Instructor: Gigi DeBerry

Course Dates: Tuesday – Friday, July 7 – 10, 14 – 17 

Course Time: 1 pm – 4 pm 

This program is designed for:

• K–12 art teachers
• Teaching artists
• Museum educators
• Community arts educators
• Early-career and veteran educators seeking creative renewal

Price: $300 + Free open studio access during open studio hours for the duration of the course

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Art Teacher Studio Residency is a two-week summer intensive designed specifically for K–12 art educators seeking to reconnect with their own creative practices. Inspired by programs such as the Brooklyn Museum’s Art Exchange and guided in part by the reflective principles of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, the residency provides educators with dedicated studio time, peer dialogue, creative accountability, and sustainable strategies for maintaining artistic practice during the school year.

The program recognizes a common challenge among art teachers: while they spend the academic year nurturing the creativity of others, many struggle to sustain their own artistic identities amid the demands of teaching, caregiving, planning, and emotional labor. This residency positions personal artistic practice not as a luxury, but as an essential component of inspired, sustainable teaching.

Over the course of two weeks, participants engage in studio creation, reflective writing, collaborative critique, artist talks, wellness-centered practices, and structured discussions about balancing teaching with personal creative work. The program culminates in an informal public sharing or exhibition of works-in-progress and reflections.

The program will focus on:

• Process over productivity
• Permission to experiment and fail
• Creative recovery from burnout
• Reflective journaling and self-inquiry
• Building sustainable artistic habits
• Community accountability and encouragement

Unlike traditional professional development programs focused solely on pedagogy, this residency centers the educator as an artist first. Potential daily workshops or themes can include:

• Rebuild Studio Practice after Burnout
• Creating Sustainable Creative Rituals
• Art Teacher as Working Artist
• Documentation & Portfolio Development
• Grant Writing for Teacher-Artists
• Balancing Teaching, Labor, and Creativity
• Experimental Materials & Play
• Artist Statements & Reflective Writing
• Community Critique Models
• Creative Habit Building 

The residency concludes with:

• An informal exhibition/open studio
• Artist talks or reflections
• Process journals and documentation
• Community celebration

This program is designed for:

• K–12 art teachers
• Teaching artists
• Museum educators
• Community arts educators
• Early-career and veteran educators seeking creative renewal

No formal portfolio requirement is necessary; participants need only a commitment to engaging in personal creative practice.

Participants will leave with:

• Renewed artistic momentum
• Works-in-progress or completed pieces
• Sustainable creative routines
• New peer networks and accountability systems
• Reflective tools for creative wellness
• Greater clarity around balancing teaching and making
• Strategies for protecting creative time during the academic year