Sara Macaulay, Visual Arts

Years in teaching: Who can remember?! 34? 35? :-)

Year appointed at Winsor: 1984

Winsor courses/levels you teach:
For 2017-2018: Class I Art, Class III Design and Drawing, Class IV Painting and Color, Class V Drawing Studio, Class V Introduction to Digital Photography, Class VI Advanced Painting and Color, Class VI Figure Drawing, Class VII/VIII AP Studio Art and Portfolio, Class VII/VIII Art History, Upper School Printmaking.

For 2018-2019: Class III Design and Drawing, Class IV Painting and Color, Class V Introduction to Digital Photography, Class VI Advanced Painting and Color, Class VI Figure Drawing, Class VII/VIII AP Studio Art and Portfolio, Class VII/VIII Art History, Upper School Printmaking.

Other Winsor activities:
I've done many things over the years at Winsor - department head, class coordinator at both the Class VI and VII level, Panel advisor, led student trips to Spain, Turkey and Italy, Admissions interviewer, etc. I am currently the advisor to SAFA (Student Association of Fine Arts) and Lamp, next year I will advise Class VII, leading a trip to Prague, Vienna and Budapest in June 2019.

What three words would girls use to describe your teaching style?
Just 3?! Calm, patient, encouraging/helpful.

How would you describe your relationships with students?
I try hard to keep them at the center of the relationship, and to help them make the most of their strengths.

Do you have a favorite lesson or project to teach?
It's hard to pick just one—I have many favorite projects. I am trained as a printmaker, and I love teaching anything to do with printmaking. One of my other favorites is introducing students to painting with oils.

What do you love about teaching?
It's always changing...what we teach, how we teach it, who we teach—none of that stays the same from year to year, and I think that's why it's possible to stay so fresh for so long.

What’s the best thing about teaching at Winsor?
The students and my colleagues, especially my art colleagues, and of course, the beautiful art studios we get to teach in.

Is there a lasting lesson you hope girls take from your classes?
It's important in life to find something that nurtures you, that feeds your soul. For some students, that something could be art.

Favorite Winsor tradition?
I just love the fact that Winsor is steeped in tradition, and my very favorite traditions include the Shakespeare play (I led the Shakespeare scenery crew for 25 years!) and the Banner.

Personal passions/hobbies:
Horses! I am an avid rider and have owned horses since I was about 12. I currently do dressage, ride with and coach three quadrille teams in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Quadrille is a team of horses doing a choreographed ride to music—it's like dancing with your horse and a bunch of your friends with their horses.

Favorite teacher:
My favorite teacher, hands down, was one of my art history professors in college, Kit Wilson. I took every course he taught! He was a great teacher but what I remember most about him was that he told me, when I was a senior in college and having trouble deciding where I wanted to go to graduate school (because I had applied to widely varying programs: Art History, Art, Art Restoration and Conservation,) that I didn't have to know, at that moment, what I was going to do with the rest of my life, and that I didn't have to stay on just one path. He gave me permission to choose what I wanted to do right then, knowing that if I wanted to change my mind in five or ten years, it would be fine.