Biography & Teaching Philosophy
The Beginning
Sarah Sciaky was born in the far west suburbs of Chicago in Geneva, Illinois. Her city was split by the Fox River, creating a deep interest in water and division that can be seen within her work. The second born of four, Sarah spent time carrying notebooks to her brothers’ baseball and soccer games. Her favorite subjects in school included Art and English. Her creativity offered her company and continued to grow as she aged. Sarah suffered from a medical setback in 2018 and 2019, having suffered from ovarian tumors that required surgery to remove. The resulting complications nearly ended her life, as she was septic and hospitalized for nearly two weeks. Her recovery was long and slow, having issues such as wound complications and infections. Sarah spent most of 2019 and 2020 in her family home, relying on poetry and art to pass the time. The rise of the pandemic created more of a reason to stay in and involve herself in art and other creative endeavors. Sarah finds poetry and art to be a balm in the face of these current affairs.
The Education
Sarah attended Grand Valley State University outside Grand Rapids, Michigan. She majors in Art Education with an emphasis in jewelry and metalsmithing. She also holds double minors in writing and human rights. Always working to discover more about the world and finding ways to express her perspective, Sarah combines her interests to create art about social problems and escapism. They inspire to incorporate questioning our societal norms and bring an evolutionary understanding to human rights into artistic conversations.
The Philosophy
Pulling together a teaching philosophy from life experiences and aspects of the Reggio Emilia approach, Sarah works to create an open, supportive environment for children to explore artistic concepts, critical thinking, and impactful learning. Utilizing big ideas and key concepts as starting points, students have the ability to self-guide exploration and learning under these modules. As an art educator, they can boost learning experiences by creating connections to real world events, historical and contemporary, to encourage critical thinking and problem solving. By supporting artistic exploration with life experiences, art educators support students' development and can create more meaningful and impactful learning while allowing all students to be seen.
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