Hello!
I'm Ms Shafer, and I'm so thrilled to be teaching art at Barton Creek Elementary.
I have been working with kids and art since I was a 16 year old hosting birthday parties at a paint-your-own-pottery studio in College Station, TX. I have a BFA in Visual Arts from Clemson University, and spent every summer in college teaching art to kids at a camp in Maine. When I'm not in the classroom you can find me co-managing a studio in East Austin, staying active in my own studio practice, and teaching adult clay classes at the Dougherty Art Center.
As you probably noticed, my website is called Big Hearts, Messy Hands.
We need big hearts in the art room because this is where students will take risks in ways they don't in other classes. When we take risks, we need to be surrounded by love and support from our community in order to feel confident enough to step out of our comfort zones. Big hearts give us courage to ask more questions, courage to see things through someone else's eyes, and the courage to explore and learn.
Messy hands - When we get messy we become less afraid of making mistakes, and that is when we grow as artists. Growth as an artist is rarely about perfection; it's about flexibility, tenacity, and grit. It's about understanding your own voice and your own strengths, not comparing them to others. Things usually have to get messy before they get better, and that's why I encourage messy in my room.
I truly feel like I hit the jackpot to be teaching at Barton Creek with your precious kids. If you have any questions or would like to come participate one day with your child's class, please don't hesitate to get in touch!
I have been working with kids and art since I was a 16 year old hosting birthday parties at a paint-your-own-pottery studio in College Station, TX. I have a BFA in Visual Arts from Clemson University, and spent every summer in college teaching art to kids at a camp in Maine. When I'm not in the classroom you can find me co-managing a studio in East Austin, staying active in my own studio practice, and teaching adult clay classes at the Dougherty Art Center.
As you probably noticed, my website is called Big Hearts, Messy Hands.
We need big hearts in the art room because this is where students will take risks in ways they don't in other classes. When we take risks, we need to be surrounded by love and support from our community in order to feel confident enough to step out of our comfort zones. Big hearts give us courage to ask more questions, courage to see things through someone else's eyes, and the courage to explore and learn.
Messy hands - When we get messy we become less afraid of making mistakes, and that is when we grow as artists. Growth as an artist is rarely about perfection; it's about flexibility, tenacity, and grit. It's about understanding your own voice and your own strengths, not comparing them to others. Things usually have to get messy before they get better, and that's why I encourage messy in my room.
I truly feel like I hit the jackpot to be teaching at Barton Creek with your precious kids. If you have any questions or would like to come participate one day with your child's class, please don't hesitate to get in touch!