symmetrical Design

    Design Layout and Visual Passageways

    How Lines relate to each other

    How understanding lines allows anyone to learn to draw

    How to draw still lives, portraits, and the entire human body

    How colors relate to and balance each other,

    How to capture a light source

    How to use different mediums to achieve different effects, even on different papers

    How to use watercolors versus acrylics, colored pencils versus pastels, graphite versus charcoal

    How to create series, collage, mosaic, and ink projects

    How to take a two dimensional design and create it in three dimensions

And everything I teach is sequential and academic, meaning that I teach each art concept step by step, incorporating the vocabulary, techniques, and mediums associated with that concept, with a clear demonstration of the concept being taught and the medium being used to complete the project.  Long before students actually draw in my class, they will not only earn about drawing mediums and papers, they will have the chance to experiment with different drawing pencils, and learn how to shade and complete gradients.