Ms. Leveston is an artist, certified art educator, and entrepreneur, who was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in the south suburbs of Chicago. She has dedicated almost 10 years writing Art curriculum and teaching Art in the K-12 classroom environment.

 

Ms. Leveston has always had a passion for creating and learning about art. One of her earliest memories of creating art was in 2nd grade when she wrote a story called "The Frog Detective" and drew illustrations for it along the sides of the paper. It was clear to her that storytelling and art went hand in hand. Ms. Leveston continued to create art throughout her school age years. While she loved art and continued to draw, in school, she did not have access to many of the classes that would have really enhanced her artistic skill level. Even in high school, art classes were extremely limited. She ended up taking one course, but it did not quite prepare her for the rigorous road ahead that she would face in college. However, her love for art kept her going.

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In 2003, Ms. Leveston enrolled in Truman State University's Bachelor of Fine Arts program. It was extremely tough. She realized that if she had been more prepared and knowledgable about art during her middle school and high school years, she would have had a better experience as an undergraduate student. This sparked an interest to go into art education and work with children. She wanted to help children who had an interest in the visual arts with providing them with the knowledge she had to learn later in life.

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Upon receiving her BFA, Ms. Leveston received a full tuition scholarship and assistantship to conduct graduate studies at The Pennsylvania State University to obtain her Master of Science in Art Education. While attending graduate school, she also worked to achieve her professional teacher's certification to teach K-12 Art. After graduating from Penn State, she moved back to the Chicago area to teach children her passion. Ms. Leveston has taught in south suburban school districts, as well Chicago Public Schools.

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Some interesting things she noticed while in college and throughout teaching were that: 1) There was a lack of Black artists studying the field of Art Education. 2) Many of her students were unfamiliar with the various Black artists who made their mark in the art field. Because of this, Ms. Leveston understands how important Black representation is in art and that artists of color need to be highlighted for all students to see.

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Within the last few years, Ms. Leveston has reconnected with her passion for creating art, taking on art commissions as time permits. More recently, she created her own business called Paintin & Poppin Traveling Paint Parties, LLC, where she teaches others the joy of painting for fun. With Paintin & Poppin, she taught in-person parties pre-COVID-19 and has recently added online paint party services, as well as "The Paint & Pop Box," which is a self-guided paint party kit.

 

As far as her teaching accomplishments go, Ms. Leveston has achieved much within the last several years. While in graduate school, she presented her thesis work regarding her experiences as a Black woman in art and art education at the National Art Education Association conference. More recently, she has presented research from her teaching experiences at conferences such as the Illinois Art Education Association conference and at her former school's in-district professional development seminar. Ms. Leveston received the honor of receiving the Distinguished Service Award for a Professional Member (Teacher Of The Year) in 2015.

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Through her work, Ms. Leveston has realized that the sky truly is the limit and she wants children to know that they can manifest their dreams using their personal creativity and imagination.