Bear Creek's Trinity Osborn Recognized as WAEA's 2017 Secondary Art Educator of the Year

REDMOND, Wash. - June 28, 2017 - PRLog -- The Board of Directors of the Washington ART Education Association (WAEA) announced the 2017 recipients of their annual achievement awards. These annual awards are WAEA's way of recognizing outstanding professionalism, service, promotion, and support of the arts by individual art educators in our state. In receiving these awards, recipients also become eligible for future nomination for regional and national recognition.

The Bear Creek School's Visual Arts Department Chair Trinity Osborn was nominated by her peers to be considered for the WAEA 2017 Secondary Art Educator of the Year Award.  Using a comprehensive scoring rubric, Trinity outscored other candidates to become this year's recipient of the WAEA 2017 Secondary Art Educator of the Year Award.  This award will be presented to Trinity during a WAEA gala event in the fall, with the date and location to be announced. Trinity will also be congratulated at the National Art Education Association (NAEA) convention next spring, downtown Seattle Convention Center, at a Secondary luncheon event.

Numerous letters of support were submitted from Trinity's school community on her behalf; she is well respected. Trinity has been a board member of the WAEA, conference presenter, and arts advocate. She has been an art teacher at Bear Creek for six years and feels very humbled and honored by such an award. Her students have received accolades and numerous high level awards through Scholastic's Art and Writing Competition, WAEA's Youth Art Month, Puget Sound's Regional High School Art Show, the Congressional Art Competition, Bellevue Arts Museum's 20 Under 20 contest, and CelebratingArt.com on their original, creative art work. Trinity says, "I come alongside the student who doesn't feel artistic. It's a wonderful thing to see, when a student exudes a willingness to learn and stretch himself in areas he deems himself incapable, he's actually opening the door to artistic growth and in the end can see the tangible effects in his artwork. During this progression, students become confident and learn exponentially faster and ultimately experience the joy of the creative process and the act of creativity." Trinity believes that there is an innate desire to create because we are all made in the image of God, the ultimate Creator, and that by taking part in the creative process, we gain a greater appreciation for God and His creation. Trinity explains that art is language, a form of communication. She encourages her students to think about what they are communicating through their art, to draw from personal experiences so that their art becomes more rich and meaningful. "My students are quite diverse, and I want to reinforce a space where we can share each other's passions through art."

Trinity's work is regularly exhibited on the Puget Sound region and around Washington State. This year two pieces from Trinity's "Courage within Community" series were selected for the Teachers as Artists exhibit at Maryhill Museum of Art, and her series "Spark" was selected for an exhibition at the Lynnwood Convention Center in conjunction with the Schack Art Gallery. Her piece "Hope in Triumph" won the People's Choice Award in Saaski Gallery of Monroe's 2016 Arti Gras Juried Art Show.

About The Bear Creek School

Founded in 1988, in Redmond, Washington, The Bear Creek School (http://www.tbcs.org) is an independent classical Christian school that believes only when faith, mind, and heart are fed together can students experience the fullness of education which produces leaders who think well and are compelled to engage the world with wisdom, compassion, and courage.

Recognized as a 2014 National Blue Ribbon School, Bear Creek serves students from the greater Eastside and is housed on two campuses. Redmond Campus on Union Hill serves kindergarten through grade 12 students in two state-of-the-art buildings. Valley Campus, also in Redmond, serves preschool students. The Bear Creek School is accredited by the Northwest Association of Independent Schools and AdvancED/Northwest Accreditation Commission.