I am thrilled to be teaching three different visual art classes at Kamiakin this year!  The consistent classes are Clay and Sculpture for 8th and 9th graders along with Art Adventures for 7th graders!  The rotating classes are Art Exploration and World Art for 8th and 9th graders. Within the visual art classes we work with a huge variety of materials and develop skills in many techniques.  And that is my favorite part--introducing students to creativity through different experiences in art!

I found myself interested in teaching art when I was in Junior High! I went directly through the University of Washington in Art Education, graduating in four years.  I got a teaching job at Finn Hill Junior High in the Lake Washington District within a year and taught for 2 1/2 years before burning out as a teacher!!!! I was working as an entrepreneur artist and jumped out of teaching and into producing a line of stuffed animals!  I designed, manufactured and marketed the line for several years before deciding I needed more information about overseas production. I ended up at The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising for a year or more, graduating with both Design and Production majors.  Generra Sportswear hired me as a clothing designer and I worked in that department in both design and management for many years before they went out of business. You might remember Hyper-color which is now coming back in!  As they signed out, I found that the design industry was not as creative as I had hoped and was ready to explore teaching art again.  My friend Kay Tyllia was leaving Kamiakin Junior High as the art teacher and so the story goes that I came back to the Lake Washington District and have been thrilled to work with Kamiakin artists ever since!