Art teacher’s work was featured at Weiser Classic Candy

 Earlier this year, the Four County Art Guild and Weiser Classic Candies teamed up to promote the local student artists whose art had been selected by the Art Guild each month. The local area schools were highlighted throughout the year on a rotational basis. During the summer months, the Art Guild decided to highlight a few local feature artists individually.  The feature artist for the month of July was Weiser Middle School art teacher, Jade VanNess. 

 VanNess grew up in the small town of Pilot Rock, Ore. Inspired by her mother, VanNess found she had a love for art and all things creative at a young age. She spent a lot of her time drawing and learning to create, build and sew at a young age. Her love for design extended into many aspects of life, from building built-in cabinets to even designing and sewing her own wedding dress. 

 “For the longest time, if I saw something I really liked, I was going to create it,” VanNess

 VanNess always knew she was interested in design and creative arts, so in college she initially took several art classes from painting to graphic design. Originally she had planned to pursue a career in design, and wanted a career that would be more hands-on where she wouldn’t be sitting at a desk all day. After visiting with a friend who was a kindergarten teacher, VanNess changed her path and graduated with a degree in elementary education. 

 VanNess began teaching third grade at Pioneer Elementary School in Weiser in 2012. She loved teaching third grade, but when the art position at Weiser Middle School opened in 2019, she knew it would be the perfect opportunity to bring her love of the arts and creativity to her work. 

 Although VanNess knew she had a love for art and design, she said that she didn’t really consider herself an artist until she spent more time exploring the fine art mediums as a teacher. She found that she learned so much more as a teacher, and was able to further hone her skills and discover new favorite mediums. 

 She loves the bright use of color in mixed media watercolor and has enjoyed creating unique portraits. 

 VanNess also shared that she has always thought of an artist as people who create artwork and sell it, and the first medium where VanNess found that she could do that was photography. She has found that she really enjoys several areas of photography, but particularly loves fine art portraiture, and giving her portrait photos a finish that has an oil-painted look. 

 As an art teacher, VanNess really enjoys being able to see the process as her students see how to make their ideas come to life. Art can help students explore multiple intelligences, and it can be therapeutic to be able to create with hands-on learning and get a break from academic pressure. 

 In art, students develop and practice their fine motor skills. Art is also an area where different kids sometimes excel and learning the aspects of art and design can help in several useful skills and even careers from painting, carpentry, to interior design.  

 VanNess has worked hard to design a curriculum that teaches them that there is so much more to the art world than just painting and drawing. She shared that  she really appreciates the impact the art guild has been able to have on this aspect of her program. The donations from the art guild have helped her invest into the program to introduce block printing, needle salting, quilling supplies, and more. She also sees the effect on students as they are recognized by the art guild in their monthly contests. They really look forward to seeing whose work is honored each month.