Career Options for Art Education
This is a good career for those who are self-starters, fairly outgoing, patient and upbeat, and who enjoy working closely with children as well as other adults. Employers tell us those who are competent in many different media, with both 2-D and 3-D skills, are more flexible and will find a first job faster. Artists with very strong preferences for media like photography, ceramics, sculpture, fiber, or metals often fit best in a large art department in a bigger high school.
Adrian College Alumni
Colleen Higgins, BFA ’13, graduated with her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2016.
Mariah Postlewait, BFA ’12, graduated from BGSU with her MA in Art History and is pursuing her PhD at Binghamton University.
Jillian Brown, ’11, Jacque Byrom, ’08, Emma Donelson, ’10, Katie Feher, ’10, Anne Goetz, ’10, Johanna Hanley, ’07, Sarah Henry, ’10, Calie McLouth, ’10, Mandy Smkyla, ’07, and Rachael Williams, ’11 all donated artistic bras to be auctioned off at the Tecumseh Economic Development’s third Art Bra Auction held in October to benefit the Hickman Cancer Center.
Jason Stockman, BFA '07, presented a one-person exhibit at Defiance College in Oct 2007.
Alecia Laeder BFA, Art Education, ’07, won the Michigan Art Education Association (MAEA) Memorial Fund Art Scholarship 2007 to complete her studies. She was chosen as the sole recipient through a state wide competitive application process. The award was presented at a banquet at the annual conference which was held in Grand Rapids in October.
Leeann Brooks, BFA, Art Education, ’09, has developed a body of work using Etch A Sketches and is planning a major installation with them at her senior exhibition. She contacted the manufacturer, OhioArt, and they were most enthusiastic about her work and are sending 30 Etch A Sketches for her in support of her senior exhibition.
Amy Allison, BA, Art/Interior Design ’92, has developed SODA, a line of stationary and paper products that are in a number of venues in Chicago where she is a furniture designer. Currently, Amy has several of her furniture designs in production for Holly Hunt.
Meagan Armantrout Kubu, Art Education, ’07, has accepted a position teaching at Swartz Creek High School.
Angie Fenn, BA ’92, was named Curator and Registrar at the Zanesville (OH) Art Center. She received her Masters in Museum Science from Texas Tech and worked at a small museum in Appleton, WI., and most recently, the Henry Ford Museum outside Detroit.
Emily Martinus Kanine, Art Education, ’03, left Mason High School where she was an art teacher and now is an elementary art teacher in Ludington.
Current students John Ahearn, BFA ’09, and Mandy LeBlanc, BA ’07, former students and art alumni Rachael Dodson, BA '03, James Freeman, Clay Leonard , BFA ’06, and Jason Stockman ,BFA ’07, and art faculty IB Remsen, were all included in an Regional Invitational Ceramics Exhibition at the Detroit Artists Market , July 27- Aug 25, 2007.
Valerie Poynter Dutton, BA, Art Education, ’99, has a new position, which was created for her at Lincoln HS in the Warren School District
Jason Stockman, BFA ’07, has two upcoming exhibitions, a one-person show at Defiance College and at the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston, which will feature his tea bowls, first shown in his senior exhibition at Adrian. This past summer he was also selected as the studio assistant for the woodkiln class taught by internationally known ceramist, Jack Troy at Oxbow School of Art in Saugatuck, MI. Jason has also accepted a job with Donovan Palmquist, who is the one of the foremost authorities in kiln building. Jason will be traveling the US building kilns and will be based in MN. His experience in assisting in building the salt and wood kiln on Adrian’s campus provided him outstanding experience and ultimately, this opportunity.
Rachael Dodson, BA ’03, was accepted to study Glassblowing at Oxbow School of Art in the summer of 07.
Emily Pierce, BFA ’07, was selected through a competitive application process for assistantships at two artists colonies for the summer of 2007, Arrowmont in TN and Penland in NC.
Megan Richmond, BFA ’08, has work displayed in Bowspirit Gallery in South Haven, MI. and will continue to be represented by them.
Allison Beaulieu , BFA, Art Education, ’06, has accepted a position as an elementary art teacher at Nathaniel Dett Elementary in Chicago.
Robin Dluzen BFA, Art/English, ’08, won the $1000.00 first prize in the Larry and Diane Johnson Pathways to Excellence Award sculpture competition held last April. Other AC finalists were Linette Griteman, ’08, Kay Murrell, ’08, and Laura VanCamp, ’08.
Current students John Ahearn, ’09, Linette Griteman’08, Kevin Kwaitowski, ’08, Jason Stockman, ’07, Laura Van Camp, ’08, and Teaching Assistant Clay Leonard, ’06, built our new wood fire kiln under the direction of faculty IB Remsen. This makes Adrian the most comprehensive ceramics program among small schools in the region.
Lisa Switalski, BFA, Art/English, ’02, graduated from Columbia College with her MFA in May. She is currently a papermaker (full-time, paid position) at the Brodsky Center at Rutgers University.
Megan Sykes, BFA, Art/English, ’05, is in the graduate program in Museology at the University of Washington in Seattle in Museum Science and beginning her thesis in the fall of 07
Bethany Douglas BFA, ’06, is a gallery assistant at the River Gallery in downtown Chelsea.
Jeremy Jones, BFA ’05, earned an MFA in Advertising Design from the Savanna College of Art and Design in May 07. He recently moved to Florida and prior to that, he was the Art Director at the Blufton City Sun.
Karly Herron, BFA ’09, was awarded a scholarship to study at the Oxbow School of Art in the summer of 2007.
Mike Barker, BFA ’03, got a job right out of his internship at Flatlanders Sculpture working with nationally known sculptor Ken Thompson, who makes large scale commission work. Mike left Flatlanders this past spring to start his own sculpture business in Bay City, MI.
Rachel Sherwood, BA ’04, spent a year in Teach for America, teaching at-risk 7th graders in the Baltimore, MD school system. Now she is back in MI, and with alums Abbey Adams, BA ’04, and Kristen Toy Carter, BFA ’04, also living in the Detroit area, have established a blog called Quarterlife Artists (http://quarterlifeartists.blogspot.com/) Rachel, Kris, and Abbey give themselves weekly painting assignments and post the results on their blog, to keep art a vital part of their lives. They’ve recently started an “artist of the month” feature and in September are featuring the fiber art of Jen Kay, ’03.
Clay Leonard, BFA ’06, just completed serving as the Art and Design Department’s first teaching assistant. He has been accepted at Bowling Green State University where he will be working on his MFA in ceramics. He will serve as a graduate assistant and teach in his second year. He received a full tuition scholarship and stipend. Clay has also shown in national exhibitions, including a bowl show in Carbondale, CO and the Kent State Cup Exhibition, where he received honorable mention. He had a three-person show at the Lenawee Council for the Visual Arts (LCVA) this past spring and had a work featured in the national Clay Times magazine at the same time.
Adrian artists include studio artist Steve Kostyshyn, painter and illustrator Mindy Lewis, watercolor illustrator Cindy Callog, sculptor Mike Barker, graphic designer Elaine Medrow, Henry Ford museum curator Angie Fenn Reynert, pro sports designer Jose Melero, and Joy Franklin, a teaching artist in Italy.
Tabitha Beers Bradford is an art therapist at Foote Memorial Hospital.
Recent Adrian graduates are in MFA programs at Savannah College of Art & Design, Columbia College's Center for Book and Paper Arts, City University of New York, and Kendall College of Art and Design.
Jeremy Butler-Pinkham, a math major and art minor, is an architect in San Francisco.
