INSIDEOUT
6
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1972, with a BA and BS, I decided I wanted an art school experience. I graduated from what is now UArts - MA in Art Education with a concentration in metalsmithing and jewelry-making. Began my art teaching career in Washington DC at the Lab School. This school focuses on students with learning differences and looks for artists to teach in the academic program. When I moved back to Philadelphia I taught at LM for one semester and then The Baldwin School where I was the Lower School Art Teacher. Two years later I returned to LMHS and have had a rich and exciting teaching experience for the last 28 years, primarily teaching metal arts. In addition to teaching I have been in a couple of faculty shows and a faculty/student show. I also designed a commercial line of children’s jewelry. An experience I will always remember is that I traveled in 1999 to Japan on a Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Grant. I was lucky to have the opportunity which has had a lasting impact on my teaching career.
As a teacher, I look for each student’s natural inclination and most comfortable way to express. By giving students a series of basic techniques in an introductory metal arts course, I hope to give them a vocabulary to find their own voice in a new medium. Encouraging students to develop their sense of design can help them channel creative ideas into dynamic pieces of adornment and small metal objects. I give a problem to solve whether it involves looking at the art of a particular culture, an artist, or technique. In this way, I try to bring out as much creativity as possible.