Contents
Introduction
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Teaching Philosophy
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Teaching Practice
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Student Work
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Resume
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Letter of Recommendation
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Professional References
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My name is Pari Valad. My history as an artist began here in Richmond at the age of 8 years old when I made my first oil painting. It progressed from then on and art making became the focus of my life for the next 16 years. I was fortunate enough to attend the School Visual Arts in New York and be awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art. I realized I wanted to continue my education further and proceeded to gain my Master’s Degree in Fine Art from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. It was there in 2012 that I began working as a teaching assistant. The professors that I taught alongside were incredibly influential and inspired me greatly. Post graduation I realized that pedagogy was also as important to me as Art making, and I began to pursue teaching art as a career. I started co-teaching an after-school art class in Baltimore City and working full time as an Art teacher in Columbia, Maryland. I’ve recently moved back to Richmond to be closer to my family and the community that shaped me. Outside of the classroom and studio I’m a wannabe cinephile and I’m currently working my way through the 8 page long “Watch List” for Harvard’s Graduate Program in Cinema Studies.
Now, that I’ve introduced myself. I believe the following contents of this portfolio to be an excellent guide to understanding me as an educator. Please also note that this portfolio alongside a portfolio of my personal art work can be found online at parivalad.info
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Teaching Philosophy We live in a time where creative expression is a crucial part of a student’s education. My goal as an educator is to reach beyond the instruction of basic artistic skills to impart students with tools of expression. The empowerment of students to harness their creativity is the foundation of self-worth, and brings confidence to all aspects of their life.
My responsibility as an educator is to guide my students in the development of their unique awareness. My teaching philosophy is a reactive one. Lessons are structured around student interest, and time is granted for personal exploration and student driven projects. Allowing students to navigate their interests with independence means their passion grows with personal significance. Guiding this independence allows for students to manifest ideas while learning to manage and refine their creative technique. The fundamentals of art can be applied to material in a number of ways. The same multitude exists when considering teaching those fundamentals. Rather than a uniform, prescriptive, task-based approach, I find enormous benefit in fulfilling the individuals curiosity about materials and forms. Every student is unique. I strive to reinforce each student’s personal understanding of art through catering to their expression in a manner in which they are best suited.
I wish to encourage students to follow their passions and build upon their interests. The first step in accomplishing that as an educator is to be receptive. Reciprocal communication in the classroom is necessary to proper learning. I want to use my experience and knowledge in the most eective way. Leading a classroom that practices respect and communication reinforces a beneficial atmosphere for all.
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Teaching Practice
Young adult’s propensity to learn can often be gauged by their interest. I believe the best way to gain student interest is to allow them to explore and develop their own relationships to materials, a concept known as Exploratory Learning.
An example of this would be introducing a new concept, a new material, and a new process, all to be used in a singular assignment. Imagine the concept being three point perspective, the material watercolor, and the process collage. First students would receive a demonstration of how to use or perform each aspect on its own. The class then would be allotted a full period (or more/less based on how quickly the content is grasped) to try and recreate these demonstrations. I think of this as the “exploration” period. Students get enough time to consider what really intrigues them about the ideas presented. After observing and communicating with the class, a more formal assignment follows. Imagine the guidelines are that the work has to utilize three point perspective, watercolor, and collage, and that the work needs to speak to some aspect of the word “home.” Several example works are shown to the class, as well as a classroom discussion on what some other examples of how to do this assignment could be. This would be a good time to introduce professional art work that fits into the guidelines of the assignment. After the students have made significant progress (half-way) I assess each student individually and then decide an appropriate due date for the assignment based on the average student point of completion.
An additional way to implement my teaching philosophy is to allow students to choose one aspect of a previous project to employ in a current project. This technique allows students to practice aspects previously taught, build new skills they’ve learned, and work towards the understanding of new topics and techniques.
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Student Work
***Disclaimer: All featured students have been permitted by their parents either through the signing of a consent form or by verbally agreeing to be used in this professional document by me, Pari Valad***
Organization: Jubilee Arts, Baltimore, MD Course: Intro to Video 2014 Grade Level: Middle School/High School
These images are stills taken from a group video project. The objective of this class was to collectively work together to create a video PSA in conjunction with an issue facing the Baltimore community. As a class we went to several community meetings to research the type of issues that could be the source material for the subject of the PSA. The students decided to make a video about the Baltimore Food Drought, which simply explained is that it is very diďŹƒcult to be able to find nutritious and whole foods in Baltimore because there are so few grocery stores. This makes the temptation to consume unhealthy options very high. The class decided to focus on this aspect of the Food Drought, and decided to write a parody of popular Rap about making healthy food choices. They recorded and editing the audio, and filmed and edited the material. Certain students took this opportunity to expand on interests they had artistically outside of video making, such as drawing and painting. Some students worked on creating props, and others animation to be used as the background of the video. The video was then screened at a community gathering and for several other events promoting positive change in the Baltimore community.
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Organization: The Young School, Columbia, MD Course: Art Studio 2015 Grade Level: Pre-K
"River of Recyclables." Baltimoresun.com. N.p., 23 Apr. 2015. Web. 20 July 2016.
The above photo features the entire preschool class of the Young School, a private institution in Columbia, Maryland. As an art teacher there I really wanted to employ an importance of conservation and sustainability. This meant utilizing recycling in the classroom. We started a recycling drive and practiced collecting and reusing materials in our art work. The students became very excited and interested in this practice. Around the same time I had a colleague who was organizing a massive art installation with activist and artist Bridget Parlato. The project called for participants to bring in their recyclables to be used to create a “river� through an urban landscape in Baltimore City. I thought this was a great way to get my students engaged in community art, and learn more about recycling. This is one of my more impressive feats as an educator as I had to orchestrate a field trip for 40 five year olds. I was told by administration that I was one of the first teachers in almost 10 years to organize a field trip outside of the curriculum. Overall the entire event went smoothly, and the students ended up with a full page photo in the paper the next day.
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This is an image of two students at the young school working on a large mosaic project. This group project was manifested almost entirely by the students themselves. They brainstormed materials they could use from our recycling bins, and then created the image of the rainbow to be filled in.
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PARI VALAD 443.562.2610 pari.valad@gmail.com 4628 Snowmass Road Glen Allen, VA 23060
Education Masters of Fine Arts, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD Bachelor of Fine Arts, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2014 2012
Professional Experience Videographer, Freelance
2015 - Present
Producing video content for marketing purposes for private businesses and organizations.
Office Manager, Care Partners Staffing
2008 - Present
Performed timesheet approval, invoicing, payrolls and managing of accounts receivable and payable for a Healthcare Staffing Company using Quickbooks. Functions were performed part-time remotely.
Studio Art Teacher, The Young School
2014 - 2015
Instructed multimedia art practices for an Early Education program, utilizing a personal teaching philosophy focused on involvement in the surrounding community and applying the use of recycled materials in the studio.
Video Instructor, Jubilee Arts
2014 - 2015
Instructed middle school age students on creating a P.S.A styled video project, which included the foundations of basic camera work, video editing, sound editing, and community outreach.
Studio Coordinator, Maryland Institute College of Art
2012 - 2014
Coordinated the studio for Life Drawing Sessions for a Continuing Education Department. Duties included setting up the studio equipment and directing the models.
Teaching Assistant, Maryland Institute College of Art
2012 - 2014
Assisted Undergraduate Faculty in the courses Electronic Media and Culture, and Patterns. Duties included classroom management, proofreading of teaching documents, assisting student critiques, and equipment management.
Artist Assistant
2010 - 2012
Assisted artists, Steve DeFrank (2010-2011) and Maripol (2012). Duties included Office/Studio organization, digital photo editing, archiving and cataloging of Artist’s work, research, management of personal accounts and preparation of art materials.
Gallery Assistant, Lio Malca
2011
Conducted research based projects, curated work for private sales, maintained current collection inventory, designed promotional materials, and planned gallery related events for a Private Chelsea Gallery. Duties also included administrative work such as office organization, website maintenance, as well as the installation and delivery of 2D and 3D art works in various New York locations.
Volunteer Experience Free Arts NYC, New York, NY
2011
Instructed Community art projects for children 6-12 years old throughout the NYC boroughs.
Hudson Guild, New York, NY
2010
Sorted and delivered material donations to local residents.
NYC Food Bank, New York, NY
2008
Worked as a warehouse volunteer organizing, and repacking donations for distribution.
Skills Adobe Creative Suite (specialized in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, PremierPro). Microsoft Office Suite (specialized in Excel and Word). Social Media. QuickBooksPro. Filemaker. HTML. CPR/AED/First Aid Cerified.
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PARI VALAD 443.562.2610 pari.valad@gmail.com 4628 Snowmass Road Glen Allen, VA 23060
Professional References:
Beth Synder Head of School The Young School 8310 Guilford Rd, Columbia, MD 21046 410.740.7476 bethsnyder@youngschool.com
Jenna Frye Foundation Faculty and Coordinator of the Electronic Media and Culture program Maryland Institute College of Art 1300 W Mt Royal Ave, Baltimore, MD 21217 240.498.9161 jfrye@mica.edu
Peter Dubeau Dean of Continuing Education Maryland Institute College of Art 1300 W Mt Royal Ave, Baltimore, MD 21217 410.225.2223 pdubeau@mica.edu
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Mitch Goldstein Assistant Professor
To Whom It May Concern,
School of Design Rochester Institute of Technology
Please accept this letter of recommendation for Pari Valad.
1 Lomb Memorial Drive Rochester, NY 14623
Pari was my teaching assistant for two sections of Electronic Media & Culture, a
401.474.9973
foundations class at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. Pari was
mmgfaa@rit.edu
an excellent TA, and brought insight and enthusiasm to the topic at hand and a fervor for teaching that any good educator must have. Pari’s unqie experiences as an artist help her understand and explain work to students in ways that help them process and internalize lesson, rather that simply repeating back what the teacher said. She always offered the students thoughtful critique, engaged in dialog and feedback, and always had a smile and a spark of excitement in her eye. She is clearly someone who enjoys working with others, and the other students liked her as much as I did. I give Pari my highest possible recommendation — she will be an excellent educator and would make a fantastic addition to your institution. Best,
Mitch Goldstein
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