Hello and welcome to The Art Garden!

I’m Lisa, elementary art teacher and girl mom to my southern belles, Lila, 6, and Willa, 4. I live in Birmingham, Alabama and strive to spend my time with my children immersed in art, nature, play, books, music, cooking, and anything that sparks imagination and creativity. Art runs in my blood and I come from a long line of creative thinkers in my family including painters, art teachers, architects, landscape designers, interior designers, industrial designers, photographers, actors, and musicians.

What this blog is about: In The Art Garden blog, I hope to inspire parents, families, and educators with creative ideas, art activities, and information on children and learning. I’ll share and document art projects that I do with my children at home as well as in my classroom.

I love nature and find so much inspiration from the elements around me. The majority of our art projects and activities we do involve getting outside, getting creative with what we have, or using nature as our subject matter…The Art Garden!

What inspired this blog: I hung up my art teacher apron when my oldest was born. I needed a break from teaching and staying at home was a perfect opportunity. My Lila and I had a blast together and introducing her to art activities was so much fun. We painted, played, collected treasures, cooked, read, did puzzles, and visited the library several times a week.

However, when daughter #2 came around, everything changed. I found myself just trying to survive and our projects and activities waned. I’ll admit that most days, while adjusting to two kiddos, knee-deep in laundry, sleep deprived, and a dozen other tasks to do, I just wanted to do the bare minimum or nothing at all. Getting out the materials and dealing with the clean up after a project didn’t exactly appeal to me. Over time, things got easier! I’ve learned along the way how to balance parenthood while also being able to provide creative opportunities.

I started this blog for myself as well as for my girls. It helped ME get out of the parenting slump and got my creative juices flowing again. It also provided my girls with fun art and learning activities.

While there are still challenges, my girls are both at an age where we can do fun projects and activities together. We have so much fun and I want to share our experiences with others looking for creative inspiration. We don’t do art projects everyday but I try to make sure my girls have access to materials that they can be creative with independently whether it’s with simple drawing tools, playing with open-ended toys, or getting outside and exploring nature. I’d love to share those ideas with you!

My art experience: I studied fine art and graphic design at Auburn University before transferring to Illinois State University for the Art Education program. After graduation, I moved to Louisville, Kentucky with my soon to be husband and took my first art teaching job at a k-8 school for special needs and learning disabilities. We later moved back to our home town in Birmingham where I taught elementary and intermediate art. I later became a stay at home mom for 6 years. I am now teaching art again part time and love it!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will find ideas that will inspire creativity with your family or school. Head over to my Activities or Home page to explore some of our projects.

If you would like to reach me, you can visit my Facebook page or use the contact form here. I also share our creative ideas over on Instagram.