As a multidisciplinary artist, I infuse my classes with a range of elements and subjects from social sciences, art history, literature to contemporary art and film. I take advantage of students’ diverse disciplinary and experiential knowledge by inviting them to investigate and express their impressions about art in their surroundings.

When I began creating the curriculum for my classes, I was driven by Freire’s and bell hook’s vision of education as a practice for liberation. I inspire my students to formulate their own ideas by looking at the world with curiosity and a sociological imagination. In class, we develop projects that invite them to see things differently, research, ask questions, challenge normative power structures and arrive to new conclusions on their own. 

My students share their stories with me, and in return, I listen attentively, with curiosity and awe. Together, we deconstruct narratives we have historically learned and embodied. I invite them to access and shape new identities through poetry, painting, and filmmaking with the hope of empowering them to carry on a personal legacy in an entire community or country.

During the spring of 2020, I developed a film with 12th grade students at I.S 171 in Cypress Hill, Brooklyn. Together, we produced Blossoming Heritage, a short documentary about the challenges of teachers and students learning English as a second language.   

For this documentary project, my objectives were promoting powers of expression and creating a sense of community and safety in our group. I guided the students through a methodology that supports the representative participation of each student throughout the project. The result was a moving story that was screened at school that year. 

Every time we screen students’ projects and present their artwork at a show, the students celebrate their stories and uniqueness. They become empowered by their creations. As one of my students pointed out during a screening, “The best thing about this film is that I am part of it.”

1.1 SUMMARY OF CLASSES TAUGHT

Mixed Media / Spring 2025
Bronx Excellence Academy
Teaching Artist, Global Arts

Storytelling & Mindfulness / Fall 2024
PS 391 (Middle School)
LitClub Mentor, Little World

Mindfulness Meets Art / Spring 2024
Covenant House (Teens Program)
Teaching Artist, Arts Ignite

Intro to Experimental Film / Spring 2024
The Cinema School (High School)
Teaching Artist, Reel Works

Documentary & Media Production / 2020
Franklin D. Roosevelt High School (12th Grade)
Teaching Artist, Reel Works

Documentary & Media Production / 2019
I.S. 171 (11th & 12th Grade)
Teaching Artist, Reel Works

Documentary & Media Production / 2018
John Jay High School (12th Grade)
Teaching Artist, Reel Works

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1.2  PRIVATE & AFTER SCHOOL CLASSES TAUGHT

Watercolor Techniques & Illustration / 2024–Present
Private Student (Ongoing)

Art of Stencil & Collage / Spring 2024
PS 122 (4th & 5th Grade Neurodivergent Students)
Teaching Artist, Arts Ignite for Extreme Kids

Watercolor Techniques & Graphic Design / 2022–2023
Private Student

Mindfulness for Self-Empowerment / 2021
Remote Class for Adults

Art Portfolio Development / 2021
Private Lessons for High School Graduates

Intro to Digital Photography & Graphic Design / 2017
Private Lesson 

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AREA OF EXPERTISE 

Visual Arts        

• Art History 

• Drawing

• Principles of Design

• Art & Mindfulness

• Visual Literacy

• Photography 

Film & Cinema Studies

• Cinematography

• Documentary

• Experimental Cinema       

• Film Production

• Women Directors

• Storyboard for Storytelling  

UNIT 1/ Drawing

Lesson 1: How to Sketch Animals Using Geometric Figures like Pablo Picasso

Basics of Drawing for Middle School

Theme: The line play of geometric shapes in drawing

Grade: K-6

Class length: 45min

Number of students: 15-25  participants 

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Outcomes

Students will…

• Learn to sketch basic figures and their own designs.

• Understand how works of art are made.

• Practice noticing and sharing about a work of art.

Vocabulary 

• Design

• Charcoal

• Lithography  

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Information about the art showed during the session: The Bull by Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso’s The Bull is a series of eleven lithographs created in 1945. It depicts the bull at various stages of abstraction, starting with a fairly realistic depiction and ending with a few lines. A lithography is a (planographic) printing process that makes use of the immiscibility of grease and water.

Inspired by Picasso’s work, students will learn how to take a complex drawing and break it down into basic shapes like circles, rectangles, and triangles—just like Picasso did.

Questions:

After looking at a lithography by Pablo Picasso, students will share their experiences and impressions about the artist’s work.

• What wild animals do you know and where did you see them?

• Look closely at Picasso’s bull lithograph. How would you describe this artwork in your own words?

• What do you see in the image that shows this is a bull?

• What geometric shapes can you find in the bull’s figure?

• What materials and tools do you think Pablo Picasso used to create this lithograph?

Materials & Resources

• Sanguine Charcoal

• Graphite bars

• Mixed media paper 

Activities: Getting ready 

• Tell students they’ll be drawing animals using charcoal and graphite.

• Hand out charcoal—give each student a couple of pieces.

• Demonstrate how to use charcoal on paper.

• Show how to add tone and texture like Picasso did in The Bull.

Creating a personalized animal design with an animal shape

• Students choose an animal and start sketching its basic shape.

• In small groups, let them share ideas and get inspired.

• When ready, show how to use charcoal and sanguine (reddish chalk) to add details, textures, and patterns to their animal drawing