Community Arts Partner – The Creative Advantage

Participant Details

Individual Bio or Organizational Statement: Janet Nechama Miller is a queer Jewish visual artist and art teacher who was born and raised in Seattle. She’s been teaching art and exhibiting her work around Seattle for over 15 years. Janet’s artwork is inspired by social justice movements that she has connected with and learned from over the years. Her focus is to honor memories and stories—both personal and collective—through creating layers of symbolic collage elements. As a teaching artist, she provides opportunities for her students to approach their work in this manner, and to see their work as a powerful form of communication and tool for social change. Janet's primary goals as a teaching artist are to empower students to authentically express their identities and truths through artwork, to create an affirming environment that allows students to take artistic risks, and to cultivate an environment of equity, inclusion and mutual respect.

Type: Visual Art: Mixed-media painting, drawing and collage; printmaking; book arts; encaustic painting; social justice art and design.

Teaching Philosophy + Approach: My goals as a teaching artist are to empower students to authentically express their thoughts, feelings, identities and truths through artwork, to create an affirming environment that allows students to experiment, share, and take artistic risks without fearing judgment, and to cultivate an environment of mutual respect so we can build bridges across our differences through art making experiences.

Students need to have their needs met and feel safe in order to learn. I strive to create an environment in which students have their physical, emotional, and social needs met—while barriers sometimes prevent some students from achieving this in their classrooms, I show my students that I trust them to take care of themselves, encourage them to seek support when needed, and recognize their efforts and achievements. I believe that all people are artists, and work to help my students recognize the ways in which they are already successful artists, as well as the techniques they can practice in order to improve their art making skills and increase their confidence. I aim to create a balance between teaching new techniques and encouraging students to freely express their voices.

Curriculum Integration Possibilities: Expressive art projects can be integrated with language arts, social studies, health, science, and STEM/STEAM.

Special Skills and Areas of Expertise: I have over 15 years experience facilitating self-defense and boundary setting classes and workshops through the local anti-violence organization Home Alive. I am always interested in bringing conversations around these topics into my teaching, no matter what the topic. I taught language arts and visual art at Seattle Girls' School (5th-8th grade) for seven years, and especially enjoy that age group. At Seattle Girls' School I co-led three affinity groups: LGBTQ+ Affinity Group, LGBTQ+ Allies Group, and Jewish Affinity Group.