Teaching…

I’m Edwina Brinkley. I love art, I love teaching and I am so incredibly excited to be beginning this journal of Master of Teaching.

My undergraduate degree was a Bachelor of arts at ACU, majoring in visual arts with a minor in psychology. Throughout my major in visual arts I undertook a range of different art practices including; 2D practices such as painting and drawing, sculpture, photography, animation and art history. Painting, drawing and photography is my true passion, but I am so lucky and grateful for the opportunity I had to sample a range of different art styles.

I paint in my spare time. I have a folio of sketches and contour drawings that I intend on continually developing and a collection of paintings that I aspire to increase. Most of my ideas come from my travel stories. I have travelled through South-east Asia, Europe and America and the photographs that I have taken have been my main inspiration. I am in love with immersing myself in different cultures, seeing a different way of living, eating, working and ultimately; being. I believe that we can learn so much from other cultures and the beauty of different parts of the world is incredible. This beauty is something I love to express in my art; from the raw, natural and ever- developing streets of Vietnam to the historic and golden monuments of Rome.

Throughout my studies I worked as a swimming teacher and have worked as a camp counsellor on a summer camp in New York, US. Working with kids over the years is a passion of mine; particularly the middle years; the crucial years when they are so vulnerable and impressionable. I would love to be an art teacher that aims to bring out the best in each individual child, and working to better their skills and creativity. To me, I think that the main part of being creative is the journey, not the finished art work. I want each child to develop and build on their ideas through a range of different trial and error techniques, exploration, inspiration and reflection upon images that mean something to them.

My ideal classroom would be a very open, happy, creative, non-judgemental and positive environment in which I will try and bring out the creative and innovative side of every child. I will work one on one with children when they need it and enable them to lead their own creative learning, yet assist them and keep them on the right path. To me, art is about expressing yourself in physical form and developing ideas visually. To me, there are no mistakes in art, just development. And that any mistake, if not already a work of art; can be turned into one.

I look forward to this journey and I can’t wait to be in a classroom teaching and encouraging students in doing something that I, and hopefully they, love.