Sarah Hopkins

First Year Masters in Art of Art Education

I received my undergraduate degrees from the University of Cincinnati in Art History and Anthropology. My background in these subjects has given me a deep connection to a practice involving history, culture, and the human experience. Organic forms, human experience, mental health, and the body have always inspired my artistic practice. I often think about the connection between self and body.

As an educator I hope to encourage creativity and the development of an individual style, something I am still discovering for myself. I feel that being an educator is equally about learning from our students and colleagues as it is about teaching and mentoring. Each individual has a unique and valuable perspective on the world, and art is the best way to bring out these points of view that drive us.

Megan Kelly

First Year Masters of Art in Art Education

BFA from CCM in Theatrical Design and Production

For a little over a year and a half I have been on a research journey fueled by objects. Looking further back than that, I can see it’s a path I have always been on in one way or another. Whether its was creeping around my great aunt’s closet of treasures: Filled with old dolls with blinking eyes, board games from the early 60’s or costume jewelry from the 30’s, or the time I created a family made of water balloons, naming each of them and becoming so emotionally attached that it broke my heart when I had to let them go (I will never forget “Cody” the blue water balloon son I will never have). I have always found myself drawn to things, artifacts. Objects have incredible powers; The power we place in them, the power they give off, their narrative qualities, their connective abilities, their transportive powers, their abilities to help say both goodbye or hello, they can help you discover yourself, rediscover another and introduce you to someone you have never met. Not the consumer driven, mass produced empty vessels that so many people cling to today, but the artifacts that represent so much more than their size.

Lindsey Klump

First Year Masters of Art in Art Education

Lindsey Klump is an artist and art educator living and working in Cincinnati, Ohio. She received her BFA in painting and printmaking in 2014 from the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning and has since gravitated towards working with clay for its organic content and malleability. She is the maker and owner behind the small ceramics business, Handmade in Cincinnati, where she creates handbuilt vessels out of stoneware. Her new work focuses on simple forms that play with surface design. As she earns her MA in Art Education, her concentration surrounds how ableism manifests itself in the field of art education and how we, as educators, can break the barriers of perpetuated normalcy through process, experience, and materiality in the art classroom. The goal for her final research project is to create a set of practices that move towards inclusion for differently abled minds and bodies. In her free time, you can find her hanging out with her bully pup, Crosby.

Cori Maurits

First Year Masters of Art in Art Education

My practice is centered around narrative and perception. As an educator, I feel it is of the utmost importance to be perceptive of spaces and how they impact the identities who occupy them. My research and artistic practices are intertwined, seeking to make sense and meaning out of our complex experiences. Through narrative illustrations, interactions, and activism I explore the occupation of space and the interactions that affect our perceptions. The goal of my practice and my visual artwork is to inspire agency while combatting the inherent politicization of marginalized identities with care, thoughtfulness, and intersectionality.

Kayla Wandsnider

First Year Masters of Art in Art Education

BA of Fine Arts in Photography & Ceramics

My research explores personal experiences of deep caring within the professional environment of my own classroom teaching. What is it about the art room that allows them to be successful, even if they aren’t anywhere else? By motivating students to complete class work, despite the hardships they face outside of school (whether it’s at home, at work, etc.) they will develop a better understanding of how to face the world upon completion of high school. How can I aid my students in the development of trust towards me, as their teacher, to create a successful and safe learning environment? To help my students foster the hardships they are facing to create work that tells their stories. This is one of the concepts that I am going to be exploring in my research through what I have seen, the conversations I have had, and the reflections I have read.