About Me as a Teacher:

I have seven years of experience teaching high school and middle school art at public schools. I’ve taught in Lakeview Oregon, a town with the population of about 2,500, and I’ve taught at a high school that had an enrollment of about 1,500 students in Beaverton, Oregon. I’ve also taught at an all-online school in the Beaverton School District, where at one point I taught a combined total of, from all my classes, 280 students, with my largest class size being 75 kids.

I have taught the following subjects: drawing, comics, animation, illustration, digital photography, digital art (computer graphics), yearbook, painting, ceramics, and video game design. I have also taught a variety of workshops, mostly on comics, and most notably at the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle, Washington.

My Goals as a Teacher:

I am working towards including more science-based research into art education. I believe that neuroscience and psychology research in particular can give us unique and powerful insights into how we make and understand art, as well as give us a deeper understanding of how our brains work.

I am working towards expanding how drawing is taught to better include non-realistic forms of art. I believe that non-realistic art can give us a fuller understanding of how our brain sees and makes sense of the world around us. I’ll borrow a quote here from the neuroscience Eric Kandel, “vision is not simply a window into the world, but truly a creation of the brain.”

I have written zines about both of these topics - that are avaliable in the writing page of website (click here for link).

I am working towards examining and reforming traditional school systems and structures to make them more inclusive and equitable. I will admit, I personally still have so much to learn on these subjects and there is still so, so much I’d like to accomplish. I also believe that meaningful change within our schools can only come by working with students and community members, as well as with those who have been most negatively impacted by our school systems.

Contact me at dawsonpiselwalker@gmail.com

Reach out if you’d like to chat about or collaborate on any of the above areas! I would love to hear your thoughts and perspective on these subjects, as well as any research or work you may have done relating to them.

I am interested in teaching drawing workshops and classes. I have created and collected a variety of drawing exercises that explore how our brains work as well as teaching students non-realistic and realistic drawing skills. 

I am also open to doing one-on-one consultations or tutoring if you want help with your drawing, art, or teaching practice. Reach out for pricing information.