Advocacy

15 Tributes to the Moms of Art Teachers Everywhere

crayon garden

When I look back to my childhood, there isn’t a time I can remember that I wasn’t making art. Whether it was painting down in the art room in my childhood home, creating sidewalk chalk murals with the neighbor kids, or trying to sell Ojos de Dios at garage sales, creating art was a constant. Much of this drive to create can be attributed to my own mother. She isn’t an artist or art teacher. In fact, I’m not even sure I’ve ever seen my mom draw! However, I do know that my mom, like many others, was a major influence on me as an artist and educator.

mother's day card

This Mother’s Day article goes out to all the moms of art teachers! Thank you for standing by us, embracing our creativity, our wild ideas, and for just being awesome. I asked my colleagues and AOE team members to share sentiments about their moms that influenced the art teachers they are today. Please chime in and tell us about your awesome mom!

15 Tributes to the Moms of Art Teachers Everywhere

crayon garden

  1. “Here’s to my mom who taught me that making my entire elementary school wardrobe out of fabric, Velcro, and the sewing machine was way cooler than buying all the trendy stuff in stores.”
  2.  “A thank you to my mom for saving every piece of artwork I ever created and still proudly displaying the masterpieces in my childhood home.”
  3. “When I inherited a classroom of a previous hoarder, my mom was the first one to help me organize. I knew if I didn’t clean the place I’d be grounded.”
  4. “Thank you, mom, for teaching me that no job or chore is beneath me and to just do what needs to be done. So, does that mean you’ll come wash the paintbrushes?”
  5. “I’m most grateful to my mom for encouraging me to let my freak flag fly proudly. She always supported my crazy haircut, my ridiculous rainbow wardrobe, my nutty home decor projects, and basically the most outlandish and unpopular ideas I put forth.”
  6. “Thank you, mom, for letting me have glitter in the house. Enough said.”
  7. “Thanks for seeking out extra art opportunities for me. From private art lessons to studying with a painter during my free period in high school, you were always thinking of ways to get more art into my life.”
  8. “Mom, thank you for not getting too mad when I used my red smiley face stamp to decorate your wood cabinets. P.S. if you look closely enough, you can still see them.”
  9. “Growing up with my amazing single Mom we didn’t have much money at all. She showed me how to be creative to make my own toys and encouraged me to use my imagination to create a world of my own!”
  10. “Thanks for letting me paint a sea creature mural in our upstairs bathroom. Looking back, it was pretty awful, but 7th-grade me felt unstoppable.”
  11. “Thank you, mom, for letting me turn the spare bedroom in your house into an art supply holding room.”
  12. “Thank you for letting my high school self take over your kitchen table for weeks at a time with my oversized drawings.”
  13. “My mother taught me that creativity combined with a hard work ethic is a powerful force for good in the world.”
  14. “As a 30-year veteran kindergarten teacher, my mom ignited a passion for learning and a love for kids at a young age. She also had a knack for providing a lot of freedoms within boundaries. For example, I was allowed to paint and draw on the walls, but only in my room. She even supported my splatter paint phase in the 80s.”
  15. “Thanks to my mom who taught me you can make things with found objects. She went through a phase in my youth where she created hundreds of pine cone wreaths. We would spend weekends going from park to park and collecting pinecones. I hated it, didn’t see the value, and have an aversion to everything pinecone. However, it taught me that found materials can be valuable and that is a philosophy that saves my art budget, makes me environmentally aware, and brings me great delight when a project is executed in my class using found materials.”

Thanks so much to all that shared! Be sure to tell your mom how much you appreciate her this Sunday!

How did your mom support your journey to becoming an art teacher? 

If you’re a mom, what special, artsy things do you do for your own kids? Share with us in the comments below!

Magazine articles and podcasts are opinions of professional education contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of the Art of Education University (AOEU) or its academic offerings. Contributors use terms in the way they are most often talked about in the scope of their educational experiences.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Abby Schukei

Abby Schukei, a middle school art educator and AOEU’s Social Media Manager, is a former AOEU Writer. She focuses on creating meaningful experiences for her students through technology integration, innovation, and creativity.

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