Portfolio Development Program 2012

Class of 2012 Selected!

Congratulations to our Portfolio Development scholars for 2012: Mary Metz, (Andrew) Myoung Whan Lee, Emily Petley, Sang Joon Shin, Kathleen Flynn, Heeyoung Park, Emery Devin Gillespie, Stephanie Paradis, Kylar Daigle, Amber Dawn Levy.

For the sixth straight year, the Saint John Arts Centre is offering a 22-week Portfolio Development Program. This program is designed for students who are dedicated to the pursuit and study of visual art and is aided by the generous support of the James Venner Russell Foundation.

This opportunity will provide students with formal art instruction that will entail workshops, studio time, critiques, curatorial experience and effective writing presentation in preparing a portfolio for post-secondary application and ongoing art enrichment. This program is open to students from grades 11 and 12 and to students who graduated in the spring of 2011. This program offers a teaching studio, individual work spaces and possibly an opportunity for students to exhibit their work in a gallery space at the Saint John Arts Centre.

The purpose of this program is twofold: to enable students an opportunity to learn under the guidance of a visual art teacher as they are provided with formal instruction; and to enable them an opportunity to work on a proper portfolio presentation for a post-secondary school. The curriculum will be designed so that master classes, workshops, studio time, critiques, curatorial experiences and effective writing presentations are provided. The Saint John Arts Centre will offer students an opportunity to expand their own personal style through problem-solving and creative expression through visual arts.

Meet Sara Griffin, Program Coordinator

Sara Griffin grew up on Grand Manan, a small island in the Bay of Fundy. In 1997 she attended The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Nova Scotia gaining an entrance scholarship to the university. Over the next four years she obtained a BFA, majoring in painting, sculpture and printmaking. In 2000, as an independent study for her BFA, she carved marble in Pietrasanta Italy.

After graduation in 2001, Sara spent a few years traveling to Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan. In 2004, the artist used this time to study printmaking more exclusively at NSCAD. From there, she traveled to Vancouver, British Columbia through a scholarship at Malaspina Printmakers Society. In 2007, Sara had the privilege of relocating to Okayama Japan, and there, she taught English to children. It was in 2010, that Sara completed her Bachelor of Education at the University of New Brunswick. Currently, she is teaching in Saint John, New Brunswick.

A member of the board for Third Space, an artist collective in Saint John, Sara serves on the Executive Committee for New Brunswick’s Visual Art Education Association.

Ongoing, Sara Griffin continues to create work in her studio. Her creations can be found at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Art Sales and Rentals and in Trinity Galleries in Saint John.