Abigail Harper

Art is all about learning to see—and my own path has taken me across continents and disciplines. Growing up between South Africa and the U.S., I have always been drawn to wild landscapes and how to capture these scenes with painting and printmaking. I obtained a bachelor’s degree in product design from San Francisco State University and a postgraduate diploma in fine art printmaking from the Michaelis school of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town.

But my journey to art education has not been linear and bridges the analytical and the creative. Prior to teaching, I earned a PhD in epidemiology and spent a decade managing research studies in HIV, TB and maternal and child health in South Africa before relocating to Reno. While I enjoyed the intellectual challenges of research and academia, I deeply missed the creativity of art making.

My goals as an art teacher are to open my students’ eyes to the beauty around them, explore the fundamentals of composition and learn about great artists and artistic movements. I understand that every student is different and I endeavor to introduce diverse projects and new mediums to spark their curiosity. While not every student will pursue a career in the arts, learning to see creatively enriches every walk of life. Through a diverse mix of hands-on mediums and personal projects, I hope to create a dynamic studio where every student can discover and nurture their unique creative strengths. Immigrating to the United States in 2023 marked a pivotal chapter: returning to the studio and the classroom feels like a natural full-circle moment, uniting my analytical lens with my love for artistic expression and working with young people.