Valerie Xanos became an art teacher in the public school system to be an agent of change for young artists. Valerie grew up and still lives where she teaches, sharing a connection to her students through community on the southwest side of Chicago. A 26-year veteran of CPS, her BFA, teaching certificate, and MFA were earned at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and The Glasgow School of Art. Valerie got her start as a 12 year old, taking classes in Continuing Studies at SAIC and later taught in the Young Artist’s Studios Program. She is now teaching an Experimental Drawing and Painting course in the adult program. As an artist, she has worked in the media of paint, collage, and photography. Currently her artistic exploration is taking her in the direction of digital projection installations, soundscapes and installation art. She is working on a series using light and darkness as a creative media and conceptual inquiry. Valerie is focusing on light and dark as modes of the sublime and interested in the complex relationship of alternative perceptions of sensory awareness. Her work as a practicing artist informs her practice as a teacher, just as the work her students do informs her artwork. Interested in the Guerrilla Art movement, she uses this to influence an interdisciplinary and contemporary curriculum. It is a wonderful genre to affect social change through art in the community. She teaches a Guerrilla Art class at Curie Metro High School; you can see their art on IG@GAC.CurieHS. Her teaching philosophy revolves around student voice. The course functions as an artist’s collective where students help develop the curriculum. They learn the artistic process, skills and technique, and how to have agency in all that they create. Valerie also teaches International Baccalaureate Art, Drawing/Painting I. Valerie has been part of the MCA’s School Partner Program from 2015 to present. In 2015, her Guerrilla Art Collective worked with the artist Lee Blalock to produce an original film called Wake Up!!, inspired by the Bowie Is exhibit. The film was screened at the MCA’s 21Minus Festival. In 2016 they worked with musician, Mikel Patrick Avery, to create a sculptural and digital sound installation inspired by The Freedom Principle. Sound + Vision was installed in the 2016 21Minus Festival at the MCA. For the 2017 school year, her Guerrilla Art Collective will be working with the artist Andres Hernandez in a new version of the MCA partner program. S.P.A.C.E. is designed to connect an art class and a civics class with an embedded artist working at the Curie H.S. in a daily studio setting. They will focus on contemporary, socially engaged artwork and collaborate on a year-long curriculum culminating in a large project re-activating abandoned spaces. She is also a mother of four amazing, creative, willful, active young adults. They are often an inspiration to Valerie as a teacher. Several members of the Xanos household are practicing artists and share the Studio Xanos space.