Hello, and welcome!
My name is Melanie and I am an art teacher currently caring for my two children full time. Though I am out of the traditional classroom setting for now, you can’t take the art teacher out of me! I’ve been creating opportunities for process based art play for my children since before they could wield paintbrushes.
I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was still a child. My mama, also an art teacher, offered my three younger siblings and I ample opportunity to explore our growth as artists, and I continued that exploration through my undergraduate degrees in Studio Art and K-12 education, six years of teaching high school Art (and some pre-k art) in Oakland, California, a life changing two year MA program in Visual Culture and Contemporary Art at Aalto University in Espoo, Finland and almost four years and counting of facilitating projects and art experiences for my kids. My own practice as an artist has wavered between printmaking, participatory installations and mixed media painting. My latest works can be found here and here. Right now my independent practice is limited as child care of littles envelopes most waking (and sleeping) moments of my life.
My goal in creating this site is to help you facilitate process based art experiences for your children at home. I hope you find meaningful tools and ideas here to help your children learn and grow through sensory visual art exploration in a way that feels natural and easy to you.
Thank you for being here!
Melanie