We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Christine “Teeny” Conway a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Christine “Teeny”, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?

I’ve been a teacher for nearly 10 years. I earned my multiple-subject teaching credential in January 2015, and have worked in hundreds of elementary school classrooms in the past decade. My main role within the district has been a substitute teacher, and 1st-3rd grade classrooms were my sweet spot. I learned how to teach children how to read, how to add and subtract simple numbers, how to write about the things they knew or wanted to know. I learned how to model the act of respecting one another, of moving through life with kindness and curiosity, of advocating for your needs and beliefs amongst large groups of people.

Because I worked solely within public education, a sector that unfortunately severely undervalues art and creative exploration, a skillset I did not learn during this decade was establishing an art practice. When I was hired on as an art teacher at a private school, I immediately went into a spiral of negative self talk. “I can’t do this. I don’t do this. I’m not an artist. I’m just a teacher. They got the wrong guy!”

I was suddenly expected to teach students how to paint, how to work with clay, how to discover their own artistic identities while I was discovering my own. There was no room for me to feel any sense of pride over my ability to get a six year old to read a few sentences. That didn’t matter any more. My imposter syndrome was all-encompassing.

Soon, however, I started noticing elements of my previous teaching practice coming into play in this new educational arena. I found that what my students needed, above all else, was a sense of confidence in themselves. Confidence to explore different mediums, confidence to ask for feedback and guidance, confidence to make mistakes and try again.

My years of working in classrooms packed to the brim with small children and helping them gain skillsets of which they had no prior knowledge absolutely led me to becoming an expert confidence-builder. It no longer mattered that I was not a master of painting or drawing. I found that I had been training for years to become the best art teacher I could possibly be to these new students of mine – a teacher that knows how to make their students feel valued and capable. I understand now that the innate artistic creativity we all have flourishes when we feel supported and seen, and I credit my years of working within public elementary school classrooms to my ability to do just that.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I sort of fell into the local Portland art scene after taking one of Lettie Jane Rennekamp’s drawing classes through Ulna Studios in the Fall of 2021. Before then, I would certainly not consider myself anything close to an artist. I was simply a teacher who appreciated art from afar. However, I immediately became enamored with Lettie Jane’s style and the way she talked about art and its affect on her life and mental health. I decided then to stay in close contact with her, and see where her mentorship would lead me. She invited me to work on a mural of hers, and while working on the mural, she asked if I’d be interested in teaching art with her at Pacific Crest Community School. Her willingness to trust me and the vision she had for me inspired me to pursue this offer.

I was hired on as one of the art teachers at Pacific Crest in the Fall of 2022. Since then, I’ve taken more art classes, met more artists, co-curated my first ever art show, and have simply continued asking myself, “What else do I want to do on this art journey, and whose help do I need to do it?”

While I do not necessarily have a product I sell, or even a craft I feel especially skilled with, I deeply value the curiosity, excitement, and collaborative spirit I bring to the art world. I’ve been called a “hype man” by a handful of these new art friends, and I receive feedback from folks saying they’d love to work with me on various creative projects. I’ve become the person people come to when they want to hear, “I love that idea. Let’s make it happen!” and I actually make it happen. And I think that’s pretty cool.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I love that, as an artist and teacher, my whole world is centered around the basic questions of, “How can I help others express themselves? How do I want to express myself?” It is such an exhilarating stasis to operate from because it is innately caring and curious. And if you’re not busying yourself with how to become a more caring and curious individual, then what are you wasting your time doing?

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Pay them more. Period.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: __tinybean
• Other: Here is a published article I wrote in 2020 about the challenges/thrills of teaching: https://equip.learning.com/what-a-first-grade-teacher-learned-from-distance-learning

Image Credits
The image of me standing next to a person holding trophies: Their name is Fry, and that is an photo from our art show titled, “You Did It!” held at Turn Turn Turn.