Hello! Welcome to my teacher page. The 2022-2023 school year will begin my 18th year of teaching Visual Art, eighth year at Athens High School.  I am so proud to be an Athens Golden Eagle and look forward to being your Visual Art teacher. I can't wait to meet you and look forward to teaching you how to communicate through art. 

Currently, I teach Visual Art I-IV and Advanced Placement Studio Art and Design. I have experience teaching Photography, Crafts, Painting, Drawing, and Ceramics. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in Photography from Jacksonville State University and a Masters of Education in Art from Alabama A&M. I received AP Studio training through SCAD Atlanta in the summer of 2017. 

I love painting, photography, and crafting in my spare time. Art has always been my passion, and I am very fortunate to be able to do what I love every day. I strive to make students comfortable about the work they produce in hopes they will be just as passionate about creating as I.  I believe art is a way to express every kind of emotion, it's an escape for some, and a way to communicate when words are no longer adequate. It is important to one's education and the one discipline to connect all disciplines. 

I am a Limestone County native and currently reside in Ardmore with my husband/best friend, Jedd, to whom I have been married for ten years. We have a son, Sylas,  who attends school at FAME Academy at Brookhill Elementary. We enjoy watching football and baseball together, especially when our son is on the field. Additionally, we enjoy going to the beach, swimming, and spending time with family and friends when we aren't at the baseball field watching our HITS catcher.  

I love volunteering in our community. I am an alumnae member of the Lambda Gamma Chapter of Delta Zeta and a member of the Athens Delta Zeta Alumni Organization. I enjoy working with the Empty Bowls Project of Athens-Limestone County each year, where my students and I create ceramic bowls to donate to the organization to help raise money to feed the hungry in our community.  My students and I have donated art to help raise money for the Athens-Limestone Hospice Chili Challenge, painted back drops for the local Poke Sallet Follies, made ornaments for the Christmas Tree on the square, and participated in the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. art competition and Eli's Block party/ Childhood Cancer Awareness art competition. My students and I painted a bench for a local boyscout project, the bench can be found at the Athens Farmers Market; we also painted a rocking chair during the bicentennial celebration. We often display our art projects in various locations around town as well. 

Each year, students are encouraged to participate in a variety of art competitions. Locally, students enter art in the Martin Luther King, Jr. and Childhood cancer awareness art competition (previously mentioned),  One Athens Fine Arts Showcase, Athens City Visual Art Library Show, Athens State Black History Exhibition, Learn to Read Council Art Competition, Athens Mayor's Youth Commission art contests, and others that may be introduced. On a state level, students' works are entered in the Alabama State Superintendent Art competition, Youth Art Month at the Hunstville Museum of Art, the Congressional Art Competition, the Visual Arts Achievement competition, and the Shelby County Statewide Juried art exhibition.  

One of our favorite projects of the year is collaborating with the third graders at FAME Academy/ BES. Each year the third graders travel on a "field trip" to visit our Fine Arts Department where they do a project-based art piece that focuses on a unit of study in their class. After students do their art piece they are able to view the Art Gallery, visit the theater class and the Performing Arts Center, and visit the band room/ facilities. We look forward to continuing the tradition each year and working with the community. 

I enjoy making connections in the community and working with various organizations. It is my goal to create an artistic partnership with my students and businesses/organizations in Athens. If you have a project that you think we can assist you with, please feel free to email me at any time. 

Stay connected and see what my students are producing by following the Athens City Fine Arts page on Facebook. You can also follow me on instagram @slatonartahs and twitter @SlatonArtAHS.