My studio practice is informed by my work as a teaching artist and community arts educator. Since 2006, I have taught metalsmithing and jewelry making to adults, teens, and children in classes, summer camps, after-school programs, and workshops.

I also work with schools and communities to utilize these processes to create larger scale murals and installations, often utilizing recycled and repurposed materials. For students and participants of all ages, I hope to encourage confidence-building and the spark of discovery.

Transformation is a unifying idea across all that I do—transforming materials through reuse, translating inspirations into compositions and color palettes, and facilitating personal growth in students.

patience——perseverance——perspective

Below is a small sample of several community-based projects from 2020-2021 and the 2019-2020 school year. I’ve been conducting residency projects in schools since 2016 and look forward to continuing to update this page with more projects (and getting back to this work in schools after the pandemic). I received a Teaching Artist Certificate from University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 2018.

School projects are made possible by the Arts in Education Partnership of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. The Arts in Education Partner serving Allegheny, Beaver, Greene, and Washington counties is Pittsburgh Center for Arts & Media. Interested in making a project like this happen at your school—get in touch!