Reclaiming My Time

Stephanie has stepped out of K-12 schools after teaching and encouraging the creativity of over thirty-six-hundred students in seventeen years. That’s more than a career average for most teachers.

I’m still involved in education, but now I’m taking the time to support what matters the most at this moment. Since teaching requires a tremendous amount of energy, and teaching art at middle and high school levels takes a great deal more, my personal artistic practice was left only to a short window of time during academic breaks when I wasn’t recuperating or preparing for the next go-around.

This career shift allows me to better explore the media and ideas I have toyed with this entire time, and to move forward with fewer restraints. The playfulness is returning to my work, which has always held some impishness and irreverence. I usually contrast joy and silliness in my work with poignancy or touching moments. Painting and drawing has always felt to me like representing a snapshot of a moment through my own language and bending color and light to amplify a meaning of the snapshot. As I paint more and draw more and do both more frequently, I’m charmed and curious at this process and the snapshots I get to draw and paint.