Staff Highlight: Jennifer Terrell Garonzik, Education Center Director
🌟Staff Highlight🌟Jennifer Terrell Garonzik is our Education Center Director and has been with BRAHM since 2016. She's greatly expanded our hands-on educational workshops (before COVID-19, we were offering 24 children’s classes per month + adult workshops!)
Jennifer elevates art education, augments public school curricula, and supports artists through all phases of life💕
As art education funding is largely reduced in some public schools, the Museum’s hands-on programs for children become more important. A portion of BRAHM's programs are for local public school children who otherwise have just 25 minutes of art education per week. In these programs, Jennifer focuses on different artists and their signature styles. (So, the children are receiving a lesson in making art and art history.) Throughout the process, Jennifer instills life-lessons, reminding the students that even the most prominent artists faced challenges in their creative practice. She encourages students to come up with solutions to solve their own projects, a trait that will ultimately translate to all areas of life.
❓How did she learn about BRAHM ❓
Jennifer has lived in the High Country since 1998. She was introduced to BRAHM and its many educational programs through a membership gifted by a friend and long-time supporter of the Museum. While becoming a regular visitor to the Doodlebug Club program with her then preschool-aged children, she fell in love with BRAHM and all that the Museum offers to the community.
❓What's her background❓
Jennifer’s background is in studio art, education, and graphic design. Her lifetime proclivity to visual art was nurtured by the wonderful art teachers she had throughout grade and high school. She attended a magnet high school for the arts in Maryland, was a Maryland Distinguished Scholar of the Arts, and went on to study studio art at the University of North Carolina- Greensboro. She taught, worked for a local newspaper, printer, then educational publishing firm for a number of years before coming to BRAHM. Here, she uses all of the skills learned from her previous experience and education combined.
❓On her days off...❓
When she is not teaching or creating lesson plans for BRAHM, Jennifer is an avid hiker, frequenting National Forest trails with favorite spots along the Blue Ridge Parkway. She, her husband, and two kids love to travel, especially to warm places during the High Country’s winter months.
❓And now…❓
In the current pandemic, Jennifer continues to offer her weekly art lessons online, by video and/or via step-by-step written instructions. She is curating the annual “Young at Art Student Spectacular virtual exhibit.” She is currently leading the effort for BRAHM to provide all Watauga County kindergarten through second grade students with art materials and ideas so that they may continue their creative expression while sheltering at home. These circumstances have not diminished her dedication to art education and her commitment to the community she loves.
Drop her a line (or a thank you) at jennifer@blowingrockmuseum.org