Sheila Campbell: Art Teacher

About Sheila

Sheila has been teaching art in our elementary schools since 1999.  She first experienced the MVSD art room excitement as a hands-on parent volunteer when her children were students at Old Mill School.  Sheila studied art and art history at Mount Holyoke College and, after working for a year at construction sites in Boston, went on to receive an architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania.  Having since been awarded teaching credentials for both multiple-subject teaching (2005) and art specialization (2011), Sheila believes the elementary school art room is where she belongs.  She finds it thrilling to introduce young artists to a wide variety of art-making tools and materials and, through the challenges and joy encountered while making art, help guide them towards creative confidence.

Sheila continues to make her own art (currently working on projects combining printmaking, collage, and ink drawing) and to think architecturally (most recently on an unaffordable home renovation for her family’s house in Mill Valley).

Kiddo! Programs

• Art Specialist at Tam Valley

Sheila Recommends

Delight and inspiration can come from contemplating original works of art and we are so lucky to have access to so much art in the Bay Area. Below is a list of just a dozen of the wonderful art museums near-by. You may want to visit their websites and plan a family visit:
Asian Art Museum
Cartoon Art Museum
Fine Arts Museums of SF
The Mexican Museum
UC Berkeley Art Museum
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Children’s Creativity Museum
The Contemporary Jewish Museum
Di Rosa Museum
Marin Museum of Contemporary Art
Oakland Museum of California
and, though the SF Museum of Modern Art is closed for now it is still sponsoring art shows and programs around the city.

Many of the above museums have free admission for children and schedule free family days throughout the year. If you have a library card from the Mill Valley Public Library you can reserve passes to many of these kid-friendly institutions. Check out possibilities here.

Tips for Talking About Art

Talking about Art made by others:

It is important to realize that opinions about art are subjective and your child’s opinion, as well as your own, should be valued. My advice is to not try to bend your child’s opinion to yours but to take turns in sharing your thoughts about the piece. A good conversation while looking at art together might include attempts to answer questions like:
Do you like this? How do you think they made this? What do you think the artist did first? Do you feel the artist made good decisions while creating this piece? Would you do anything differently if you were the artist? Do you think there were any surprises while the artist was working on this project? Do you have a favorite part?

Talking about Art made by your student artist:

Throughout the year student art will be sent home or periodically put on display in student art shows. All of the above questions can be tweaked to become relevant to a conversation between you and student artists about the art they have created.

Vocabulary for Talking about Art:

A good conversation about art might also include a discussion as to how the artist used some of the Elements of Art (line, color, shape, form, texture, value, space) or some of the Principles of Design (balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, proportion, repetition, rhythm, unity, variation) in his/her artwork.