Courtney Odell is a practicing painter, printmaker, and sculptor residing in Santa Cruz, California. She received her Master of Fine Arts from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, California. Courtney has taught art ranging from kindergarten to high school for over five years. Lessons incorporate art history, contemporary art, and current events to embrace art as a powerful resource for positive change. A typical lesson involves discussion on the context of the project (historical, political, social), the introduction of relevant artists, and a tutorial on the art-making process. Courtney works to cultivate inclusivity, curiosity, and experimentation in her classroom.

Visual Arts

No Credential

Intermediate Spanish speaker

$40 hourly plus materials fee

Requires: Classroom with desks

Program 1: Empathetic Super Worlds

3-5th grades

Inspired by contemporary artist Saya Woolfalk, an Afrofuturist artist known for creating worlds inhabited by hybrid human-plant beings, students will design their own “Empathetic Superworld.” Through discussions of Afrofuturism, students will explore how science fiction and fantasy can inspire new ways of imagining a more equitable and hopeful future. Drawing on these ideas, students will create vibrant rainbow scratchboard artworks using oil pastels, experimenting with high and low contrast to bring their imagined worlds to life.

VA:Cr2.3.4a - Document, describe, and represent regional constructed environments.

VA:Re7.1.4a - Compare responses to a work of art before and after working in similar media.

VA:Cn11.1.4a - Through observation, infer information about time, place, and culture in which a work of art was created.

Program 2: Shape-Shifters

2nd-3rd Grades

Inspired by contemporary artist Masako Miki, a Japanese American artist whose work draws from Japanese mythology and folklore, students will explore Miki’s Shape-Shifter series and the themes of identity, transformation, and culture. Through discussion, students will consider the many ways we also act as “shape-shifters” in our own communities. Students will design and construct a series of paper structures that reflect their own ideas and identities. As the project develops, these individual creations will gradually accumulate into an immersive sculptural environment. Additional materials will be introduced throughout the process, allowing students to add complexity, personality, and life to their spaces.

VA:Cr1.1.2a / VA:Cr1.1.3a - Brainstorm and generate multiple approaches to an art or design problem.

VA:Cr2.1.2a / VA:Cr2.1.3a - Experiment with various materials and tools to create works of art or design.

VA:Re8.1.2a / VA:Re8.1.3a - Interpret art by identifying subject matter and describing relevant details.