Journey Map & DB #3

This journey map uses the metaphors of a river and boats on the river to depict my journey to MU Art Education and where I hope to go from here.

I chose a book form in a non traditional shape.  I love to read and I love to make things. 

I grew up in Jefferson City where I remember getting my first big box of crayons.  Oh Joy!  My mother has been a teacher my whole life.  Most of her friends are teachers.  Some of my best friends are teachers.  I never wanted to be a teacher when I was younger.  This seems to be a common theme among some of the people in our class.  The raft is me after high school, floating along, painting t-shirts.  That is why the raft has a t-shirt for a sail.  I applied to a school in NYC, so there is the circa 1985 NYC skyline.  But I went to college in Colorado, which was great.  I had wonderful art teachers there.  The next few panels are life back in MO after graduation.  I made a lot of art and took a lot of classes at MU for fun.  That has turned out to be very fortuitous.  The airplane represents the travelling I was able to do at this point in my life.  The canoe is my relationship with my daughter's father.  It takes two cooperative people to paddle a canoe.

I volunteered at some different schools and did some substitute teaching.  Volunteering was way more fun than substituting.  Once I figured out that I like working with kids, I started to actually entertain the notion of being a teacher.  The only subject I could imagine myself really enjoying teaching was Art. I think I could teach English or Social Studies, or be a Librarian, but none of those are anywhere near as appealing to me.   Now, on the river,  my daughters and I are in a motor boat, cruising past the hoops I had to jump through to get into MU and Townsend Hall.

The red house is where I live now.  The RVIII is my children's school, but it represents any of the small, rural school districts up here north of Columbia.  Ever since I planned to become an art teacher, I have hoped to eventually teach at one of these small schools.  I like the idea of teaching students from K-12.  What a challenge.  I really enjoy my time at the big middle school in Columbia though, and I can imagine teaching somewhere like that as well.   Eventually, I would like to live in St. Louis or some other big city for a few years, teaching and making art.  Then my little skiff can turn into an ocean going sailboat to take me around the world, or back to Jefferson City, or wherever.