Rachel Jacobs:
Artist and Art Educator
In elementary school, I loved to make things. Anything! Anything could be transformed into something else with a little imagination. I remember turning a washcloth into a purse. I used holiday bulbs for doll heads. I remember making a symbolic flag out of a pillowcase. When I was a kid, it felt like there was nothing I couldn't make. Through material exploration and problem solving, I could simply make anything. Learning this about myself became key to my passion for art making.
Art was my favorite subject in middle and high school. Eventually I went on to study visual arts and graphic design in college. After college, I set out to be a graphic artist. Remembering my love for transforming objects I went back to school to become an art educator.
I attended Pratt Institute's Art Education Program. There, not only did I studied art education, but it gave me a chance to gain public school and after-school program experience. For the last 16 years I have been teaching in the NYC Public School System. I've taught studio classes, graphic design, ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, and yearbook. I look forward to many more years of art making with students.