This semester, SCHS welcomed a new teacher. Intro to Art Digital and Graphic Design teacher Abbey Sinclair is excited to spread creativity and interact with SCHS students at her first high school teaching experience.

Sinclair looks forward to getting more involved in extracurricular activities, such as clubs and sports. One characteristic of SCHS she has noticed and appreciates is that the student body seems to be on top of their tasks.

“Everyone knows what they should be doing and knows what is expected of them,” Sinclair said. She believes art is a beneficial class that can help all students think more flexibly.

“Whether you are going in to be a doctor, or do want to be artist, I think it’s really important to have some creativity in your background and be able to think creatively,” Sinclair said, a belief reflected in her hobbies of knitting and crocheting.

Sinclair finds herself drawn most to the many modes and possibilities of art, a disposition reflected in her specialization in painting and mixed media – the creation of art using any type of materials. Her own thesis project, which she considers untraditional, used real eggs to create a large painting titled “Dearest Darling.”

Sinclair decided she wanted to teach art rather than just create it while studying for her Master of Fine Arts degree. However, the path leading up to her decision was not entirely smooth.

As an undergraduate, Sinclair double-majored in art and biology. While she enjoyed the hands-on, field experiences of her higher-level science classes, she found it increasingly difficult to balance logging enough hours in the art studio and studying for science, especially chemistry.

“I think what was happening was that the majors were so different, like there was no overlap, and I went back and forth several times on whether to keep biology or art,” Sinclair said. “But I found my strengths were much better in art, especially when I started taking upper-level classes.”

Because of her own experience, Sinclair encourages students who are feeling torn or uncertain about what to pursue to ask questions and stay in touch with their advisors.

“Have an open mind,” she said. “There might be a subject that you were not interested in during high school, but in college, it could be completely different.”

Sinclair’s artwork from her graduate studies can be seen here: cargocollective.com/abbeylamb