Meredith Eastburn

 

I am a teaching artist who works at various organizations and museums in Nashville, primarily as an art educator at Akiva, a small, K-6 Jewish day school. Each of my books reflect upon, draw from, or document my teaching practice in some way. From used table-coverings, to students' name tents, to leftover pennants from the school's "gratitude garland" installation, I have collected and refined materials that are emblematic of moments of learning, thinking, making, and expressing. The butcher paper that I use to cover tables in my classroom has captured stray marks, practice sketches, love notes and the tender graffiti of young children's hands. I have reclaimed papers from my classroom recycling bin and pages from tattered art books found in the storage room to create the pages of an interactive sketchbook. In it, I have invited both my students and community members to write and draw as they engage in a creative process that is anonymously collaborative.  I've also carried this theme of engagement through in the Paint Chip Poetry book in which I asked viewers (including my young students) to write new names for colors based on their personal associations and memories. For me, being a teaching artist is not just about teaching a student how to paint, draw, sculpt, or design. It is a creative practice in which artist-learners engage in a cycle of being, making, sharing, and becoming. The reclaimed and reused materials from my classroom are like mile-markers, containers, and mementos in this creative process.

 

Meredith Eastburn is an interdisciplinary artist who enjoys working in digital media, artist books, text, and installation. Before moving to Nashville in 2012, Meredith worked as an art administrator and teaching artist in museums and nonprofits in Chicago and completed her Masters in Art Education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2010). In Nashville, she served for a year as the Director of Community Education at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film and is now a K-6 art educator at Akiva School and a teaching artist with the Frist, Cheekwood, Watkins CE, and other local organizations. In early 2014, she launched Amaranthus Paper & Flora, a mother-daughter makery specializing in handcrafted crepe paper flowers.