Hi, I'm Amelia, and I Teach Creativity!
As a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and coach, I've spent nearly three decades helping artists just like you find their voice, build confidence, and achieve their goals. Whether you're applying to art school or simply looking to reignite your passion, I'm here to meet you where you are and provide the tailored support you need.
Nearly 3 Decades of Experience: Expert multidisciplinary artist, educator, and coach supporting artists of all ages.
Personalized Coaching: Tailored guidance to help you find and showcase your unique artistic voice, no matter your current skill level or goals.
Creative Development: Build confidence, develop strong creative habits, and learn to present your work effectively.
Goal-Oriented Support: Perfect for art school applications, personal growth, professional development, and team-based creative problem-solving.
Get Unstuck: Move past creative blocks to feel motivated, confident, and inspired to share your talents.
Coaching FOR YOU
Skill Building & creative habits:
Refine technical skills and explore new artistic avenues. These lessons offer introduction, experimentation, or deep dives into specific techniques (e.g., weaving, sewing, drawing, linoleum carving, basketmaking, etc), helping you:
Return to an arts practice and identify strengths.
Experiment with new materials to expand your artistic language.
Develop your personal style and infuse more of your identity into your work.
Overcome technical or conceptual blocks.
Incorporate regular art-making into your wellness routine and make creativity a regular habit.
Have fun making and learning! (See ABOUT AMELIA for a fuller list of mediums and techniques.)
Portfolio Development:
Craft a compelling portfolio that showcases your best work and artistic growth for college applications. We'll focus on selection, organization, and self-reflection. Services include:
Portfolio review and feedback
Identifying your strongest pieces
Creating a cohesive narrative
Artist Statement & Presentation:
Articulate your artistic vision and present your work confidently for applications. We'll refine your artist statement and presentation skills, preparing you for interviews, application descriptions, and critiques by:
Developing compelling artist statements
Refining presentation skills
Preparing for interviews, application descriptions, and critiques
Coaching FOR YOUr team
Create workshops and activities that build collaboration
Help partner with you to design retreats and conferences that reach your goals —and you don’t spend the whole time sitting ;)
Teach short or extended workshops in Design Thinking, to inspire new ideas, creative confidence, prototyping, and reflection. Design Thinking is a Human-centered design process that allows buy-in and group contributions to solutions that are empathy forward and aims to create solutions.
Create something totally new or help take your team through a collaborative discernment process to make decisions. Amelia leverages her 26 years of Quaker Educational process to partner and create cultures of leadership that involve everyone as collaborators, through consensus-building and reflective practices.
Support Leadership (youth and adult) Development. Learn how a variety of creative leadership roles help to build a stronger team, movement, and outcome.
interviews, deadlines & Portfolio events
Having attended National Portfolio Day events for more than 20 years, I help artists (especially 8th-12th graders, transfer, and graduate students) prepare for in-person and virtual events, critiques, and application interviews. These events offer direct communication with art school representatives, valuable feedback, and sometimes even on-the-spot portfolio acceptance. I can tailor preparatory sessions for all ages (starting as early as 8th grade) to align timing with upcoming applications, deadlines, interview dates, and NPD events.
About Amelia
Hi! I'm an artist and educator with over 25 years of experience in art teaching & portfolio development for teens and adults. I'm passionate about helping diverse artists like you cultivate your skills and build your creative confidence, and create outstanding portfolios and practices!
My coaching philosophy focuses on personalized guidance, creative exploration, and building a supportive community. I believe every artist has a unique visual voice, and my goal is to help you discover and amplify yours. As an LGBTQIA+ affirming educator centering anti-racist curriculum, I advocate for elevating all marginalized voices, ensuring every artist has the right to tell their story and showcase their gifts.
Beyond technical skills, we'll develop your artistic vision, storytelling abilities, and confidence to present your work effectively. Whether you're aiming for art school, competitions, or simply pursuing your passion, I'm committed to providing the tools and mentorship for your artistic journey.
Let's establish creative habits so your art practice and portfolio can be everything you wish: relaxing, professional, narrative, game-changing, community-building, or award-winning. Let's discover and amplify your visual voice!
As a long-time educator using Quaker pedagogy and a non-graded system, my experience beyond the art studio has given me additional skills to share. Want to know more? Ok! I also:
Taught Adolescent Health and Wellness classes for 12 years
Developed a Collaborative Youth Leadership curriculum centering collective discernment practices
Organized and hosted, in partnership with teenage leaders, two separate conferences engaging 23+ schools, supporting leadership development and growth through the lens of Environmental Sustainability and Community Storytelling, in partnership with 16 local nonprofits and mutual aid organizations
Use narrative assessment practices and reflections that center the whole child or whole student
Center creative reuse and sustainability in artmaking
Conduct a community choir, Pop Up Chorus
Teach arts workshops at Duke School of Medicine through Duke Arts Creates
Design and chaperone 2 week experiences centering service, arts, and nature for teens (I’ve driven a lot of school buses!)
Founded the nonprofit Girls Rock NC, now Youth Rock NC, collaboratively 20+ years ago (that has continued to grow and thrive in the care of a wonderful team!)
Been part of a sewing collective, and designed costumes in partnership with choreographers for dance performances
Outside of my work, I love singing, gardening, growing and making tea, spending time with my family and dog, and creating my own fiber and printmaking art.
Some of the students I’ve supported with Applications, Interviews, and Portfolio Development have gone on to attend:
RISD (Rhode Island School of Design)
MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art)
SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design)
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Otis College of Art & Design
Pratt Institute
Parsons School of Design
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
VCU Arts (Virginia Commonwealth University)
NC State School of Design
Washington University in St. Louis
Many students have also been accepted into College and Universities with Art Degree programs by submitting a portfolio with their application.
How can I shine a light on your creativity?
Let’s Talk:
Interested in working together?
Fill out the form, and I will be in touch shortly.
I’ve created with and taught an incredibly wide range of art materials over the last 30 years, including (not limited to):
Drawing
Painting
Printmaking
Ceramics
Sculpture
Darkroom, Digital, Experimental & History of Photography
Digital Art (Procreate and Photoshop)
Handcrafts (weaving, baskets, paper-making, book-binding)
Fiber Arts & Sewing
Art History
Costume Design
Performance and Installation
Mindfulness with Artmaking
Singing
Mixed Media & Media Literacy
Art With Purpose (Activism-infused Artwork)
Portfolio Development (including all services offered)
Click below for a November 2025 story about some of my teaching and artmaking work.
