My Retirement From K12 Art Education

Alex and I work on a huge cardboard T-Rex sculpture that was exhibited at Greenfield Central HS in 2024.

It's true. I'm officially retired from K12 art education. That does not mean I'm finished with art and art education. This article by Kristi Deer of the Greenfield Reporter is a beautiful send-off and encapsulates my work at New Palestine Schools and Teaching for Artistic Behavior. 

2005 NAEA photo: George Szekely, Katherine Douglas, Pauline Joseph, 
Clyde Gaw, John Crowe, Diane Jaquith and Clark Fralick.

I am most indebted to Clark Fralick who in 2004, introduced me to Katherine Douglas, Diane Jaquith, John Crowe and Pauline Joseph. My work with Clark, the Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB) Founders, my FB and TABSTOCK colleagues Candi Poll-Price, Lisa Van Plew, Julie Toole, Jeff Pride and the rest of my TAB colleague practitioners has been incredibly benevolent to me professionally and personally and I will be indebted to the TAB art education movement forever.

I say art education movement because TAB is not only a philosophy and approach to curriculum but an educational movement that for the past 20 years, has reverberated in primary and secondary schools throughout the World.

What is the essence of TAB that has led this educational approach to become such a force in contemporary art education? My take? TAB curriculum experiences inside K12 institutional settings offer students the opportunity to encounter art education activity at the most personal and profound level of experience. 

This answer is multifaceted because when learning is personal and profound, benevolence is a byproduct of the experience. 

Isobel prepares to add to her mixed media sculpture inside our New Palestine High School TAB art studio in 2023.

Benevolence inside a TAB studio setting simply put, means that children are receiving interpersonal support in their intellectual development and as a result their perception of self and their learning is positively affirmed. A reason children don’t want to leave TAB art class when the bell rings is benevolent experience. School becomes a place of joyful and impactful learning wherever TAB studio settings exist.

The TAB Institute faculty returns to MassArt from July 13th-18th. 

My time at MassArt and the TAB Institute has been filled with incredible memories. I hope to continue my activities for as long as I can at MassArt. You can register for the TAB Institute here:

TAB Institute Info:

With Clark Fralick and our cardboard marble-run tornado sculpture.