Long time Art Teacher New to the group!

Hi! I am Linnie! I've been teaching art for 38 years, many of those years as a regular ed teacher and 11 years as strictly a full-time art teacher and head/trainer of the artists-in-residence who did not have any educational background (music, drama, ceramics, etc.) I taught most of those years in Santa Barbara, CA, and the last 8 in St. George, UT.

I also founded and taught the "Young Masters Studio Artists of Santa Barbara" and "HeART Haven Studios" in Utah, both after school groups of studio artists aged 7-14, many of the students staying with me for 7 years. Some of them are now practicing artists, much further along in the "business of art" than I am now since I just retired a few months ago. I joined the group because I LOVE teaching art to kids and have created an enormous amount of lessons through the years.

One project the kids loved I'd done in 5th grade based on Rob Shetterly's portrait work, "Americans Tell the Truth". I taught them how to use oil pastels like paint and how to create proportional self-portraits. Then they told their "truths" that they felt were really important to share with the world. I taught them how to use photoshop and we placed the words on a photo of their portrait and displayed it as a very large art piece in the Santa Barbara Library, who ended up making it a part of their permanent collection. It was a phenomenal experience!

The artwork around this display are acrylic paintings done by my afterschool "Young Masters". (Student choice, obviously- I just helped guide them toward their intentions as help was requested.)