“To attempt to teach anything to anyone without first establishing a real-life connection is practically futile.” –Annette Breaux and Todd Whitaker
Art making gives people the opportunity to access parts of our memory that we are not able to access linguistically. Art making gives us the opportunity to make sense of our most difficult experiences. The act of creating art can be a powerful healing tool. As a certified trauma-competent art educator, I share artmaking skills (bookmaking, printmaking, drawing and poetry) that adults and young adults can use in their self-exploration and healing journeys.
Everyone has the capacity to develop strong art making skills. Therefore, I make it my responsibility to meet all of my students where they’re at in their artistic journey, and to offer the patience and support necessary for them to grow artistically. I believe that structuring visual art curricula through an equity-centered and trauma-informed framework allows me to facilitate artmaking experiences that are positive and nourishing for all learners, regardless of their experience or self-confidence level. Trauma-informed teaching is rooted in identifying what possible triggers exist within the classroom that might negatively impact a person’s learning experience and adjusting the curriculum accordingly. This means that I remain attentive to my student’s needs and flexible to making adjustments along the way. This means that I co-develop safety plans with my students that can be enacted when they are in need of additional support. This also means that I encourage them to exercise ownership of their artwork and sense of agency, and that I challenge myself to uproot hierarchical power structures from the classroom.