Bio
Carrie Neumayer is an artist, illustrator and musician with extensive teaching experience and a great enthusiasm for working with students of all ages. She studied painting, printmaking and illustration at the Kansas City Art Institute and received her Bachelor of Fine Art with a concentration in painting from the Art Academy of Cincinnati. She holds a Master of Arts in Teaching in Art Education from the University of Louisville and has eight years of experience teaching diverse student populations as an art teacher with Jefferson County Public Schools—three years at the elementary school level (K-5), three years at the middle school level and two years at the high school level—during which time her students have won numerous art awards.
Carrie works in a wide variety of media, including painting, drawing, printmaking, illustration and photography. Her paintings have been exhibited at Cinderblock Gallery, Kin Ship Gallery, Spalding University’s Huff Gallery, Carnegie Center for Art and other galleries in the Louisville area. Carrie's illustration work has been published in Louisville Magazine, The Louisville Paper and LEO Weekly. She is a member of the Louisville Cartoonist Society and has published 11 autobiographical comic books.
Carrie’s experience as a classroom art teacher at all grade levels enables her to offer a broad range of art activities and possibilities for residencies in the school setting. Her residency offerings range from group comic anthology projects, group mural projects, experimental photography lessons and pop art sculptures.
Potential Residency Project
Storytelling Through Sequential Art and Comics
Time Required: One week –- can be expanded to two
Grade Levels: Can be adapted to any grade
Superheroes, gag cartoons and escapism generally come to mind when one thinks of comics. However, comics are a form of sequential art that can encompass a broad range of subjects and aims. They can have political themes, shine a light on important social issues, and/or explore the complexities of human relationships. Comics can also be autobiographical, allowing the creators to tell their own stories through words and images and empowering them in the process. Students will explore cartooning and storytelling techniques and all students involved in the project will have their work published in a group comic book anthology. This residency would be beneficial for Language Arts teachers or any other teacher wanting to integrate the arts into a literacy curriculum.
Collaborative Mural Project
Time Required: One to four weeks depending on size and site of mural
Grade Levels: Can be adapted to any grade
Students will transform part of the school's environment—either indoors or outdoors—by participating in a group mural project. Students will work together through the processes of brainstorming, sketching, planning, revising and finally painting the mural. Students will understand key concepts based on the elements of art and principles of design as well as aspects of storytelling and narrative art from a variety of cultures. The mural can be tailored to any curriculum. This residency would be a great way of integrating art into the academic curriculum, and it would support and enhance the Arts and Humanities program review. If the school would prefer to have a temporary mural rather than a permanent mural, the painting can be done on a large sheet of styrofoam board.
Pop Art Food Sculptures Made from Toilet Paper
Time Required: At least one week
Grade Levels: Can be adapted to any grade
Students will love fooling their teachers and peers into thinking that the food sculptures they create are real food when in fact they are made with toilet paper, gloss medium and paint. This is a hands on sculpture project that is a big hit with students, teachers and parents. Students will derive inspiration from artwork created during the Pop Art movement of the 1960s, with a focus on Claes Oldenburg. For younger students, this project could be tied to health and practical living as it would relate to units focusing on nutrition and healthy food choices.
Pop Art Life Sized Figure Sculptures Made from Packing Tape
Time Required: At least one week
Grade Levels: 6 – 12
In this residency project, students will create life size figure sculptures inspired by the artwork of George Segal and other artists of the Pop Art movement of the 1960s. This is an excellent team-building project, and it teaches students about the importance of public art. Students work in teams to create realistic, transparent figure sculptures made from packing tape and plastic wrap and then collaborate with teachers and staff to determine appropriate sites in which to display their work for the school community to view.