Teaching & Leadership Resume
Engaging Arts Educator passionate about creating meaningful and enlightening experiences for participants.
Program/Deputy Director, Camp Director, Museum Educator, Staff/Teacher Coach, Professor, Teaching Artist
Core Competencies
• Seasoned leader
• Dynamic Studio Art Professor / Teaching Artist / Group Leader / Facilitator
• Engaging Visual Art Lecturer / Public Speaker / Presenter
• Visual literacy; reading/writing/talking about images; unpacking works of art, ads, press photos, any visual image
• Versatile and user-friendly approach with participants from all walks of life; K-12, college, families, seniors, at-risk, special needs
• Proven success designing and implementing art programs for diverse/underserved populations in formal and informal settings
• Strong writer (curricula, essays, grant proposals, program policy, handbooks, evaluations)
Teaching
Museum Education
Teaching Artist / Museum Educator, Learning Through Art Program
Collaborated with public school teachers to design art projects related to their academic subject areas. Conducted classroom and school-wide presentations about works of art; implemented projects with students. Designed and conducted tours for teachers at the museum.
Lead Artist / Museum Educator, Park Voyagers Program
Developed/implemented all 4 phases of award-winning city-wide Park Voyagers program. Designed/conducted theme-based museum tours for school-age kids, parents and families. Trained and managed Teaching Assistants.
Teaching Online / Virtual
Teaching Artist, NYC (virtual)
Recruited to develop and teach a virtual workshop entitled Processing Collective Grief Through Art during COVID. Using works of art, led discussion deconstructing the images and pointed to the visual clues that conveyed ideas about grief. Over 100 participants from all over the country stayed for the full 90-minute workshop. Provided student feedback (on the work they began after the workshop) on Flipgrid a week later.
Teaching Artist, Airy Knoll Arts Project, Middlebrook, Virginia (virtual)
Taught virtual workshop/s to participants of all ages from several countries. Presented my body of work; showcased one painting that led us into a 4-session workshop that I designed.
Course Creator (virtual or in-person)
Created this course to promote visual literacy & critical thinking about visual art. Participants apply an inquiry-based process to their own artistic practice, and begin developing their own unique visual vocabulary. They are taught to study, examine and employ the artist's tools (color, scale, composition, various "styles") to leverage "pictorial hierarchy" = making visual decisions that communicate their ideas.
Community
Teaching Artist, Poughkeepsie Board of Artistic Youth (PK B.A.Y.), Poughkeepsie, NY
Supervise and mentor youth in workforce program, exposing them to potential careers in the arts. Contribute to program curriculum and support the execution of the annual PKX Festival. Recruit for and represent PK B.A.Y. at events and in the local community.
Painting Teacher, Highland, NY
Taught painting to residents 55 and older.
Interdisciplinary Arts Specialist, Rhinebeck, NY
Developed and implemented arts activities with staff, student groups and special needs populations.
Program Director, Gallery 37 in the Parks Program, Chicago
Designed curriculum project; worked with underserved teens to produce a zine. Presented the final product during our final event — a Zine Release Party.
Art Department Chair / Painting Teacher, Lenox, MA
Oversaw 10–15 staff in 12 different visual arts disciplines. Taught 21 painting classes per week.
Leadership / Arts Management
Camp Director, Dutchess & Ulster Arts Camp, Poughkeepsie & New Paltz, NY
Summer youth arts employment program at youth arts organization.
Co-Director / Teaching Artist, Project ABLE, Poughkeepsie, NY
Summer youth arts employment program at youth arts organization.
Program / Deputy Director
Non-profit providing arts/mentoring programs to at-risk youth & families.
Director of Cultural Arts Camps & Events, NYC
Union-sponsored programs & summer camps to accommodate union member families.
Program / Camp Director, Brooklyn, NY
After-school and camp provider.
Manager of Education Services, In-STEP (In-School Training & Employment) Program, NYC
Non-profit providing a full menu of community programs.
For unabridged CV with comprehensive work history, go to: linkedin.com/in/jill-ziccardi-6552627
Education
The School of The Art Institute of Chicago — Master of Fine Arts in Painting
Carnegie Mellon University — Bachelor of Fine Arts with honors, Painting/Printmaking double major