For the past twenty years, I have been the early childhood studio teacher at Lincoln School, a small, independent Quaker school for girls in Providence, Rhode Island. My days are filled with joy and discovery as they are shared with the three- to six-year- olds in our Reggio Emilia–inspired program. I am a fiber artist and have lived on a sheep farm my whole life. My mother taught me to knit, spin, and weave at an early age. This immersion in the world of fiber and textiles has shaped me as an individual and as a teacher.
Art teachers use the natural world as a stimulus for big ideas and enduring questions. Students create watercolor paintings inspired by Alma Thomas, research and sculpt insects in clay, collect materials to weave into personalized reed nests, use photo-editing skills to generate mythical beasts, participate in an outdoor art workshop, and more.
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