ES Art Email Phone: 608.764.5442 Greetings and welcome to the Deerfield Elementary Art studio! My name is Mark Pendl and I’m thrilled to begin this journey of creation and discovery with Deerfield’s artists!
A bit about myself: I grew up in Chilton, Wisconsin. I’ve always been an artist. My earliest memories from my childhood tell a story of long summer days creating comic books, inventing games, making large drawings with chalk and building sculptures for my action figures. In high school I won regional awards for my artwork. I attended UW-Green Bay and UW Milwaukee and gained a bachelor’s degree with a double-emphasis in two-dimensional and three-dimensional art.
For fifteen years I worked as a professional artist. This work included murals in the Harley-Davidson Museum, faux-finishing in the Ulehin Mansion, and countless others involving restoration, color consultation, logo design, and painted stained-glass windows for businesses, museums, and churches. After teaching adults for almost a decade I returned to school and received my education degree from UW-Whitewater.
My experience as a professional artist has given me insight into the skills needed for our children as they move forward into an increasingly diverse and pluralistic 21st century workforce. My teaching philosophy is centered on teaching artistic behavior (TAB) and giving children a great amount of choice in their decisions and artistic ventures. In this room, we focus upon problem solving, discovery, and cultivating habits of mind that draw upon their innate abilities.
The best work our students can produce cannot come without thinking, and the best thinking doesn’t exist without imagination and creativity, two essential skills for success.
Your child is the artist, and this classroom is their studio.
I encourage you to reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns. Together we can make this space a place where all children can belong, accept one another, appreciate each other’s work, and flourish. Remember to ask your child about what they are doing in their art studio!
pendlm@deerfield.k12.wi.us