Tazetta Yerkes

Northumbria University Postgraduate Award, Northumbria University - Art and Architectural History

I graduated from California College of the Arts with a BA in Visual Studies, and from Johns Hopkins with a MSEd in Elementary Education. After hopping around the country, I found an instant home in New Orleans, where costuming is mandatory and gleeful wackiness is never in short supply. There I wrote an art curriculum that served hundreds of young learners. I also guided budding artists in set design and public mural painting. During my Fulbright term at Northumbria University, I will explore which artists can best spark a child’s journey of self-discovery in an unstable environment. Examining introspective trends in contemporary British art, I will integrate these into a youth art curriculum. All students and families -particularly those in New Orleans- deserve the same creative opportunities that I was given as a child. I see a future in which an intentional, relevant art curriculum meets the needs of all public-school students. To me, this opportunity means having the time, space and resources to characterise what excellence looks like in today’s responsive art classrooms. I am excited to explore new artwork, continue my own practise, and to wear a coat!