Prefer to read instead of listen? Here’s the longer version of what we talked about:

Denise was always the kid who was making things. Into Legos and building things, artwork in the basement, handmade cards, etc. Her teachers at school sometimes asked her to do their bulletin boards.

She is certified to teach K-9. Went to UMass Dartmouth, got her degree in art education, and is currently teaching Preschool through 4th grade (as of Fall 2021).

She always enjoyed art class. In elementary school, her school went through a few different art teachers but in junior high, her art teacher was the best. In 7th and 8th grade she really, really enjoyed art class. That teacher also led an after-school art class where she did a lot of fun extra things she couldn’t do in class. Denise wanted to be like her. In high school, she was able to take a lot of art courses by using a hall pass to get to everything alongside her regular classes. At UMass Dartmouth, she started majoring in sculpture, thinking she wanted to be a Lego designer or toy manufacturer, but then switched back to art education during their time there.

Since she can’t do welding at home like she used to, her sculpture background comes in handy at home, or when she’s working on scenery or props for community theatre. She can make molds of things and use different materials. She also loves replicating things that someone has shown her.

She won a DASH award (Distinguished Achievement and Special Honors) from the Eastern Massachusetts Association of Community Theatres for an angel sculpture she made for the Walpole Footlighters; production of “Boeing, Boeing.” She didn’t have to wait to find out that she won this award because it was a discretionary category they could award to anyone they were impressed by, and they let her know right away.

Denise also performs in community theatre. She says it’s nice when she gets cast and then afterward the team finds out that she does scenery, so she knows she didn’t get cast for that reason. This makes it extra special when she’s able to do both.

In teaching, it’s more the kids that validate your work. You get observed and evaluated, but the people who come in have never taught an art class so they don’t really know what you’re going through. Kids who get excited to see you in the hallway or are excited that it’s art day, that’s awesome. She got a great email from the parents of one of her students, and they were really happy about the project their child had worked on. That’s her job, that’s what she’s supposed to do, but sometimes it’s nice when the kids or the parents say something positive. Sometimes they tell her at the grocery store when their kids aren’t listening. Those little moments really make it worth it.

As an art teacher, she doesn’t want to limit or intimidate the kids by showing too many examples of things, in case they start comparing, but sometimes she shows things from her portfolio so they can see what’s possible or get ideas. She tries to keep the skill level appropriate.

In elementary art, you’re doing a little bit of everything. She exposes them to ceramics, fibre arts, sculpture, all sorts of things so they get a range of experience.

Some kids might be fabulous at one art form and not good at others. Being “artistic” doesn’t mean you’re great at everything. Sometimes the kids surprise you at what they’re good at. That’s why she exposes them to a lot of different media so they can find their own strengths and get to try everything.

Just recently one of her schools was able to have a kiln, but Denise had never fired pieces in a kiln before, so she was able to learn about that with help from another teacher while she taught the kids about ceramics.

“All these people that are like, “I don’t have a creative bone in my body” – oh yes, you do. Maybe that’s a problem solving skill, or thinking outside the box at your job, but everybody can be creative. You may have stronger skills in one area, but you can also learn those.”

As an elementary teacher, it helps to be well-rounded. She’s not an expert in every subject, but is competent in a variety of things to be able to teach them to kids. And she gets to keep learning! She has 26 years worth of lessons in her brain and her basement but likes to come up with new things.

During the pandemic she’s had to be creative in how she could do certain projects, or how to revamp other projects. Most things have been one-and-done, and kids had to have their own supplies, for example. The place she’s at now has a small budget, so she has to be creative with supplies, since they don’t have many. Instead of buying a package of cardboard, they might use cereal boxes, for example. She’s all about repurposing and recycling and found objects, and the kids love that too.

Denise loves the color purple. She also gravitates towards replicating and copying things. This comes in handy for scenic backdrops. She also loves building three-dimensional things. When she does her own artwork for paint parties, she leans towards things that are streaky, not so realistic.

She’s a little bit near-sighted and wears glasses sometimes, so she saw the world in a softer way without a lot of hard edges. When she brought home paintings from college painting classes, her dad would comment that they were not crisp, that they had a bit of blurriness to them. This is fun for her.

In her paint parties, she creates paintings for people to follow along with. She also collects pictures of sunsets and beautiful skies – people without much experience can still paint these things, they’re easier to do.

She encourages people to paint in their own style, and to feel free to follow along with her or not. Some people’s paintings come out better than Denise’s! Maybe they’re just showing up to socialize, or to use the supplies because they don’t have a studio at home. Then there’s other people who are expecting an art lesson, which is not exactly what she does, but she does show everyone how to do each step. She always does the painting herself first and take photos of it to remind herself of how to best instruct it. She wants everyone to do their own thing, and encourage them to turn mistakes into “little happy accidents.”

Teaching little kids is a learning curve for her. Some preschoolers have never held a crayon before, can’t read, and need a lot of help. She is learning along the way.

Her business, Denise’s Pieces, has been around for 27-28 years. (I know the paint party aspect of her business, which is relatively recent.) Back in college, she and another Denise made things like jewelry, plaster pins, and other things and they would sell them at school, craft shows, fundraisers, etc. It was a fun hobby she did at home and at school. She sold them at a local store, whose owner is a friend of hers. She’s learning about selling on Ebay from her as well. The business name encompasses many different things – some people know her as the jewelry maker or the scenic artist or the portable paint party lady. It gives her freedom to try different things, and can keep them under one name. She’s also getting into teaching resources and other things. She’s working on her website so she can showcase all of these different aspects.

She wouldn’t recommend to anyone that they do as many different things as she’s trying to do, but definitely try things.

“If you’re financially secure enough to just be creative on the side, definitely try out some hobbies.”

For her, she’s using it to branch out into things that she loves doing and will also help supplement the part-time income she gets. She’s restricting herself to things she really loves doing. But she’s also a Gemini, and sees the best parts of lots of different things, so it’s hard to choose or pair down! Some are not sustainable full-time. There’s very few professional scenic painting opportunities or prop making opportunities locally – she can’t rely on these for full-time employment, so teaching helps to cover the gap, and she loves doing it. She’s glad she found a school that is very appreciative and is bringing back specialists after the first years of the pandemic. The other two days she’s not teaching, she focuses on online selling and teacher resources and crafty things, maybe home or office paint parties.

She teaches during the day and then comes home and works on more things at night. She gets her creativity out when she’s doing all that, but doesn’t have a project she’s working on just for herself right now. But even coming up with lessons for school is creative. She doesn’t feel like she has to take on tasks she doesn’t love.

In third grade, her homeroom was doing the Wizard of Oz, and she was asked to work on scenery and props because she was “the artistic one.” That started her love for both being on stage and doing scenery. It’s a little stressful during production week when she’s doing a show, but she’ll use the time between school and rehearsal to work on the scenery.

At Brockton High School, her school was really into theatre. She got to work alongside some great people in the theatre department. She did a lot of scenery in college, and so many community theatre productions. She hasn’t worked professionally on Broadway or anything but she can help theaters “up their game” so it doesn’t look like typical rented scenery. She can help personalize it.

She’s looking forward to traveling again, going on her honeymoon, seeing some more artwork, going to a real Broadway show, getting back into theatre, and having time to work on her own crafts for her own house. (Her husband is a self-employed printmaker!) It helps to be married to someone who is not a 9-to-5 corporate guy, and their house is full of artsy things in every room.

“You can do something creative every day if you really look for it. It may not be necessarily making something every day, but inventing something ,rearranging things in your house…even if you start with do-it-yourself projects around the house. You can find moments.”

She has no gardening skills whatsoever, but it’s a creative thing that her husband does and she can’t really do.

“Your creativity might be different than my creativity. Some people can cook a meal, trying on new outfits. You can be creative without necessarily picking up art supplies. But if you do, that’s awesome too. Find inspiration at the store or online, go outside and look around, be creative.”