This week for our teacher spotlight is Ms. Josslyn!
Ms. Josslyn has been at Slowfire for almost a year and teaches painting and drawing classes. Her favorite thing about making art is the unpredictability of it and seeing the evolution of her original vision. When she is creating oil paintings, things never seemed to go as planned but Ms. Josslyn has learned to trust the journey of making art.
This idea applies to her teaching style too. Teaching has made Ms. Josslyn more opened minded and patient with her students and herself. Ms. Josslyn enjoys learning from her students and seeing them branch out to try new things that they might not otherwise would’ve tried without taking her class. She has a hands-on approach to teaching and will always demonstrate and create art with her class so they can learn by seeing her do it. Ms. Josslyn makes sure to show genuine engagement with the projects and themes she chooses for her classes.
Ms. Josslyn has a psychology background, so Frida Kahlo’s art speaks to her visually and emotionally. The strong portraiture and Kahlo’s ability to convey painful situations in a beautiful way allows the viewer to better understand her feelings. Ms. Josslyn is interested in the meaning behind paintings and how the medium can aid in understanding emotional traumas and others.
As Ms. Josslyn wraps up her first year, she looks forward from starting her painting career on her bedroom walls to now teaching at Slowfire.
To see availability for Ms. Josslyn’s painting and drawing classes, click here.
One of Ms. Josslyn's paintings created at Dominican University.
