Teaching Artist Melissa Begnaud Mark, a country gal from Scott, Louisiana, has been heavily engaged in the creative process of sharing her love of visual art with her students . It all started in 1997 when she took her first drawing class with Elmore Morgan at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette . She couldn’t wait to go to class and knew from that point forward that she was hooked on art. She received a BA in 2001, with a minor in Visual Arts, and took art education classes at UL of Lafayette. She has had the opportunity to participate in single and group showings: exhibited drawings, paintings, and photographs.
She is very grateful for the Acadiana Center for the Arts as it has expanded her current work with students in a variety of settings such as the PACE program in LPSS elementary schools, the AEP program in Vermillion Parish, and the Talented Arts Program at the upper and lower campuses of ARCA. She has experience in teaching students from grades PK through high school during the past school years as a private school art teacher on the campuses of St. John Berchmans, Westminster Christian Academy, and Carencro Catholic . When the school year was over, she presented youth art workshops in surrounding Lafayette businesses: the Children’s Museum of Acadiana , Lafayette Science Museum, ULL Continuing Education, and the ACA. In the 18 years that she has been teaching art, there is one thing that keeps her inspired–It’s what her students give back to her in terms of their original creations.
She is always amazed with how wonderful their final pieces turn out because this shows her that not only did they grasp the concept, they were able to utilize the materials, tools, and techniques to make it their very own.