As a child, I always cherished and valued art and drew during the most inopportune time. One day during an alphabet lesson my kindergarten teacher Mrs. Moon, discovered I wasn't focusing on the lesson. "Brittany! Are you drawing again?" "No, Mrs. Moon" I replied. She glanced at me with piercing eyes and immediately stopped what she was doing to walk over and see for herself if I was telling the truth. Mrs. Moon discovered I was telling the truth, but I also lied. She found five pages of doodles under my alphabet page. That day a letter was pinned to my shirt. Although the letter was sent home my mother never received it. Although I was young I wasn’t stupid. I knew never to give my mother that letter and never draw again because drawing meant trouble. For six years I stopped creating until I switched schools. During my fourth grade year, I met Mrs. Grimes my art teacher at Presbyterian school.
Our first assignment was to sketch a still life of bottles. I didn't focus hard on drawing; my abilities were always overlooked so there was no need to try to gain attention I thought. After I finished, Mrs. Grimes asked the class who drew the bottles she held in her hand. Frightened I rose my hand and confessed to creating the picture she held. As I watched her put my name on the picture and put it in her bag I thought oh well it was nice to live to see fourth grade at least. After school, I walked to my mother's classroom at the end of the hall. When I arrived I could see my mother’s stern eyes as I stood in the doorway. " Mrs. Grimes came to speak to me about your classwork." My mother stated. "She believes you have an eye for art and that you should consider pursuing art as a profession."
Mrs. Grimes believed in me when no one else knew I existed. she made me realize the talents I possessed and the profession I wanted to pursue in life. 20 years later I still talk to Mrs. Grimes and meet her for lunch. Throughout my career, there have been four teachers who influenced and nurtured my artistic journey. Thank you Mrs. Grimes for giving me the courage to be an artist and to realize the phrase starving art is a myth. Amy Lorino taught me how to promote myself to institutions and how to take a chance and just apply. Carolyn Meyer taught me to be flexible and to absolve all fears about well what if I mess up the painting if I correct this or paint here. It's perfects so let's not mess it up. She taught me my art can always be better, your painting can always evolve never take the first stroke as perfect.
Kevin Moore taught me not only composition color, layout, and proportion but the importance of your compositional message of impact (how a piece looks from a distance) vs payoff (what it looks like up close). Thank you to all of these teachers for influencing me and for all of the future artists you will impact. You are the true definition of what it meant to be an exceptional educator.
Our first assignment was to sketch a still life of bottles. I didn't focus hard on drawing; my abilities were always overlooked so there was no need to try to gain attention I thought. After I finished, Mrs. Grimes asked the class who drew the bottles she held in her hand. Frightened I rose my hand and confessed to creating the picture she held. As I watched her put my name on the picture and put it in her bag I thought oh well it was nice to live to see fourth grade at least. After school, I walked to my mother's classroom at the end of the hall. When I arrived I could see my mother’s stern eyes as I stood in the doorway. " Mrs. Grimes came to speak to me about your classwork." My mother stated. "She believes you have an eye for art and that you should consider pursuing art as a profession."
Mrs. Grimes believed in me when no one else knew I existed. she made me realize the talents I possessed and the profession I wanted to pursue in life. 20 years later I still talk to Mrs. Grimes and meet her for lunch. Throughout my career, there have been four teachers who influenced and nurtured my artistic journey. Thank you Mrs. Grimes for giving me the courage to be an artist and to realize the phrase starving art is a myth. Amy Lorino taught me how to promote myself to institutions and how to take a chance and just apply. Carolyn Meyer taught me to be flexible and to absolve all fears about well what if I mess up the painting if I correct this or paint here. It's perfects so let's not mess it up. She taught me my art can always be better, your painting can always evolve never take the first stroke as perfect.
Kevin Moore taught me not only composition color, layout, and proportion but the importance of your compositional message of impact (how a piece looks from a distance) vs payoff (what it looks like up close). Thank you to all of these teachers for influencing me and for all of the future artists you will impact. You are the true definition of what it meant to be an exceptional educator.
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