Cordi Bradburn

Primary Discipline: Visual Arts

Areas of Specialty: Sculpture, Drawing, Painting

Additional Disciplines/Specialties: Video instruction

Based in: Leavenworth
Phone: 509- 548-5110
Email: cordibradburn@earthlink.net
Website: www.easy2draw.com

Biography: Cordi Bradburn has spent a lifetime immersed in the world of visual arts. In school she studied fashion illustration, but soon decided it was too restrictive creatively. Bradburn started painting at festival and fairs, where she learned to draw freely in front of people. This helped her later with teaching and demonstrating. Bradburn etched glass for 15 years and then began to sculpt, first in fired clay and then in bronze. She learned to make life sized cast aluminum work from Richard Beyer. While her son was in elementary school, Bradburn volunteered as an art teacher in his school. Based on her experience as a volunteer, she was hired as the Artist in the Schools for Leavenworth's Art in the Park school program. Bradburn has taught in the Cascade School District's three elementary schools for 22 years.

When asked about her approach as a Teaching Artist, Ms Bradburn wrote this: “My teaching goals are to instill a love of art in children and to increase their self confidence as artistic and creative beings. The earlier we create successes, the more likely children will continue to grow in the arts. It is rewarding to me to help students find confidence and pride in their creativity. I also think it is important for students to take on difficult tasks and realize it is worth the effort. When I teach drawing I chose subjects kids love because I believe that if they learn to draw anything they can transfer that knowledge to new interests as they arise. I help students gather information about their subject from various visual aides. We talk about different approaches to depicting the subject, for instance, the positioning of the subject, the viewing angle, the background and the lighting conditions. Much of what I teach is basic art education. Composition, line, shape and color are taught in the context of actual drawing projects, as ways to achieve the student’s goals for the image. Each lesson ends with a positive critique. This gives the students time to reflect and self-evaluate.”

Suitable for Grades: K-5
Preferred Grades: K-5

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