Portfolio of Teaching Projects

Work with Nonprofits

Harvard Museum of Natural History

“Rachel is a great arts teacher and I hugely enjoyed the class I took with her at the Harvard Museum of Natural History inspired by the exhibition on sea monsters. The initial exercise she taught us where a random scribble gets turned into a little piece of art has become part of my daily mindfulness practice.”

Fides, Chimeras and Sea Monsters participant in-person at the Harvard Museum of Natural History

Each semester, as a guest teaching artist, I offer several one-day classes, both online and in-person, through the Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge, MA. As the public face of three research museums that are part of Harvard University, their mission is to "enhance public understanding and appreciation of the natural world and the human place in it."

North Branch Nature Center

I often work with North Branch Nature Center, located in Montpelier, VT. I have taught a variety of online and in-person workshops as a guest teaching artist, curated art exhibitions with their gallery, and assisted in planning Fungi Fest 2024. Their mission is to connect people with the natural world.

Work with Schools and Teachers

Community Engagement Lab

"Rachel is an expert teaching artist who blends her love of nature, science, and creativity into a powerful recipe for engaging and inspiring those she works with. Her arts-integrated curriculum projects never fail to amaze and inspire. If you are looking to energize your classroom with creative and deeper learning, Rachel is an excellent partner in that work."

Paul Gambil, Community Engagement Lab

Project Design Lab is a week-long professional development workshop for Vermont teachers run by the Community Engagement Lab every summer. Teachers work with master teaching artists to design a project leveraging the power of creative engagement–making things we care about–to inspire deeper learning and a classroom culture of creativity and collaboration. ​During the following school year, each teacher-artist pair puts the plan in action as a multi-day residency.

Art-Infused Project-Based Learning - PRIMER: A Culture of Creative and Deeper Learning, winter 2026. This 3-day mini-version of PDL focuses on the foundational skills of project based learning to help teachers infuse creativity into their classrooms. 

From Mark-making to Nature Illustration residency with Darcy Hogg, Georgia Elementary School art teacher in fall 2023. We used scientific illustration-inspired drawing lessons to practice observation skills with grades preK-4. 

Artists in Schools

"I have had the pleasure of working with Rachel on multiple occasions, and each experience has brought incredible creativity and depth to my science classroom. During my capstone project with 7th and 8th grade, she collaborated with me on a full year of art integration, including nature journaling, microscope drawings, and science self-portraits that were proudly displayed in an art show. More recently, she worked with my 6th grade students on a mark-making project, where students created a collective mural representing their daily water usage within the Lamoille Watershed, which was later displayed at the town hall. Rachel is wonderfully collaborative, imaginative, and inspiring—I can’t wait to partner with her again."

Melisssa Hunkins, Middle School Science Teacher

Every year the Vermont Arts Council supports Vermont teaching artists working with schools through the Artists in Schools grant. This grant funds multiday arts experiences based in Vermont schools from preK-12th grade. 

River Watercolor residency with Melissa Hunkins, People's Academy science teacher in spring 2024. We used mindful visual art projects to help her 7/8 grade students explore their connection to the local watershed during her water unit. Students developed signature symbols using watercolor, which they used to represent their "water footprint" on a hand-drawn map that was displayed at the town hall. Melissa's students enjoyed the project so much that they followed up with a second version, a trout, in spring 2025.

Art and Microscopes residency with Brian Dumais, Crossett Brook Middle School science teacher, in fall 2020. We added a series of scientific illustration lessons to his 7/8 grade microscopy unit, culminating in a creative form-and-function cell modeling project in clay.

Art of Science residency with Melissa Hunkins, Crossett Brook Middle School science teacher during the academic year 2018-19. We integrated visual art into three of her subject units across the year, including nature journaling, microscopy drawing, and an art and science history culminating project. Students presented their final work at a community art space.

School sponsored projects

"Working with Rachel was like discovering a missing piece to the puzzle. Her artistic lens brought fresh perspectives to biological data, and together we inspired students to explore the science of climate change, microplastics, and birds through compelling visual narratives."

Andew MacBlane, High School Science Educator

A few of the schools I've worked with have dedicated budgets for teaching artist residencies or arts-infused projects. 

Teaching Artist for Next Charter School, academic year 2024-25. This school is a small, Project Based Learning high school in Derry, NH. I taught 6 art projects targeting their art competencies. Topics included DIY materials, imaginative drawing, sculpture and mobiles, and visual story telling. I also co-taught 3 science and art classes with the science teacher on climate change, microplastics, and ornithology.

Science & Art residency with Jenn Anthony, Stowe Middle School art teacher, and Jeff Grogan,Stowe Middle School science teacher, fall 2023. In this week-long residency we integrated art into Jeff's 7/8 ecology unit through observational visual art using multiple media. Each day had a theme(primary producers, decomposers, etc) paired with a new art media to explore. Next, we met in Jenn's art room to translate their explorations into a 3D clay tile representing each theme.The tiles were displayed in the hallway. Students enjoyed the nature art connection so much that a small group met afterschool to put in a mural on the same themes.

Water is Life celebration, with Heather O'Hare, Moretown Elementary preK and art teacher, Spring 2022. The Moretown preK teachers, working with an Abenaki teaching artist, coordinated a school-wide celebration of water, culminating in a ceremony of appreciation for water. As part of that bigger context, I led preK-4 grade students in a project using melting ice and water droppers to explore the properties of water while making colorful abstract art peices. Heather selected a few to frame and display around the school permanently.