As a lifelong artist, I have experienced the profound healing powers of artmaking time and time again. I use art as a tool for personal exploration, communicating my experiences, and a toolbox of social-emotional skills. When determining what path I wanted to take in my career I was overwhelmed with the desire to give those skills to others.

 

Over time I began to realize that I have an indefinable desire to understand the complexities of our endless faceted and unique lives. I poured that curious desire into my art, exploring the dark labyrinth of the human mind with creativity and wonder; and it was through my art that I discovered a new way of understanding. I started to define emotions for myself, and in making my interpretations of my lived experiences into art, I was able to cope and grow in the complexities of being a young adult. Using creativity as my means of emotional travel taught me that if I can find a way through life using art, then so can many others.

 

That thought pushed me to become an art teacher and teach kids how to do that same thing at perhaps the most complex and confusing stage of life, high school. Teaching high school art has been a profound experience and challenged all my preconceived notions of what my impact on this world can be. I suddenly learned that I have the potential to change lives, teach lessons that span far beyond the classroom, and offer others creative and open-minded perspectives to use as they navigate future challenges in their lives. That responsibility carries a huge weight but comes with an immense reward.