From the first day I met Tiffany Besonen, I hoped we’d be friends. I had known of the great work she was doing teaching middle school art, as my children were her students and brought home fantastic, creative work, but we hadn’t really met beyond a quick conference or meeting at an open house. Then she changed jobs and showed up across the hall from my classroom, transforming students into artists and making them THINK in a whole new way. I was attempting to do the same, and our students were blossoming (some of them, anyway). The two of us, too, were encouraging and supporting each other in our creative endeavors, and eventually in our lives in general. The collaborations that have resulted have been my best work, certainly, and I think the project we are working on now will be some of Tiffany’s best. I know that ideas are coming fast and developing well, and it’s pushing both of us in a really good way. Her drawing of a fox and a crow with bound mouths brings up so many thoughts and feelings for me, about times I didn’t speak, times I couldn’t speak, and the silence that binds us to those who have their own unspoken secrets.
Read more about Tiffany’s thoughts and see the sketch here: http://www.tbesonen.blogspot.com/
LouAnn Shepard Muhm 