Emily Brooks’ Art Teaching Philosophy

“Art is too important not to share.” -Romero Britto

My name is Emily Brooks, and to my core, I am an educator. Being an educator to me is to inspire, encourage, and enlighten the minds of others. Adding art to this equation, it brings creativity and self expression. My main goal being an art educator is to give my students the creative confidence that they deserve. I want to inspire students to find their artistic voice and feel comfortable with their unique abilities and ideas. I am an advocate for individuality, and that every student, every person, has the creative freedom to add their own personal flair to their voice. All I want for them is to be able to communicate their ideas and have discussions about art and art making in their own way. I was a student myself, a child at ten years of age when I made the decision that I was going to pursue a career in art education. Ten year old me would be wonderstruck if she could see what I was able to accomplish and live my dream job every day.

Something I am extremely passionate about with teaching art is material exploration. I strive to give all of my students as many opportunities as possible to use a variety of materials to use to create. Exposing others to the infinite possibilities of art making and seeing their reactions to how wonderful their abilities can be is what I look forward to with being an art teacher. My students are always learning different ways to be creative, with traditional and even non traditional materials. We discover different ways to create daily. I want my students to be exposed to material exploration because it can help them find their creative hook, take risks in their art making journey, and the multitude of benefits it provides them. I am always pushing the mentality that it is about the process first, product second. I am interested in how you made your art, having artistic discussions about the pathway taken to get to the finished artwork. 

Art is a universal language. Every child and adult has that creative voice, and it can be found with the help of passionate art educators. I plan to hold onto that passion and push the narrative that everyone is an artist.