Sarah Jennifer Kennedy

Art Education / Master of Arts (MA)

School of Art Education

I grew up in the Chicagoland area but always traveled around the country to visit family and explore the national parks. I enjoyed creating art from the moment my hands let me drawing nature, characters, and new worlds. My parents supported my interest, and in elementary school I began filling sketchbooks with pencil, markers, and acrylic. I always knew I wanted to be an artist, but didn’t know how to do it. 3D design and ceramics quickly became my favorite mediums, then a little bit of everything (jewelry, woodworking, and DIY projects). I went on to receive my bachelor’s in Simulation, Animation, & Gaming with a minor in Japanese at Eastern Michigan University. The animation field no longer called to me, as I felt something was missing. My Japanese teacher recommended teaching English abroad, and it changed my life. I fell in love with teaching and realized this is what I am meant to do. I received my TEFL in Thailand, taught in Japan and Korea for five years, and nannied in Korea as well. I incorporated art into my lessons as much as possible and found when I came home to America, I ought to combine my two passions, teaching and art. I now am earning my master’s degree in Art Education here at AAU and am excited for this new chapter in my life!

Multimedia Video:
“Let’s Create with Painted Paper” is a part of a “Let’s Create” series I would like to produce and share on YouTube. These mini lessons would teach technical skills and fun crafts with younger students in mind. The idea came to me from my experience teaching English in Japan. I would often start lessons for K-2nd grade with large books that related to the lesson’s vocabulary. As you can imagine, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?” was for the colors lesson. The students easily engaged in the simple story and happily read with me. I thought about how I would still love to bring this practice into teaching art as an anticipatory set. I truly believe in interdisciplinary education, and there are so many children’s books that art could be inspired by. So, this will be incorporated into all videos of the series. I am not sure where I will land yet in education, but since online learning is becoming such a prominent role in education, I would love to continue to create appropriate online content for students that maybe one day I can use as supplemental material or for those who cannot attend regular art classes.