MY BIO
Tamara Doleman is the current Head of Visual Arts at Ashbury College where she teaches a variety of Visual arts courses in the Senior School. She is a passionate educator of close to 20 years. Tamara holds art specialist qualifications as well as for junior level classroom teaching. She has completed Special Education Part 1 and is certified to teach the Visual Arts IB certificate.
Currently in her second year as a graduate student at the International Center for Studies in Creativity at SUNY Buffalo State University, Tamara has taken a keen interest in researching ways to nurture creativity. She is curious about the factors that contribute to learning, growth, resilience and collaboration. She has presented on numerous topics related to creativity in workshops and conferences as well as facilitated groups in corporate settings to promote breakthrough thinking. She is a trained creative process facilitator, a practicing art-maker, a loving wife and a busy mother of two bouncing boys.
Tamara Doleman is the current Head of Visual Arts at Ashbury College where she teaches a variety of Visual arts courses in the Senior School. She is a passionate educator of close to 20 years. Tamara holds art specialist qualifications as well as for junior level classroom teaching. She has completed Special Education Part 1 and is certified to teach the Visual Arts IB certificate.
Currently in her second year as a graduate student at the International Center for Studies in Creativity at SUNY Buffalo State University, Tamara has taken a keen interest in researching ways to nurture creativity. She is curious about the factors that contribute to learning, growth, resilience and collaboration. She has presented on numerous topics related to creativity in workshops and conferences as well as facilitated groups in corporate settings to promote breakthrough thinking. She is a trained creative process facilitator, a practicing art-maker, a loving wife and a busy mother of two bouncing boys.
My Creative Life
Eventually these images will link to pages that tell my story.
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MY STORY
I come from a long line of people connected to creativity. My earliest memories are conjured with an accompanying soundtrack made up of my dad fiddling, my grammy on the piano, my brother on the violin,me playing Mozart, a choir practice, a solo in a musical. The visuals include more images of arts experiences and activities than you could believe possible for a child, I acted, sang, danced, drew, painted etc. It would appear from my earliest days that I was destined to live a Pro C (Kauffman & Beghetto, 2009) life in the arts. My piano teacher would say, “You are very talented, you have a gift.” But one at a time my engagement with each beloved art form ended. Over the course of growing up rather than my talents blossoming into full and glorious blooms, they were stunted. I can state with certainty that my creative light dimmed when I was 9 years old, triggered by my parents divorce. Our life circumstances changed, my safe and nurturing environment vanished, my mother became intensely depressed and I became her caretaker. |
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I spent a great deal of my childhood worried about others. My own feelings, fascination and energy for life wound tight around me into a protective ball through which I could hardly feel anything at all. This made me really strong and able to handle a lot. I would use the arts to connect with and explore my feelings. Sometimes I could escape and get lost in beautiful flow. Over time, what remained was the art room, the only thing that kept me attending school and engaging creatively.
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I entered art teaching out of interest, but also with a sense of gratitude for I do believe that my high school art experience was the lifeline that saved me from myself, and I wanted to provide that opportunity to others. In university I began to study art “seriously”, traditionally. Most of the art classes I took emphasized the product and as my artistic process were resulting in unpleasant images, I became increasingly unwilling to be open to what I might express in my work. I became concerned about how people would judge my work. I began judging my own work with disdain and disgust. The process I had used successfully to find solace was more often than not, producing anxiety. The emphasis on the success of the product took me away from enjoying the actual process but yet, I still loved art so much. The less art I made, the harder it became for me to make it. Before I knew it, I became an art teacher who was not making much art, but always inspiring others around her to do it with a feverish passion, protecting her students from the judgment she hated so much. I got a creative fix from teaching but like a person on a diet in a candy store, there was an underlying and constant empty craving. I made excuses and busied myself with my children and family and when that wasn’t enough, I distracted myself with work, trying to fill the void that over time I forgot was a result of my lack of creative expression.
Over the years, I tried my hand at meditation, yoga, retreats, workshops, and Reiki energy treatments to reignite my creative confidence. Each attempt offered some respite, but only for a short duration. I decided to do my masters at Buffalo State College's International Center for Studies in Creativity, hoping that I would learn what creativity is and why it was broken in myself. What I learned was that it was never broken, and it had never disappeared.
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On this website, I will share with you some of my discoveries and insights about creativity and how they have helped me to explore my unique relationship with this most incredible construct, become reacquainted with it, and what I plan to do to fuel my fire and keep it going to live a creative life.
MY FAMILY
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