Hi! This is Ms. King. Welcome to my new art class and art camp website! I am a retired public school art teacher of 32 years and I am now enjoying teaching art camps and after school art classes for kids!
I began my teaching career in 1990 at a little school called Hood Avenue Elementary in Fayetteville, GA. While there, I taught weekly art lessons to over 600 K-2nd grade students, served as chairperson of the League of Professional Schools, and taught staff development classes to fellow teachers. I owe a lot of thanks to all the people who supported me as a young, new art teacher there. In 1997, I moved to a very sweet little school called Tyrone Elementary in Tyrone, GA. It was just one, big happy family there! I really grew professionally during my time at Tyrone. I taught weekly art classes to 400 K-5th grade students. One of my favorite memories was taking the kids on field trips to the High Museum of Art. Some of the children had never been to downtown Atlanta, so it was a lot of fun. I also remember, with fondness, the annual Founder's Day Parade, where we created huge floats and I organized an art show every year. It was my honor in 2005 to be awarded Tyrone Elementary Teacher of the Year. When my first child was going to go into kindergarten, I decided I needed to move closer to home. I got a job as the art teacher at Sagamore Hills Elementary, in Atlanta, GA. Teaching for 16 years there, I grew to love the kids, parents, teachers, administrators, and my colleagues. I used to say that I had so much support from everyone, I had no excuse not to give it my best! At Sagamore, I taught weekly art lessons to over 430 pre-K through 5th grade, including special needs students. We had an annual art show with over 1,000 works of student art on display! There were student docents and art-making stations. Our art show was regularly attended by Dekalb County board members. Sagamore had a huge support network of parents. I had over 60 art volunteers every year! I couldn't have done everything without their help. Some of my favorite memories at Sagamore were when the kids illustrated cartoon frames for a Cartoon Network commercial, exhibiting art in Children's Healthcare of Atlanta facilities, fundraising for my art program with Square 1 Art, a children's art fundraising company, and, of course, teaching the kids and seeing their beautiful art every day! I was honored with receiving the Sagamore Hills Teacher of the Year award in 2012 and, following that, went on to receive the Dekalb County Elementary Teacher of the Year Award. I started teaching virtual art camps in the summer and during the holidays back during the pandemic. I made little bags of art materials and met parents in a "contactless" parking lot to give them to the children. We did the best that we could under the circumstances. We made the most of it! The artwork was still incredible. Everyone gave such wonderful feedback that I decided to get a business license and go for it! My business is called Ms. King's Art Camp, LLC. I taught my first in-person camp this summer and it was fantastic! The space was awesome and the kids had fun making Rousseau Tiger Collages, Chalk and Tempera Jellyfish, Bebo Birds, Magazine Bowls, and much more. The slide show of their artwork is shown here on the website: Ms. King's Summer '23 Art Camp. While I miss teaching at public school, I am glad to still have a connection with the kids and to be able to structure things in such a way that kids are getting the most out of the time we have. In my free time, I like to be with my family and friends, ride bikes, and trail run. I also have a new-found love of gardening! I am happy to announce that I am now teaching after-school art lessons! Currently, I am teaching private art lessons, but hope to be soon expanding to local schools. During my art lessons, kids learn about famous artists, art techniques and styles, art history, and work with all kinds of media, such as oil pastels, ink, watercolor, tempera, sand, salt, and mixed media. One day, I would love to have a kiln and expand to making works with clay! Please contact me at [email protected], if you are interested in hearing more about my art camps and classes! |