About Me:
I was raised in Rockford, Michigan after being adopted from China when I was two years old. My passion for art and play began in a Montessori preschool. From then, I continued taking art classes at every possible opportunity throughout elementary, middle, and high school. High school is where my interest in ceramics started progressing from Pottery 1 and Pottery 2, to an Independent Study during my senior year. I was fortunate to also have had the opportunities to take classes such as Graphic Design 1 and 2, and Jewelry Making in my high school education.
In college, my love for creating continued even through the isolation of the Pandemic. During this period, the process of creating allowed me to better find my identity as an international adoptee, having noticed the loss and disconnection from my culture. In multiple projects, I used art making to reflect on personal experiences from my past that made me who I am or felt that I still did not know. From having this time in my life to question and research my identity, it has inspired me to create a space for students to do the same in my own classroom.
Throughout my four years of undergrad I had many opportunities to experiment with multiple art materials varying from oil paint, printmaking, digital, charcoal, woodworking, ceramics, and even welding. With knowledge and experience of all of these different ways of creating, I still find myself gravitating towards mixed media and collage with its ability to experiment with multiple materials to create a story. However, I recently have had access to iPads and Apple Pencils in the classroom, enjoying finding new materials students can use to create, along with finding my concentration in Graphic Design to be very useful when teaching this new technology.
From finding a passion in art and understanding the privilege of having it accessible my whole life, I want to share my knowledge with students to inspire them to experiment and implement the artistic process into their own lives in the classroom and beyond.
When I design lessons, my goals are to have room for creativity, play, reflection, and individuality. My favorite projects are when I view students’ artworks where there is diversity in topics and materials, rather than a single desired outcome for everyone, thus wanting to create opportunities for choice.
As I’m beginning my career I am excited to witness the creativity that will occur in my classroom, along with the growth that will take place within students, their artwork, and myself as a teacher.
