Hello,

I am Katherine Martin, and I teach visual Art classes out of my own studio classroom, MartinArts.

Back as early as the late 1990’s, I had a number of different experiences working with children and youth.  As early as then, I think I was drawn to teaching.

I was born and raised in the Greater Toronto Area.  In 2006, I graduated with Honors from the Ontario College of Art Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

When I entered art school, my goal was to become a working artist and maybe teach on the side to support my  art practice.   However, In 2007 I began professionally teaching art and my focus shifted completely. By 2009, teaching became a full time job and career, and I found I truly loved it.  Today I see myself as exploring the art of teaching art; developing new projects and lesson plans fulfills my creative instincts and is extremely rewarding.

Since starting as an art instructor, I have taught hundreds of children, teens and adults of all ages, ability levels, and backgrounds. I have taught private art classes, run art camps and after-four programs, and helped individuals with the development of their portfolio.  

Who I am as a Art teacher?

My vivid memories of being a child has been a major influence on my art practice, but an even bigger influence on my approach to art instruction.

As a kid, I could be shy or really bold and loud, the best behaved or my teachers worst nightmare.  It was ultimately the teachers who believed in me when I was at my worst that helped me become better, the teachers who whispered when I was shy that pulled me out of my shell, the teachers who knew how to keep me interested and redirect my energy that helped me to focus, the teachers who knew when I was having a bad day and let me express that creatively.  That is the kind of teacher I desire to be for all my students.

I can be funny when it’s called for, stern when it’s needed and always trying to further my understanding.

My love of Art goes beyond my own personal interests and passions.  Essentially, I love all Art.  Every kind of line, from flowing to rigid. Every  colour, lets you see inside another person’s mind. Art for me is a reflection of the working mind, it’s time in history, culture, seen from every choice an artist makes. This has also become the way I have learned about the world. It has given me a richer view on science, history, and even math. Importantly, this also influences me as an art teacher. I want students to be able to reflect themselves in their works with their choices.

As a lifelong learner, I am very pleased that art instruction allows me to do just that: continuous learning, and exploring new styles and approaches.  When I first started as an art instructor, I couldn’t draw cartoons at all.  Trained in fine art, cartooning originally held little interest to me. Cartooning is something I learned to be able to do because so many kids love it, and now I love it as much as they do. Because of the high demand from students in recent years, I just had to learn manga. Learning comics after that was not a far stretch.  I will not abandon my fine art base; I still have a strong passion for mixed media, realism and figures, and I will keep exploring those in my classes too.

I am still learning as much as I am teaching.

-Katherine