“Building relationships and providing innovative curriculum and instruction are at the core of my work as an arts educator. Like the best coaches, good art teachers find a balance between criticism and encouragement.  In the arts studio, lessons vary, but are rooted in my commitment to provide access to students at all levels and focus on strengthening their artistic habits of mind – that is, the ability to envision, observe, express, stretch and explore, engage and persist, reflect and understand the art world. In an ever-changing and fast-paced world, capturing the focus and enduring engagement of students is more challenging than ever before.

My teaching philosophy is rooted in cultural responsiveness, and the notion that making art and teaching art are inextricably linked. I am committed to quality arts education as an artist, and in this aspect of my creative portfolio, feel passionate about the value arts experiences have to set students up to mirror the challenges of the real world – a world filled with excitement, joy, disappointment, setbacks, change and opportunity.”

Holly Grimsrud

Holly began her teaching career in Shakopee, MN in 2007, where she taught art at the elementary level, and junior high and high school as needed. In 2014, she was recruited by Glacier Hills Elementary School of Arts and Science to create the first Multimedia Art Program for K-5 students in District 196; and has been building and developing the program ever since. She has taught high school art at Los Altos High School and undergraduate painting as Teaching Assistant to Ana Teresa Fernandez at the San Francisco Art Institute.

Biome Animations

Students study a specific biome in science. Working in groups, they each selected a particular creature from their biome to star in an original story. Students conceived of a story and wrote it out in storyboards. Together, they built props and created claymation animals, they designed sets and animated their story in the Stop Motion. In the editing stages, students moved their work into iMovie, created titles, adjusted pacing, applied filters when applicable and inserted VoiceOver to tell the story that had been rewritten from the beginning stages. Through this animation workflow, students are teammates, sculptors, painters, storytellers, problem-solvers, voice-actors and writers.

Moon Phases

Students investigate how they may demonstrate the phases of the moon using mixed media processes in painting and scratch art materials. Students experiment with pacing and sequence through animation, while engaging in play with materials.

Invented Plants

Students use what they know about the anatomy of plants to invent a plant of their own. By juxtaposing, multiplying and/or omitting plant parts, students create a plant of their own to use as the subject of a drawn animation in Flip a Clip.

COLLABORATE CONFERENCE
Red Wing, MN

A Feast for the Eyes

Although Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s portraits were highly imaginative and whimsical, he maintained the proportions of the human body. Before constructing sculptural portraits out of real food, 2nd graders studied the paintings of Arcimboldo, and practiced creating figures in proportion using pic collage’s web image search. When finished, they worked with a partner to sculpt their own portrait heads out of real food.

Re-Imagining
Mount Rushmore

Students learn about the history and construction of Mount Rushmore. Then they are tasked to come up with four personal heroes they would put in the place of the existing faces in this national monument. Student products manifest in hard copy and digital products.

Papel Picado

Students utilize technology to work in the style of the old Mexican craft of Papel picado. After learning the history of the art form, students drew a symmetrical plan in their sketchbook. After making necessary revisions, they scanned and converted their drawings to Corel Draw and observed the laser cutter removing their negative spaces and lattice work.

Anthropomorphic
Landscapes

Students looked at examples of anthropomorphic landscapes from the 1500s, and modernized them by choosing one of TIME Magazine’s Most Influential People of 2018. They were tasked to utilized a variety of techniques, show a range of value and juxtapose the portrait into the imaginative landscape of choice.