Erin Schwinn
Erin Schwinn brings over 9 years experience as an innovative and energetic teaching artist in painting, drawing and visual arts. Erin holds a BFA in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a MFA in Painting from the University of Texas at Austin. After years of teaching in diverse situations, Erin’s experience with educational programs is exceedingly well rounded: from preschoolers to senior citizens, from a Title I public school to a university, and then a museum, and from beginning art students to hobbyists to mentoring professional artists.
Erin’s mission is to meet her students where they are, to share her knowledge and expertise of visual arts and art history, to provide students with new resources, and to build confidence and joy in the act of creating. Ms. Schwinn has developed an excellent rapport with her students and her class reviews are overwhelmingly positive, with students commenting that she is organized, knowledgeable and sincerely invested in their success.
Erin has been a teaching artist with The Contemporary Austin museum for the past 4 years, teaching a variety of introductory and specialized painting and drawing classes for children and adults, both in-person and online. To continue to meet the needs and growing interests of her students, Erin has initiated her own educational programming that includes a professional artist development class, a monthly art critique group, and a variety of classes focused on providing students a multitude of strategies for art making.
Previously, Erin has worked as a teaching assistant at the University of Texas, helping undergraduate arts students develop their artistic voices. Ms. Schwinn worked for several years as an art teacher in a public elementary school. Here she worked with students to introduce them to the fundamentals of art and to help foster a lifelong love of creating. Currently, Erin is working as a museum educator at the Delaware Art Museum, and helps develop and implement museum tours for students to share with them the power that comes from engaging with art.
In addition to teaching, Erin is a practicing artist. Her work involves painting, drawing, and collage, layered and mixed together with repeating patterns. Her work has been shown at galleries in the area, commissioned to accompany literary magazine submissions, and is featured in many personal homes across the nation.
CREATIVE AGING WORKSHOP:
Erin is available for creative aging workshops. See her outline below.