Boston Latin School Graphics Arts and Foundations of Visual Art teacher Ms. Elizabeth Walshak recently won Graphic Designer of the Year at the Boston Music Awards! The local Boston arts community recognized her incredible work designing t-shirts, flyers, logos, poster art, social media graphics and album art for local musicians, which she has been working on as a freelance graphic designer since 2012.
Ms. Walshak feels honored winning this award, saying, “It feels very validating to know that your work means something to one person, let alone an entire community.”
Her mother’s encouragement of hands-on learning nurtured her artistic interest and love for drawing at a young age. Ms. Walshak’s dedication to art increased during high school, when her ninth grade art teacher complimented her talent for it.
Ms. Walshak knew that a creative career involving working with and assisting others was the right fit for her. As a result, she decided on teaching to help students embrace their own identities and creativity.
She pursued this interest further, attending the School of Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, where she received her Masters of Arts in Teaching. While in school, her projects included drawing, printmaking and graphic design.
At BLS, her Graphic Arts class entails using software to create mobile apps, movie posters and book covers. The class is currently examining the rich history of vinyl record covers as part of their album art project. In the Foundations of Visual Art course, students grasp techniques in drawing, painting, clay sculpting and linoleum block printing.
Ms. Walshak hopes her students learn skills such as creative problem solving, taking risks and the process of creation, not perfection. Ms. Walshak reflects on the importance of these skills: “Creativity is so important in this world; we need to make space for it in our lives.”