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Meet Our Teaching Artists: Nancy Murphy

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Where were you born and trained, and how did you get to where you are now?

I was born in Aliquippa, Pa and hence a lifelong Steelers fan. I studied fine arts at Kent State University, Ohio earning a BA in art history. I spent 10 years as a US Army officer for field artillery and military intelligence. During that time I served in Germany and got to travel through Europe and study many of the masterpieces.

After the Army, I changed careers and earned my M.Ed from Chapman University, and spent the next 20 years teaching art for Fort Huachuca Schools in Arizona, during which time I was the Arizona Middle School Art Teacher of the Year. I worked with redesigning the visual arts state standards and a new arts program for a STEM based middle school and was a 4H arts and crafts advisor, involved with youth sports coaching and volunteering.

I moved to Ft Meade, MD recently where I live with my husband, Kevin who is a government contractor/software engineer, Fleury, a St Bernard and Tiger, a Tabby cat. I'm the proud mother of three adult children, Mark Megan and Molly

Also a patron of the Muddy Creek Artist’s Guild and loves taking art classes to include printmaking and icon painting, and working for AOR.

What was your first experience as a visual artist?

Painting on newspapers with watercolors as a hyperactive toddler. My aunt introduced her too art to calm her down

What can visual arts add to the life of a person, be they child or adult?

Creating any form of art--drawing, painting, quilting, pottery--enables a person to share their creativity with others, not just for the present but for the future as well. There are so many pressures to do more, perfect, more--and creating helps us calm down, organize our thoughts and just enjoy life. We also learn what we can do and be surprised with our abilities.

What was one of the most satisfying experiences you've had working with Arts On A Roll?

What I love about AOR is that every job is different- one day you are working with preschoolers, then a community event, elderly, middle schoolers- there is no typical day or routine boredom. I enjoy so many of the AOR jobs, but one of my favorites was working in Oxon Hill, MD with a group of girls in a mentoring program, called “The Teacups”. The mentors of the group gave me complete freedom to teach any type of art lesson I felt the girls would enjoy. We did warm up songs and activities in addition to our projects. We had enough time for a critique afterwards as well which the girls loved. Getting to return to the program for several sessions, I got to know the girls and their leaders. The excitement these kids had was energizing for me, especially when they wanted to know if I could come back again! We created a modern work, non objective art work in the style of Kandinsky at one session, and then a leaf rubbing and dragonfly work of art. I love teaching guided projects where we follow the same directions but yet each has their own creative touch to make them individual works of art.

Learn more about Arts on a Roll HERE