"So what qualifies you to teach me, or ESPECIALLY my kid?"
I'm glad you asked! As it turns out, several things! Here's a quick list:
- Hands-on art experience from the age of 3, first learning from my mother, then from art-classes at school and extracurricular workshops. I've been living, breathing, and sleeping art since I was old enough to walk.
- Took Advanced Art when available in middle and high school, followed by the Advertising Design half-day program offered nearby.
- 6 years of college art courses, beginning at Western Michigan University, and ending at the University of Michigan. (I have a BFA, with honors, from U of M.)
- Straight A's in all art classes (that offered grades, anyway) across the board.
- A growing free-lance graphic-design practice with several return customers. (Click here if you'd like to be one of them :) )
- Kids like me. It's a gift :)
- I know how important the right teaching method is for helping people learn and actually enjoy the process. I know everyone has their own interests and their own way of doing things, and I'm willing to take the time to find out about those interests and find new ways to teach art so it stays interesting, relevant, and above all else, understandable.
- Many years practice in walking people through totally new experiences:
- (If I can walk octogenarians and nonagenarians through their first time using a digital photo-kiosk every day for over a year, while those kiosks are malfunctioning, I can help you learn to draw. If I can get sleep-deprived students the plots and prints they need when they're not awake enough to remember what day it is, I can help you learn to sculpt.)
- I'm patient, friendly, jazzed about art,, and I like helping people learn.
- I will make sure you actually learn things in my studio. I'm not going to smack your knuckles with a ruler to get you to practice, but I'm not going to let you pay for lessons that aren't helping you either. Whatever you want to learn, we'll get you there.