Class Descriptions
I have developed a range of class curriculum and activities over my years of teaching and working directly with youth. All of the classes described below can be delivered as one hour sessions, two-hour or longer sessions, as well as be combined to create multi-day workshops for youth, families and adults. I have a deep library of activities and class ideas, all of which can be used to tailor my classes to fit your needs or to collaborate with you to create a completely new class for your program.
I have also worked with organizations, businesses, and schools to present my curriculum and teaching methods to staff. I has provided them skills they then use when working with youth and collaborating in their workplace. These presentations work well with conferences and internal staff training sessions.
Let’s Draw Comics!
Learn to draw your journey through comics! I coach participants through activities to help them gain confidence drawing and learn to tell their own illustrated stories. The tasks are fast-paced, no-stress, and fun, allowing each artist to smile from start to finish while they watch their drawing skills develop. The class is great for all skill-levels, from stick-figure artists to aspiring illustrators.
Food and Culture
Participants will discuss food and food traditions, as well as how to use comics for giving a recipe. They will use comics to draw a meal that is special to them, then explore the idea of how it was made and where it comes from using more drawings. They'll also make a 1 page comics recipe of their own.
Journeys
Participants will learn how to tell a story using a long single horizontal or vertical piece of paper. They'll learn the building blocks of storytelling, some of the history behind this form, then draft and create a story of their own real or imagined journey.
“I love how diverse the comics class can be for students. No pressure. Many open-ended opportunities for success.”
Step-by-Step
Participants will talk about the visual language and icons used when explaining a process. They'll draw a process starting with a simple 2 panel comic explaining a process like making toast, then expand it to a 14 panel Rube Goldberg type comic and make it into a small mini-comic They'll also learn how to use everyday icons and emojis to tell a story.
Maps
Participants will learn the basic language of maps, and draw maps of important places in their lives, their daily activities and more abstract concepts like what's important to them as well as fantasy maps
Graphic Recording [In Development]
Participants will learn the building blocks of visual communication and note taking. This session will review the basics of visual recording and the language of comics to help youth improve their study skills and assist teams in building communication skills. Participants will learn easy to use symbols and layouts and use them during practice sessions.
Survival
Developed to support the Anchorage Museum’s 2023/2024 exhibit “How to Survive”, this class is a playful, imaginative session that explores the concept of ‘survival’ in the broadest terms.
What you need to survive a day at school or the office? What special suit would you design to survive lost in the woods or to make it through a wild five-year old’s birthday party? What tools would you invent to make life safer, easier, or just more fun? Can draw your way out of one of the 100+ disastrous and silly situations randomly selected from the Caldron of Calamity?
Participants of all ages will be guided through several prompts and drawing games exploring the concept of survival in this two-hour session. Artists younger than eight will need a teen or adult helper to draw alongside them.
FUTURE THINKING IN ZINES
Current moments meet future dreams in this zine-making class developed with the Anchorage Museum’s Seed Lab, Tent City Press and the Anchorage Library. Shortened from the term fanzine, zines have roots in the fandom of early science fiction from the 1930s. Since then, making zines has been a popular method of sharing art, information and humor in a small, informal way.
Participants will explore prompts imagining what we can do together. They will create an expressive booklet using imagined futures to make art in the present. Participants will learn a few cartooning basics then imagine a branching future of possiblities, how to tell their personal journey from the past to now, then make a 8 or 16 page zine from a sheet of paper to document everything in a hour or two hour session.
Memoir [in development]
Participants learn the basics of cartooning and storytelling before launching into a few activities to help them tell their personal story. We’ll draft a pile of six-word memoirs that transform our hard to express feelings and the events of our lives into bite-sized sentences and comic panels.
We’ll also play “#ByTheBones” using a dice and a work sheet to randomly select prompts for a short comic tale. There are also other options such as crafting and starting a small sketch journal, using a dozen prompts and index cards to craft a personal ‘looooooooooong’ comic and telling a personal story with the help of a giant pile of Story Cubes.
At the conclusion of the two hour session, participants will be delighted by the parts of their lives they have explored using comics and feel more comfortable exploring developing their personal story in art.
“So fun to be creative but at the same time do social emotional learning. I love how you meet people where they are at in terms of comfort level with drawing and art. ”
Custom Course For Your Program
Work with me to develop a class unique to your program and participants.
I have years of experience teaching with youth as well as working with State and non-profit employees to build specific, targeted skills. I love to collaborate with organizations to develop classes that their participants will find engaging, memorable, and educational.
For example:
I have worked with museums and libraries to develop one-time and multi-class sessions themed to upcoming exhibits.
I have worked with arts councils and libraries to deliver modified classes over videoconference to allow people in multiple sites in rural Alaska to participate simultaneously.
I have participated in conferences and teacher training sessions to demonstrate how my style of teaching and using short, targeted activities can be adapted for youth programs and in the classroom.
I have worked with youth organizations to teach youth visual communication skills as part of their leadership and arts program goals.