TeachArtsOhio Artist Residency
Fall 2022 - Spring 2023
With a major thank you to the Cleveland Print Room and Ohio Arts Council, I received the prestigious Teach Arts Ohio grant in September 2022 to teach a year-long photography curriculum at Urban Community School.
For my residency, I designed and taught a Photography curriculum to eight classes of middle school students, exploring the history of Photography as a documentary medium, its fundamentals as creative expression, and its power as a visual language.
Each student used an Instax Film camera to complete activities, explore their creativity, and apply their ever-growing knowledge. Social-emotional learning and the methodology of Socially Engaged Art were key in my approach.
At the end of the trimester as a “final”, each student completed a thorough evaluation encompassing the trimester’s key points. Being able to express an understanding of visual craft through the written word was fundamental to their final grade.
Alongside this, students chose their best/favorite images so they could be scanned, enlarged, and exhibited gallery-style. This was monumental for the students, and their reactions (as well as their parents) were amazing to witness.
Students learned that there’s incredible value and necessity in pursuing excellence and developing their creativity. That’s all I could ever ask for.
