Since 2016 I have worked with the South Dakota Arts Council as an Artist in Residence. Currently, I am also affiliated with Nebraska’s Teaching Artist Roster and Throughline Arts in Iowa.
residency Goal
When I set out in comics, I learned how accessible comics were as an art and form for expression. My goal is to work with communities and schools in my region to equip my neighbors with simple storytelling and illustration tools to help them lift their voices and explore their imaginations.
Today, I offer a variety of courses that include storytelling, roleplaying games, character illustration, and comics creation.
Press information and promotional material can be found here:
Residency History
Messy Hands Art Camp | July 24 - 28th 2023
The Vermillion Area Arts Council invited me back to run a summer camp session of roleplaying games that inspired character art and comics from students between 1st and 8th grade.
Avera Prairie Center Cancer Institute | June 5 - 8th 2023
The Cancer Institute invited me in to work alongside their art therapist to provide new palliative care for outpatient folks. Together, patients and I illustrated our own characters, shared stories, and explored the principles of comics. The 4 day week concluded with a large chalk mural reflecting on our interactions.
Oak Park Elementary | May 25th, 2023
I was invited back to Oak Park Elementary to complete a mural with kindergarteners. Together, we painted four oak trees in each season that showcased leaves created by their handprints.
Oak Park Elementary | February - March 2023
This was my first experience working with the Des Moines Public Schools. During this experience, I worked with 3rd graders, and their teachers to collaborate on an interactive reading space installation inspired by Neverland from Peter Pan. Students deployed problem solving skills, comics principals, and the depths of their imaginations to bring their own, personal, Neverlands to life.
Grass Ranch Hutterite School | November 2022
In my first time working with the Hutterite community, we took a direct look at how shape creates all art and illustration. Students, and I, drew characters and comics utilizing shape and comics industry standards.
St. Joseph’s Indian School | October 2022
I returned to St Joe’s after several years away. This year, we created our own comics from a roleplaying experience. I worked with mostly middle schoolers as we explored what it means to tell our own stories.
Messy Hands Art Camp | July 2022
The Vermillion Area Arts Council welcomed me in to lead a long form comics summer camp in which teens worked on developing protagonists, antagonists, stories, themes, and four page comics with covers.
Brownville Community Residency | July 2022
The city of Brownville, Nebraska hosted an all-ages summer workshop where we explored storytelling, character creation, and writing unique comic strips and pages.
Schuyler Public Library Workshop | June 2022
Schuyler's library invited me in for an afternoon workshop in which youth explored creating their own comics and working with industry standards.
Rosholt School District | October 2021
Rosholt, SD, invited me in to run my first ever class-sized mega game. In the game, students joined kingdoms (groups) to portray unique characters in an interactive roleplaying game. They kept journals and created character art to accompany the game.
Sacred Heart Middle School | October 2021
In Yankton, SD, I visited the Catholic middle school where we deployed roleplaying in order to create characters and comics.
Schuyler School District Summer Camp | June 2021
I returned to Schuyler, Nebraska, to work with middle schoolers during a two week summer camp. We explored roleplaying games, character art, constructing our own comics, and creating murals.
Rapid City Job Corps | January 2020
Rapid City’s Job Corps brought me in to work with students working toward their GEDs and vocational training. We roleplayed and created comics in order to explore the career of a comic artist.
Schuyler School District | May 2019
In Schuyler, Nebraska, I worked with kindergarten through 8th grade on projects such as roleplaying, storytelling, and introduced a new process of ink making with the middle schoolers. Students concluded with their own comics and a family exhibition during which students painted with their families using the inks they created.
Anne Sullivan | January 2019
Once again in Sioux Falls, I brought back roleplaying with the 5th graders who created tons of their own creative comics. I also worked with select 4th graders over lunch.
Eugene Field Elementary | October 2018
During this residency, I launched a roleplaying storytelling section, that went over swimmingly. Students in 5th grade got into character, designed them, and created comics about the characters they roleplayed.
Robert Bennis Elementary | April 2018
During a week residency, I worked with fifth graders who created their own mini-comics from script through color.
Lakeview School | March 2018
At Lakeview, we worked in small groups with every student in the school. We explored break-out games, storytelling, and creating our own comics.
Rosebud Elementary | March 2018
At the Rosebud School, I met with students from kindergarten - 5th grade to create their own scripts, characters, and mini-comics.
Wessington Springs Elementary | November 2017
Throughout a week, the fifth graders and I discussed good storytelling and early American explorers. Students wrote about assigned explorers, created character designs for them, and wrote fictionalized mini-comics about their explorer.
Anne Sullivan | November 2017
Anne Sullivan invited me back to tackle mini-book creation in seven days. Fifth graders took on story, strips, and mini-books, while I met with third graders for luncheon meetings. During these meetings, the third graders worked on stories, strips, and jam comics.
Madison Middle School | October 2017
Over the course of a week, I worked with the Middle School art teacher to lead students through the art of comics. We explored storytelling, character creation, and each student made their own own mini-books.
Action Arts and Science | 2017/2018 School Year
Working with 12 to 14 year olds at the Washington Pavilion, we are creating a tryptic of three banners to present to the Heisler Chemical Dependency Center. The group is challenged to create slingshots, marble roller coasters, catapults, and other contraptions to create their mini-mural.
Washington Pavilion Comics and Mural Art Camps | June 2017
In two weeks I taught kids about comics, comic art, and storytelling. Twelve students created their own mini-comics. In one week a small group of students and I created a mini-mural on stretch canvas. Students chose a tryptic of colors that represented Sioux Falls, and proceeded to create images of downtown. The piece was given to the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce.
Castlewood High School | March 2016
I was welcomed to Castlewood, SD, to work with 7th-12th graders on becoming better storytellers and create characters from a more objective perspective. Students each created their own characters and biographies.
St Joseph's Indian School | December 2016
I, and two native artists, came into the Chamberlain, SD, school to work with resident native children on cultural pieces that represented their own lives as well as the phrase Mni Wiconi (water is life). 7th-8th graders collaborated on creating an anthology comic of their own stories, as well as a mural on stretched canvas.
Sisseton School District | November 2016
I worked with the elementary school and k-5th grade to create nearly 400 single panel comics for school-wide display.
Anne Sullivan | November 2016
I came into the Sioux Falls elementary school and worked with 4th-5th graders on storytelling, single panel, and comic strips to create a book for the school's library.
Messy Hands Art Camp | July 2016
I camped for two weeks at the Vermilion Area Arts Council and worked with K-8th grade on storytelling, single panel, strips, and homemade comic books for a children's gallery.
Gregory School District | July 2016
I worked with the school on a summer art elective with K-7th grade. We covered storytelling, single panel, and comic strips to create a book for the school's library.
Youth Storytelling Class | The Bakery in Sioux Falls | July 2016
The Art of Storytelling | Sioux Falls Community Education | 2014 - 2015
Basics of Comics | Sioux Falls Community Education | 2014 - 2015