Turner's Fox honored with national art educator award

A Turner Public School art instructor with nearly two decades of service has been recognized as one of the top 15 art instructors in the nation.

April Fox was honored with Artsonia's 2021 Art Education Leadership Award in April. A press release said the award honors pioneers in the art education community who continuously inspire their peers and engage students.

"It's an honor, I'm kind of blown away. I feel so lucky to have peers that feel like I'm worthy of being nominated for these things. That just means a whole lot to me," Fox said.

Fox said she had no idea she was in the running for the award because she was nominated anonymously.

"I'm not sure (who submitted the nomination). I have my suspicions. One of my colleagues ... uses Artsonia quite a bit, and she follows my classroom. And so that's my guess, but I haven't actually asked her," Fox said.

"Artsonia calls themselves an online art museum. It's a place for me to upload images of my students' artwork. They can also upload their own. They can also include artist statements. It's a way for family and friends to see what they're completing, even if they're far away," Fox said.

This isn't the first time she has been nationally recognized. Fox was honored as a Pacific Region Art Teacher of the Year through the National Art Education Association two years ago.

Fox said her passion for art and art education dates back to her time as a student.

"I think one of the main reasons I got into art education is because I didn't have much growing up. I always enjoyed art but in my school the only art class I took was ITV, which meant interactive television. I watched the instructor on a TV set in our classroom, and he was located 25 miles away from us. So it's something that I just really thought I would like to be more involved in and help more kids have access to," Fox said.

Fox's range of students runs the gamut of K-12. Mediums of art range from painting and drawing to welding and woodworking - as wide of a variety as possible, Fox said.

"As I keep going, what keeps me energized is just I love watching kids learn about new things and being able to find ways to express themselves and be creative and it's just always fun for me," Fox said.

Fox, like many teachers, has continued to adapt and still provide an outlet for her students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This year, we've been very fortunate. We've been face to face all year. We haven't had any cases in house that we know of. I have one student that is distance learning and I have had to adjust to what I teach just because I need to think of things that she can use at home. But I think it's gone well," Fox said.

"I tried really hard last spring during the pandemic to gear my lessons towards some more therapeutic things. I think some of them did find, or did enjoy the art aspect of their curriculum last spring," she added.

The Artsonia press release said Fox is one of thousands of art teachers from over 100 countries around the world who use Artsonia to showcase their student art, crowdsource lesson plans and help fundraise for their classrooms.