This work was created by a student with ASD who often struggled to complete his work. This observational piece took a lot of determination and the result, an ode to his precision, earned an Award of Excellence in a district-wide exhibition.

This drawing is an observational still life. I asked students to create a sense of emotion in their drawing. She chose isolation.

This student has a strong personality and attitude, which she did a great job of portraying in this Kehinde Wylie inspired self portrait.

This student went above and beyond with the details in this layered paper self portrait. She added a pattern to her background, many layers to her hair, highlights in her eyes, and even got a hair texture detail into the eyebrows.

This student was one of the principal’s “frequent flyers”, often in trouble. Art class was no exception and he never cared to finish any work. For this piece, I sat with him and talked him through each step, so while it is minimal, it is an example of what a disenfranchised student can accomplish with the right encouragement.

This student connected art and science, collecting leaf samples and preserving them by making impressions in the clay. They then used a treatment of chalk pastel to highlight the low relief vein textures.

This student connected her love of art and music when finishing her slab box with this sgraffito glaze technique.

This student used his sense of humor to turn his ceramic dog into a Hot Dog.

This student always struggled with 2D projects, but when we got to clay, he was fascinated. He had a blast playing with balance to get this T-Rex to stand up.

This self-directed painting is a window into this student’s playful and humorous nature.

This student was asked to create a digital illustration and write a story to go with it. This Alien Sheep had itself an epic Roswell Area 51 adventure that took him all the way to a district wide exhibition.

This student photographed her best friends, collaged them onto a blanket, and painted a sunset beach for them to enjoy because she was sad about graduating and going to different schools.

This student used chalk pastels to create a shape based abstract. She was by nature a messy personality, so I am quite proud of the way she worked very hard to keep the chalk from becoming a mess.

After watching the “ancient master” Wil. E. Coyote create amazing trompe l'oeil tunnel illusions, this student created a road going back toward a starry skyline.

This student was a young boy who always gave up at the first hint of difficulty. I gave him a lot of personal assistance to keep him motivated and this was the first piece he ever fully completed for me. He didn’t believe me when I told him it was going to be displayed in a district wide exhibition and was so thrilled when I handed him his certificate!

This student wrote a fascinating ghost story about finding a key in a haunted wood and this is his digital illustration to accompany it.

This 11 year old student started taking private painting lessons with me after two years of my summer camps. After a few technique sessions, this was her first completed oil painting.

This 11 year old student started taking private painting lessons with me after two years of my summer camps. These paintings feature her dog and her cat.

This sketchbook page was created by one of my summer camp students at Tampa Museum of Art in an attempt to create the perfect character for her comic book.

This is NOT a photograph. This is an oil painting created in my oils workshop at Tampa Museum of Art. This was her first oil painting ever.

This is part of an installation of paper sculptures focused on repetition of form.

This is part of an installation of paper sculptures focused on repetition of form.

These students are studiously working on acrylic paintings.

These students are studiously working on acrylic paintings.

These students are studiously working on acrylic paintings.