Hi, I'm Alison Massidda! 

All my life experiences and careers have led me on this journey and to the calling of Art Educator.

I have always loved making art. Once a week, for years as a child, I would visit the Kirkland Arts Center and enjoy making pottery. I love creating with my hands.

I graduated from high school with honors in art and was accepted to the University of Oregon, School of Architecture and Allied Arts in 1990. I experimented with several art forms while I was there, drawing, watercolor, ceramics, design, woodworking, welding, bronze sculpture, fiber arts, and art books. I took a lot of art history classes. In my junior year, I studied abroad in Siena, Italy, where I took courses on Medieval and Renaissance Art with our passionate Art History professor, visiting museums and historic sites throughout Italy. 

After graduation, I moved to Oakland, California, and got a job at Papyrus. I learned a lot about business, managing people, and customized stationery. My mentors taught me the basics of graphic design.

In 1998, I quit my job at Papyrus and started my own business, “The Perfect Invitation.” I loved my business. I met with clients. We discussed their venue, personalities, and the textures and colors they preferred, and then I presented custom invitation ideas to them. I created the art and design, assembled it, and outsourced most of the printing. I was, at times, a starving artist, but I was doing what I loved. I was able to live out my dream, and for that, I will always be thankful! My work was featured in Modern Bride, San Francisco Bride, Cosmopolitan Bride, and several other publications. In 2005, I moved myself and my business home to Seattle. Shortly after my move, I met my husband and had a baby. I took some time off from the working world to enjoy raising my family.

Fast forward to 2009. The Navy moved us from Washington State to Washington, D.C. I had two little ones at home. Everything was good, but I was missing art. I applied for a grant to “The Washington School of Photography” in Bethesda, Maryland, and was accepted. I completed the program and received a certificate in Professional Photography. I am proficient in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom and use a Canon 5D Mark II. For several years, I worked as a wedding and lifestyle photographer. I loved shooting weddings at the Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis. In 2019, I was offered a position at the McLean Project for the Arts to develop a preschool art curriculum and serve as a Preschool Art Teacher. I loved it! At that moment, I knew that I wanted to be teaching art full time, and I went back to school to get my Visual Arts Prek-12 teaching license in Virginia.

Just after I received my teaching license, I took my kids out of traditional school for the 2019-2020 school year so that we could explore the world and study history. I wanted to give them a different life experience before high school started, so they could understand what it's like to be a foreigner. We read a lot of books related to our studies. We visited the MOMA in New York and several national parks. We learned about the Nez Perce and other Native American Tribes, as well as Lewis and Clark, while traveling through Montana, Idaho, and Washington. We traveled to Hawaii and Japan and studied art, culture and WWII. We visited an art studio in Nara, where two elderly Japanese women taught us the art of Shibori. 

I adore being an art teacher. I present students with dynamic art lessons, providing them time and freedom for creativity and self-expression. I validate their work and cultures so that their creativity will continue to expand. I care deeply about equity and opportunity. I want to teach my children and the children I teach how to be good citizens. I want to teach them how to express themselves and convey a message through art.