Shari Hofschire

Biography

Shari Hofschire is the Director of the UNO Center for Innovation in Arts Education, which received the 2008 Chancellors Strategic Planning Award for Community Engagement and the 2011 Roscoe Shields Award from the Nebraska Art Teachers Association for "service to Art Education in Nebraska." She organized the CADRE II: The Arts program for MOEC (Metro Omaha Education Consortium) and served as its original coordinator. She teaches classes in the College of Fine Arts in both art history and graduate arts education and is a faculty member for Thompson Learning Community. Shari has twice been recognized as Educator of the Year for Higher Education by the Nebraska Art Teachers Association. She has been active in state arts organizations serving as President of Nebraskans for the Arts and Treasurer of the Nebraska Alliance for Arts Education. She has served as Director of the Prairie Visions Institute since 2005, organizing the week-long professional development summer institute for teachers and other educators from across Nebraska and western Iowa. Prairie Visions has been Nebraska's leader in comprehensive arts education for 25 years. Shari has conducted staff development workshops and in-services for school districts, as well as giving state and national presentations at numerous professional conferences such as National Art Education Association, Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, and American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education. She was selected to attend the Teacher Institute at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and the Education Leaders Institute sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. She was a member of the Board of Education for Westside Community Schools for 15 years. Shari is part of the team that developed the educational materials and thematic curriculum for the Nebraska Masterpieces project/posters, the Iowa West Public Art project, and the Omaha Mural Project for Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. She has received over $300,000 in grants for arts education projects for the Center.

Master of Arts/ English, University of Nebraska/ Omaha
Master of Arts/Art History, George Washington University, Washington D.C.

Center for Innovation in Arts Education: http://www.unomaha.edu/fineart/art/edcenter.htm

Nebraska Masterpieces Project:
http://www.nebraskaartscouncil.org/services/nemasterpcssection/

Sample units of instruction:
http://arts.unomaha.edu/art/NACNEMasters/CIAEunits.html

recent news

Nebraska Art Teachers Association Roscoe Shields Award, September 2011

NATA state conference presentation:
“Let’s Play a Game: Inspiring Art Making in the Classroom,” Kearney, September, 2011

European Studies Conference presentation:
“Amazons of the Russian Avant-garde” Omaha, October, 2011

National Art Education Association presentations, March, 2011, Seattle, Washington:
“Let’s Make a Mural: Inspiring Creative Ideas”
“Public Art Inspires Creativity, Collaboration, Community”

Arts Advocacy Days, Americans for the Arts conference, delegate as President, Nebraskans for the Arts, April, 2011, Washington D.C.

2011 Prairie Visions Institute, June 7-10, “Through a Cultural Lens: Memories, Traditions & Experiences in Art” with guest artist / author Carmen Lomas Garza.
http://arts.unomaha.edu/art/center/prairievisions2011/highlights.html

Iowa Public Art Project: Albert Paley poster / education curriculum. The sixth educational poster published in fall 2011.
http://www.iowawestpublicart.org/

Omaha Mural Project: Fertile Ground, Omaha’s downtown mural. Website curriculum and videos in fall 2011.
 http://www.omahamuralproject.org/

Nebraska Art Teachers Association State Conference, “Meg made a mural!  How can I use it in my classroom?” workshop, October, 2010, Omaha

ESU 3 Collaborative Staff Development Day, January, 2010; “Best Practices in Art Education” 

Nebraska Art Teachers Association State Conference, October 2009, Lincoln, “Prairie Visions: Professional Growth Through the Arts”

National Art Education Association National Conference, “Public Art in the Park: Connecting 21st-Century Students to Contemporary Art,” April 2009, Minneapolis, MN

Association for the Gifted state conference, “Using Arts Integration to Engage Gifted Students,” February 2009, LaVista, NE.