LEARN | Heather Bird Harris

learn with Bird

Bird's Teaching Background

I am an artist, curator, and educator who prioritizes caretaking and connection. My work explores the throughlines between history and ecological crises, engaging with communities, scientists, and site-specific materials to investigate land memory, systems of complicity, and possibilities for emergence.

I have been teaching since I was 14, starting with swimming and flute lessons! More formally since graduating in 2009, I've served as middle school teacher, instructional coach, principal of a turnaround school in New Orleans, and director of social studies, supporting school leaders across the South to implement equitable learning practices and anti-racist history education. Currently, I'm teaching undergraduate studio art at Georgia State University and doing freelance consultanting for organizations across the U.S, specializing in adult learning, equity, and organizational systems. I received my B.S. in art history from Skidmore College and master’s degree in education leadership from Columbia University.

As an artist, I've led many learning experiences across the country on a range of topics, from hands-on skill-building to analytical art theory. A few of my recent facilitations have included:

Grateful Gathering: Foraging for Wild Ink Materials on the Atlanta BeltLine Westside Trail (with Maria Soto), Atlanta, GA June 2024
The Way of Water: Exploring Local Ecosystems (with Renee Royale), Virtual Workshop, April 2024
Creative Visioning In Community: Authentically Expanding Your Support Network, Emory University and North carolina, 2023
Working With Site-Specific Earth Pigments, New York City, Rhode Island, New Oeleans, North Carolina, and virtual, 2023
Finding Grounding: Nature Connection + Art Learning Experience (with Lilia Kapsali Grant), Baton Rouge, LA, Fall 2023
Atlanta Land Memory Project: Exploring Personal, Scientific, and Historical Layers of Place, Atlanta, GA, Spring 2023

Teaching Philosophy

Excellent teaching can be a form of social practice; it aims to create experiences that shift people’s perspectives. Through my work as an artist and educator, I'm interested in exploring how we can use creative processes to interrogate issues of inequity and imagine alternative ways of being through education and relationships.

Ultimately, teaching is based on relational accountability. Through a balance of challenge, support, and trust, education can be transformative, liberating, and expansive.

I participated in an online workshop with Heather Bird Harris— a thoughtful educator and artist, making space to learn how to make locally sourced materials with clear instructions. She also shared relevant historic and practical resources to making sustainable materials. It was a pleasure to meet her online and share what I learned with my students.

Lisa Sanditz