New Intro to Art teacher Maria Kersey gives the blank canvas of the school year its first splash of color. After graduating from University of California, Santa Cruz with a bachelor’s degree in art and a minor in mathematics and then teaching at Berkeley High School for 20 years, Kersey embraces her passion for creativity at SCHS.

Outside of art, Kersey enjoys hiking, backpacking and dancing. This past summer, Kersey enjoyed contra dancing, where live musicians play guitar and fiddle.

“I got to go on a trip to the East Coast to do that (contra dance) with a friend of mine who teaches fiddle,” Kersey said. “I would dance for six hours, and he’d play fiddle. I also played guitar, and we sang together too.”

Contra dancing is not Kersey’s introduction to music as she has spent her whole life surrounded by instruments. She also shares her passion for music with her family and friends.

“Music I’ve always done – singing, playing guitar, playing upright bass. I have performed quite a bit,” Kersey said. “My sons are both musicians. They’re both jazz musicians, though. Much more complicated stuff than what I tend to do.”

Kersey worked with her hands in various ways, not just with instruments, but also with wood. One of her biggest art projects involves construction and crunching numbers.

“I designed and built two houses. I did a lot of math stuff, so the three dimensional world and designing and building that way was real natural to me,” Kersey said. “When we needed to expand our house – it was tiny, like the size of a garage – I designed it myself and then had a certified engineer figure out the beam calculations and everything, but I designed it.”

Kersey’s father was her main source of inspiration as she was growing up, especially in her many creative pursuits. Like Kersey, he was a teacher who was passionate about the things he did.

“He played guitar, had a beautiful voice and he loved art and nature. I kind of picked up on that – both of my parents do – but he was probably one who was the most expressive about those things, and I was lucky enough to have him,” Kersey said.

Another creative hobby Kersey has is dark room film photography. At Berkeley High School, she specialized in teaching students how to develop their photos.

“This is the old school film stuff, but the students still really love the class,” Kersey said. “You go into the dark room, project these images, and it makes a silver print, and it’s like magic when it comes up in chemistry.”

Kersey believes that creativity gives students a way to leave their worries behind. She hopes that her classroom environment can help students support each other.

“There’s something to focus on and enjoy doing in life besides certain drudgery or having our eyes on a computer screen all the time, which teachers have to do a lot, too. There’s more to life than that and (it is) human connection,” Kersey said. “As artists – and all people – we need our village. Things are not gonna get easier. Things are gonna get more challenging, but beautifully. It’s really important that they (students) have each other’s backs. One needs the other, or it’s a bad day.”

Kersey is ready to join SCHS as a new art teacher, painting her classroom with students’ excitement and newfound love for art.

“(The best part of my day is) seeing students get excited about their artwork or those things when they learn something. It’s like that ‘Aha!’ moment. That’s what I love to see. It’s more important than doing my own artwork, to see people get excited about their work,” Kersey said.