Artist, Teaching Artist
Visual
Contact: Annie Schmitt
Address:
Erie, PA
Creative Combinations
With a background in STEAM education, arts, and environmental education, Annie designs programs that empower students to connect and create.
Artist Residencies at your school or organization for 20-60 days
Students grades 2-12
Media
Animation & Film
Garden-Based Learning
Digital Fabrication (3D Print/Vinyl Cut)
Visual Arts - Painting/Sculpting/Mosaics
Environmental Field Studies
Robotics/Coding/Game Design
Annie has 10+ years experience in education in a variety of settings. She has been a rostered teaching artist with Erie Arts & Culture since 2014, working as an artist-in-residence in schools & youth programs in Erie, Crawford, Venango, Elk, and Forest counties.
She previously Co-Directed Box of Light Studios, a nonprofit that offered youth STEAM and makerspace education through summer camps and community classes. During that time, she experimented with many technology mediums, gaining skills in stop-motion animation, film, coding, game design, robotics, 3D printing, and electronics.
Annie draws on her experience in environmental education and community food systems to integrate environmental themes, studies, and arts into many of her projects. She has previously run a 2-acre vegetable CSA, directed high school students at a farm youth work program in Vermont (maple sugaring!), led canoe trips on the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., and earned her Permaculture Design Certification from Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Annie is currently earning her PA Teacher Certification and M.Ed. in Teacher Leadership through Edinboro University. She intends to collaborate with schools to create permanent hubs for project-based learning, combining arts integration, environmental education, and makerspace education.
Selected Residency Projects
6th Grade, East Middle, Erie - Science Claymation on the States of Matter + Cel Painting
3rd Grade, Edison Elementary, Erie - Garden Fence Mural + Mosaic Stepping Stones
9th-12th Grade, CSE Skills Center, Erie - Digital Fabrication with 3D Printing, Vinyl Cutting, Paper Circuits
3rd Grade, Main Street Elementary, Titusville - Virtual Pet Game Design + Clay Sculpture
6th-8th Grade, Erie Rise - Kids as Curators exhibit on the Art + Science of Paper
Honors
Erie's 40 Under 40, Class of 2016
Nominee, Innovation Erie's "Creative Entrepenuer" Award, 2017
Nominee, Innovation Erie's "Social Entrepenuer" Award, 2015
3rd Grade Glass Mosaics
Middle School Book Page Poetry
Virtual Pet Sloth Game and Clay Sculptures
Garden Fence Mural Section
