GIANT Spotlight: Meet Nancy!
Name: Nancy Chavarria
Tell us a bit about yourself… My name is Nancy Chavarria, and I am from Suitland, Maryland. A fun fact is that I FaceTime my jack russell terrier, Napoleon, often. He lives in Maryland with my parents.
I am an artist, photographer, and graphic designer, proficient in both English and Spanish.
What topics are you excited to teach about? I am excited to teach drawing, painting, and photography, in both English and Spanish.
What is your favorite thing to do in New York City? My favorite thing to do in New York City is exploring Brooklyn and seeing what’s new and exciting in the neighborhood.
Tell us about your work. What projects have you worked on in the past? Are there any favorite projects you want to share, or favorite moments teaching? Most of my personal work consists of photographs based around my parents and family dynamics in America, compared to their home country in Latin America, from which they immigrated in the late 80’s. My images are mostly on 35mm film - some are digital. I think that sharing what you know and encouraging creativity are my favorite things about teaching. One of the most generous things someone can do for another person is teach with an open mind. For that reason, an open dialogue is really important to me. As an artist, I find it exciting to have an exchange of ideas, artistic or otherwise, through teaching.
What is something you want to learn, or are learning right now? In my own photographic work, I present images in the form of books. So, I am always learning new ways to bind books and to present in ways that make sense to personal practice. This also includes learning the technical aspects of printing on different paper and how the paper flows and feels when a book is being bound or put together. I am also learning how to dye yarn through different processes so that I can continue indulging in crochet. I would love to learn knitting and sewing, but for now I am sticking with crochet. Having just started at The Giant Room, I am also learning everyday how to improve on teaching Spanish and art. It’s very lovely (and helpful) to see how everyone else is doing their sessions at The Giant Room. This gets me very excited to rework and rethink how I will go about each session.
Example Projects:
