New Year and New Beginnings

This coming July, I will retired from teaching at La Salle Academy, a private Catholic school located in Old Kensington, Philadelphia. I have been there for 14 years. I like to end things on numbers and the number 14 symbolizes a strong hand or yad. So I am going to look at this as a metaphore for using my hands in a more creative manner.

This new year is the beginning of me focusing on enjoying my final year of teaching art in a school setting. Since 1983, I have began teaching career on a Native American Reservation named Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota. It was one of my most prolific experiences as an art teacher. This teaching position was my first full time job. I gained so much from this teaching job. I learned how to communicate to young people of a different culture and as an artist, I learned the craft of beading on a loom and using mixed media to create handicrafted objects as well as painting as a storyteller. When I left the Native American teaching position, I went to teach at a private boarding school along the Hudson River called the Storm King School. From there to public school in the suburbs of Philadelphia called North Penn High School. From there to my present school, La Salle Academy. Over the years, I have developed so many ideas in teaching art with all kinds of art materials, which certainly has influenced my own artwork.

I am very excited to start this new year out participating in a group exhibition at the Portland Jewish Museum, in Portand, Maine. The artwork in this exhibition is the body of work of my Hebrew Alphabet drypoint prints with mixed media on handmade paper. The exhibition opened on January 9th and will end February 28th, 2025. https://mainejewishmuseum.org/exhibits/

The image below is one of the images in the exhibition entitled: Ancient Text Renewed: Hebrew Letter: Lamed Meaning: To learn and light.