Teaching Artist Podcast

This episode has been a long time coming! I envisioned this as a celebration of 100 episodes and a way to kick off the summer of 2022. Well, here we are in 2023 after a loooong hiatus. The theme feels even more fitting now - for this podcast, for art educators and artists, and for me personally. Blog Post with links and images: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/episode-100-embracing-community Lana Greinermiller (she/her): @ms_gs_studio on Instagram Renee Kuharchuk (she/her): @reneekuharchuk Meera Ramanathan (she/her): @ms.r_art_class on Instagram and Elementary Art Talk Podcast If you're up for chipping in to help with my local fight against extremists destroying our schools, donate to One Temecula Valley PAC. If you're fighting similar things locally, find a group (or start one!) and get involved. . . . Follow: @teachingartistpodcast @pottsart @playinspiregallery

Brenda was inspired to become an art teacher from a young age, but was told not to pursue teaching by one of her art teachers whom she respected. She talked about freelancing as a creative and working across disciplines to make a living as an artist before coming back to teaching. It was inspiring to hear how she continues pushing forward and challenging herself as an artist while also becoming a better teacher. She shared how she connects with students and sometimes struggles to make those connections. We also got to talk about her process and materials and how she’s exploring ways to go beyond painting. Blog Post with links and images: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/episode-99-brenda-presil artbypresil.com @bre_941 on Instagram . . . Follow: @teachingartistpodcast @pottsart @playinspiregallery Submit your work to be featured: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/featuredartist/ Book an Art Critique Session with Rebecca: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/mentor/

Kayla Louviere talked about the juggle of parenting and making art while teaching. She shared how she approaches and structures her art practice and how that has shifted over the years. It was helpful to hear how that structure can move the dial little by little even when the amount of studio time available isn’t a lot. As she brings up topics of artistic voice with students, she also examines her own artistic voice and the themes of her work. Kayla shared how she’s working with students who have been through not only the pandemic, but also a devastating hurricane that has left many of them displaced from their homes. Flexibility and empathy for these young humans has been vital. She talked about introducing them to artists who also inspire her own art-making and how the research she does for teaching feeds her art practice. Blog Post with links and images: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/episode-98-kayla-louviere @kaylalouviereart on Instagram . . . Follow: @teachingartistpodcast @pottsart @playinspiregallery Teaching Artists' Lounge meeting registration: http://teachingartistslounge.eventbrite.com/ Submit your work to be featured: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/featuredartist/ Book an Art Critique Session with Rebecca: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/mentor/

Cbabi talked about his journey as an artist and how he continues to grow both his practice and his business. He shared his creative process and the ways he overcomes challenges while creating. He also talked about painting murals in schools and how he becomes a role model for students, making his thinking visible and encouraging the use of mistakes as learning opportunities. It was so helpful hearing how he adjusts pricing and also has to work to overcome money mindsets - that made me feel less alone in this struggle! Cbabi (pronounced Kuh-bob-bi) Bayoc is an internationally renowned St. Louis visual artist and illustrator who is highly sought-after for his murals and illustrations by diverse clientele such as schools, corporations, non-profits, hospitals, churches, actors, athletes, and musicians seeking images depicting the vibrancy and beauty of diversity whether digitally or by acrylic on a wall, canvas, metal, wood, and even stained glass or digitally. Perhaps Cbabi’s name and evolution as an artist are best embodied in his 365 Days with Dad series—his 2012 New Year’s resolution to paint a positive image of Black fatherhood each day for the entire year. This project was quintessential in starting a dialogue within the community about the importance of a strong foundation and support system for all children, no matter the age. Today, this series continues to evolve, revealing the complexities of Black masculinity through Cbabi’s 52 Fridays of Fatherhood and his commitment to grow art collecting amongst Black families through weekly giveaways of original art pieces. Most recently Cbabi completed illustrations for Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s children’s book, Good Night Racism, which was released June 14, 2022. Blog Post with links and images: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/episode-96-cbabi-bayoc cbabibayoc.com @cbabi on Instagram . . . Follow: @teachingartistpodcast @pottsart @playinspiregallery Teaching Artists' Lounge meeting registration: http://teachingartistslounge.eventbrite.com/ Submit your work to be featured: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/featuredartist/ Book an Art Critique Session with Rebecca: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/mentor/

Emily talked about her path as an artist from a young age, but also discovering her love for teaching and working especially in special education. She shared how all-consuming those first years of teaching were and how art had to take a back seat. I so related to that feeling of needing to re-discover the artist self, especially after becoming a mother. Emily aslo shared some great advice as a veteran special education teacher in not only encouraging students, but also encouraging yourself. Emily has been a special education teacher for 19 years. She currently teaches reading, language arts, and works with many students who have dyslexia and other learning disabilities at the middle school level.  She has a degree in special education, a masters degree in educational philosophy, a minor in visual art, and is Orton Gillingham Certified. She attended a high school for the arts in San Diego, and has always used painting and creating as a means to self express, navigate unknowns, and connect with students. She has taught in Maryland, Colorado, and the past 12 years in Southern California. Emily‘s art practice serves as the fuel which allows her to continually show up each day for her students and her family. Emily has a partner and two daughters (5 and 9), who love art as well. Blog Post with links and images: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/episode-97-emily-mcmullan www.practicesinart.com @practices_in_art on Instagram . . . Follow: @teachingartistpodcast @pottsart @playinspiregallery Teaching Artists' Lounge meeting registration: http://teachingartistslounge.eventbrite.com/ Submit to our 100th Episode: bit.ly/TAP100ep Register for the Adding Voices Conference: addingvoices.com/2022conference Submit your work to be featured: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/featuredartist/ Book an Art Critique Session with Rebecca: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/mentor/ Get 30% off zencastr pro: zen.ai/teachingartistpod

Meera talked about coming back to art after a long hiatus while teaching and moving from one country to another. She shared beautiful advice for artists and educators around diving into art-making and giving yourself grace as you grow your art practice. Meera also shared her experience through this pandemic and how meaningful it has been coming back to in-person teaching with tactile art materials. I loved hearing about her work and the process of selecting colors, tearing paper, collaging, and then adding embroidery. She shared advice around how she seeks opportunities and plans for solo shows, which was really helpful. Meera also created a company, Art Bound, in which she creates beautiful hand-bound books of children’s original artwork. These become keepsakes for the children and families, transforming those piles of artwork, notes, cards, and homework into a gorgeous book. Meera Ramanathan is a visual art teacher and an artist. She has a Master's degree in history of fine arts, drawing and painting and obtained a single subject teaching credential in visual art at San Diego State University. She creates paper collages that have been featured in several exhibitions. Blog Post with links and images: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/episode-95-meera-ramanathan/ meeraramanathan.com @ms.r_art_class on Instagram . . . Follow: @teachingartistpodcast @pottsart @playinspiregallery Teaching Artists' Lounge meeting registration: http://teachingartistslounge.eventbrite.com/ Submit your work to be featured: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/featuredartist/ Book an Art Critique Session with Rebecca: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/mentor/

It was such a pleasure talking with Laura & Matt Grundler, who host the #K12artchat on Twitter and The Creativity Department podcast. We talked about helping kids navigate a world that wasn’t built for them, as both parents and teachers. Laura and Matt both shared their paths as artists and educators, which included struggles with school and learning challenges, giving them empathy for students. I also loved hearing about how they weave visual journaling into not only their curricula, but also their lives. They both talked about journaling to process emotions and information, and a beautiful collaborative journal practice to continue learning about each other. TIL about wakelet and tweetdeck! Blog Post with links and images: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/episode-94-team-grundler www.grundlerart.com @creativitydept on Twitter @k12artchat on Facebook @creativitydept on Instagram . . . Follow: @teachingartistpodcast @pottsart @playinspiregallery Teaching Artists' Lounge meeting registration: http://teachingartistslounge.eventbrite.com/ Submit your work to be featured: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/featuredartist/ Book an Art Critique Session with Rebecca: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/mentor/

Suzanne Joyal had great advice about working with students with disabilities, which really applies to working with all students. I loved hearing about her path to teaching through motherhood and how she advocated for the arts in schools. It was also inspiring to hear about her art practice and how she overcomes artist block. Suzanne has exhibited her fine art at ArtWorks Downtown, Youth in Arts, O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Albany Center, the Mill Valley Library, and Thornton Thomasetti. A visual artist with extensive teaching experience, Suzanne holds a degree in Art History from Wellesley College and has worked as a fine art gallery curator and an appraiser of fine prints for Butterfield and Butterfield. Suzanne is the founder of Purple Crayon Art Studio, a popular San Francisco art studio for children and families. Having created and directed Purple Crayon for over a decade, Suzanne sold the business in 2007. Suzanne also founded Give A Jump Start that used art as a tool for microfinance with women and children in Zambia.  Suzanne provides professional development workshops for educators in arts integration techniques and is the creator of the Walker Rezaian Creative HeARTS program, an early childhood replicable visual arts curriculum.  At Youth in Arts Suzanne focuses on the model programs including the ARTS Bank. This summer,  Suzanne began her study toward a Master of Arts in Arts Education with a focus on special populations from Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, PA. The only program of its kind in the country, the program was founded by Lynn Horoschak, a pioneer in the field of arts education for special populations. For the students of Moore, and arts educators at Youth in Arts, “special populations” means anyone who does not thrive in the linear, neurotypical classroom. This could mean students experiencing disabilities, newcomer and english language learners, students experiencing the effect of trauma, or anyone with an IEP (Individual Education Plan). Blog Post with links and images: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/episode-93-suzanne-joyal www.suzannejoyal.com @suzannejoyall00 on Instagram Get 30% off zencastr pro: zen.ai/teachingartistpod . . . Follow: @teachingartistpodcast @pottsart @playinspiregallery Teaching Artists' Lounge meeting registration: http://teachingartistslounge.eventbrite.com/ Submit your work to be featured: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/featuredartist/ Book an Art Critique Session with Rebecca: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/mentor/

Aimee talked about supporting her students through this pandemic and beyond in part through shifting mindsets and reframing negative thinking. I loved how she talked about our role as educators as focused around teaching students to care and to prioritize what it is they care about, ideally moving away from stress about homework towards empathy and care for each other. Aimee puts the same passion into supporting fellow educators and artists through coaching. She shared some great advice around selling your artwork and thinking through all the questions to ask around creating art objects. It was also so interesting to hear about how she works with many media, materials, and processes and how she conceptualizes and carries out her work. Aimee Sones was born and raised in southern California. She loves to travel and has lived all over the United States, worked, and lived in India and the UAE. Aimee holds an MFA from The Ohio State University and has given lectures/demonstrations and exhibited in the US, Bulgaria, England, Germany, India, and the UAE. She has received numerous scholarships, awards, and several Greater Columbus Arts Council Grants. Aimee enjoys working with students of all ages and has taught at institutions including California State University, Fullerton, the National School of Applied Arts “St. Luca,” Sofia, Bulgaria and the Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, Washington. Aimee has been studying emotional intelligence, meditation, and healing since 2015 in California, Hawaii and at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Over the past decade, Aimee has also worked behind the scenes on a variety of projects including managing day to day tasks, educational planning, curriculum development and implementing strategic systems for the success of organizations such as Glass Axis, The Torch Foundation, Pilchuck Glass School, and the Los Angeles Glass Center. In 2021, Aimee founded the Mountain Movers School to support art educators and entrepreneurs in bringing more balance, joy and confidence into all areas of their lives. Aimee currently lives in southern California, where she teaches, creates, and assists organizations, other creatives and entrepreneurs in reaching their next level. Blog Post with links and images: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/episode-92-aimee-sones/ @aimeesones @mountainmoversschool www.mountainmoversschool.org Get 30% off zencastr pro: zen.ai/teachingartistpod . . . Follow: @teachingartistpodcast @pottsart @playinspiregallery Teaching Artists' Lounge meeting registration: http://teachingartistslounge.eventbrite.com/ Submit your work to be featured: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/featuredartist/ Book an Art Critique Session with Rebecca: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/mentor/

Dr. Amir Whitaker Esq. weaves together his experience and knowledge as an educator, musician, and human rights lawyer and spoke about how those things have inspired each other throughout his life. I loved how he talked about following a question, which led to more questions, as he pursued degree after degree. He spoke about how his multiple titles and roles really come back to passion for justice and the arts and his mission to free the youth. He touched on his own personal background with the (in)justice system, which he shares more of in his book, “The KnuckleHead’s Guide to Escaping the Trap.” He also offered some advice for teachers in connecting with students and breaking down barriers. Amir was very generous in allowing me to share clips of his music on the podcast. I love being able to use this audio format to the fullest! Amir is a civil rights lawyer, educator, and musician on a mission to #FreeTheYouth. He is the founder and director of Project KnuckleHead, a nonprofit organization empowering youth through music, art, and educational programs since 2013. As a lawyer referred to as a “civil rights and education stalwart” by the Daytona Times, Amir has negotiated settlements and policy changes that have improved the lives of thousands of youth across the country. Amir is currently a staff attorney with the ACLU of Southern California and researcher with the UCLA Civil Rights Project. He has taught varying grade levels and in different educational settings for over a decade, and has held teaching certifications in Florida, California, and New Jersey. He has written for publications like TIME Magazine and Washington Post. Amir's autobiography, “The KnuckleHead’s Guide to Escaping the Trap” has been featured on ABC News and in The New Yorker. Amir is the current board chair for the Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network, a collaborative of 12 organizations providing arts programming to incarcerated youth throughout Los Angeles county. As an artist, Amir has collaborated with musicians around the world, and has studied and taught several styles of music and dance. He is the co-founder of Rhythms of the Exodus, a Black music and cultural kinship movement spanning several countries. He received his doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of Southern California, juris doctorate from the University of Miami, and his bachelors from Rutgers University. Blog Post with links and images: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/episode-91-amir-whitaker @drknucklehead_esq on Instagram . . . Get 30% off zencastr pro: zen.ai/teachingartistpod Follow: @teachingartistpodcast @pottsart @playinspiregallery Teaching Artists' Lounge meeting registration: http://teachingartistslounge.eventbrite.com/ Submit your work to be featured: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/featuredartist/ Book an Art Critique Session with Rebecca: https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/mentor/