The Colorado Art Education Association has named Karen Eberle-Smith, of Wheat Ridge, Colorado, to receive the Colorado Art Education Association Middle School Art Educator of the Year Award. This award recognizes excellence in contributions, dedicated service, and professional achievements of outstanding CAEA members in the field of visual arts education. Award recipients exemplify highly qualified art educators active in education today; they are leaders, teachers, students, scholars, and advocates who give their best to their students and the profession. CAEA is Colorado’s professional association for art educators. Members include elementary, middle level and high school visual art educators, university and college professors, education directors who oversee education in fine art museums, administrators and supervisors who oversee education in school districts, Colorado Department of Education representatives, arts councils, and teaching artists throughout Colorado. For more information about the association and its awards program, visit the CAEA website at www.caeaco.org.
Middle School Art Educator of the Year, Karen Eberle-Smith
Karen is highly respected and admired among her colleagues. When Michelle Zuccaro talks about her friend and ArtSource Co-Advisory member, she says, “Karen is wise, dedicated, adventurous, talented, service-oriented, and she is kind and empathetic to all who she encounters. She also has a wonderful sense of humor; something that serves her well as a teacher.”
Middle school students at Mountain Phoenix Community School know that their interests are the driving force behind her Waldorf art curriculum. “Curiosity and respect are key components of her teaching,” says friend and colleague, Kelly Mansfield. Karen plays an important role in leadership in her building, directing the home school program for Mountain Phoenix Community School. Additionally, she has been on the ArtSource Colorado Board for over a decade and serves as the current treasurer. To add to her ever-growing leadership plate, she is now leading the Next Gallery membership task force. Karen’s inviting personality, her sense of wonder and curiosity and her joyous sense of humor are what makes her loved by her students and peers alike. Kelly Mansfield says this about her friend, “I know Karen has made the world a better place because of her strong commitment to the lives of her students, our community, and to other art educators. I am proud to have worked with her over these past years.”
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