Ponder, the Teacher

I have worked as a teacher throughout my career. My first teaching job was an Illustration elective instructor at the Philadelphia College of Art where I had been a student taking the same elective ten years earlier.

I have taught at the Baum School of Art in Allentown, PA, worked as a substitute art teacher at a private elementary school, spent a year subbing in local public schools, then finally created and instructed arts workshops for a local “Art in the Library” program.

Recently I taught animal drawing classes at the Banana Factory art center in conjunction with the “Artists Among Us” series were I was the featured artist for a week at the Arts Quest Center in Bethlehem PA.

Presently I monitor classes for a local fine arts studio school in Pipersville PA.

Workshops and Classes

My teaching really took off with the workshops I designed for the “Art in the Library” program. Subsidized by a yearly grant that paid for teachers and art supplies, the program provided an opportunity for teachers to design art workshops of all kinds that were free to any student who enrolled. The program started in 2013 and continued for two more years.

My workshops are in many techniques and mediums. Many of the them improved over time and may be customized to your needs.

Some of my workshops for children and adults include:

• Introduction to Children’s Book Illustrating
• Express Yourself with Print Making, Print T-shirts with Found Objects
• Making the Most of Color, Learn from the Masters
• Effective Animal Illustration, Emphasize the Animal’s Quality
• Animal Lover’s Drawing

School Visits and Presentations

I like to talk about art and children’s book illustrating to children and adults.
My talks may be as casual as just me, my books and art in a lounge with forty people like at the Reeves Library or they may go as far as to include a slide show and drawing demonstration three times per day for a whole school district.

In my standard school visit presentation titled, “Put on Your Thinking Cap” I show how each story requires a different kind of thinking cap than the next. With the help of slides and a drawing demonstration I give the students a view of what and how we illustrate children’s books.

If you would like to have me visit your school, give a little talk to your group, teach a workshop or substitute for an art teacher, please message me through my contact page.

Ponder How

Tutorial One: Pet Portraits

I’ve created an example demonstrating how I create pet portraits, from photograph to finished oil painting. Click here to watch the short slideshow.

Tutorial 2: My Illustration Process

Click here to see how I created my illustration, “Race Red Rooster” — An acrylic wash and ink line from the children’s picture book, Mama Mine, Mama Mine, written by Rita Gray.