Biography
My name is Lorraine Masters-Coughlan. I am an artist/educator from Co. Longford. I graduated from the Limerick School of Art and Design in 2012 with a BA in Fine Art Painting and will graduate with a Professional Masters in Art & Design Education with Digital Media in 2023. Following my BA, I worked on my practice in Limerick city as a co-founder and member of Bishop Street Studios, and later as a member of Wickham Street Studios. After gaining my TEFL qualification in 2016, I taught ESL to a variety of age groups in South Korea and later, in China.
Visual Art opens up a world of opportunities for young people to look more deeply at the world around them and consider their place within it. As a teacher I am creative and enthusiastic and take a student-centred, holistic approach to my practice. I believe strongly that students should have a voice in their own learning and embed this belief throughout my practice.
Curriculum Vitae
“…of all our cognitive capacities, imagination is the one that permits us to give credence to alternative realities. It allows us to break with the taken for granted, to set aside familiar distinctions and definitions.” (Greene, 1995, p.3)
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In order to effectively teach students about a world that is becoming consistently smaller and more diverse, imagination is essential to the role of the teacher. Every school is different, every classroom is different, and every student is different. As Eisner reflects (1985, p. 176) teaching requires, for its artistic expression, routines with which to work and repertoires to draw on. As visual art teachers, we are not only providing students with technical skills and knowledge but also with skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity. We are challenged with doing this while operating within a framework that focuses heavily on exams and places inordinate emphasis on the results of those exams. Imagination is needed to be able to balance both of these.
References:
Eisner, E.W. (1979), The Educational Imagination, New York: McMillan
Green, M. (2000), Releasing the Imagination, California: Jossey Bass