Meet Jessica Blankenship:
As a second grader, I decided that I wanted to grow up to be an art teacher. I started college as a double major: art education and interior design. Although I eventually dropped interior design to focus on art ed, I find that this studio fulfills both parts of those gifts. I get to teach my art camps and classes.... but I also have gotten to design the studio space to comfortably host people. I have combined fresh turquoise, army green with contrasts of black and white for a large group setting with tables and chairs as well as soft couches for conversation, making it a classroom setting mixed with stylish comfort and casual gathering. I called my business The Artful Gathering because it truly is a gathering ground for many types of events and learning.
I have always had a strong love of learning, curiosity, and creativity. The wonderful teachers I had along the way inspired me in many ways in enriching classroom environments and I wanted to create the same connection for my own students in the future.
Jessica has been teaching art full-time since 2009. She started summer art camps after completing her undergraduate degree in Art Education (Mount St. Joseph: Art Education & her master's degree from NKU: Gifted Education). She modeled the summer camps after her internship at the Taft Museum of Art. That internship changed her life and she decided she would direct art camps every summer from then on!
An artful life is a fulfilled life, balanced and enriched as well as stable and secure.
I have the goal of encouraging and living creatively as well as teaching all these things! It is ok with me if this road is a bit odd and less conventional.
I call this whole adventure "giving yourself permission to experience JOY". Let's embark on this path through art and inspiration.