Nadia Schwingle, Instructor

Throughout her life, Nadia has immersed herself in various artistic forms.  In high school, Nadia was selected to attend the very selective and competitive Governor’s Honors Program for communicative arts.  Her time spent at the Governor’s Honors Program impacted the way she viewed communication through various mediums such as poetry, prose, and film.  She learned more effective and impactful ways to write and analyze and she discovered a love for filmmaking, which she extended to various school projects following her time at GHP.  In addition to enriching art forms she already loved, the unique pedagogical experience at GHP inspired her to pursue teaching, as later in high school she taught both third and tenth-grade students as part of her internship.  Teaching proved to be an immeasurably fulfilling and invigorating experience for her, and she has continued teaching children in after school programs in college.

Nadia has also been highly involved in the performing arts.  She began performing in school productions in elementary school and continued throughout high school until she discovered that working behind the scenes was even more personally compelling.  She helped with script writing for different productions and enjoyed aspects of characterization unique to the stage. She has also explored lighting design and loves how easy mood manipulation can be achieved merely by altering light.  She also fell in love with aspects of set production such as design, painting, construction. This creative spark lead her to branch out to art classes such as ceramics, which she enjoyed so much she has continued in college.

During her senior year in high school, Nadia took an intensive two-hour course called “Humanities” which corresponded to the AP Art History exam.  This class imbued her with intense infatuation regarding art history. She quickly became enamored with learning about art from all cultures and all time periods.  Just when she thought she’d discovered her favorite epoch, she’d learn about a new one, causing her to vacillate between many “favorite” art historical periods such as Ancient Indian, Rococo, Fauvism, and even Mannerism (for a very fleeting point).  Since high school, Nadia has taken art history classes at Barnard College and has decided to minor in art history.  Her time spent at Barnard has helped has cultivated her love for not only learning about and writing about art, but also discussing art.  She is incredibly thrilled to have the opportunity to work with so many young minds and permeate a love of art history which is now intrinsic to her being!