Jason Robert LeClair has his Masters in Art Education from the University of Florida. He is also an honors graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, MA with his BFA in Media and Performing arts. A multi-faceted artist, he is equally comfortable behind a pencil, airbrush, keyboard, or tablesaw, Mr. LeClair lives life as an illustrator, author, set designer, theatrical director, and scenic and mural painter. His illustration credits include several magazine spots for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, the Pawtucket Public Library and RI Library Association. He has designed sets for over twenty years at a variety of venues in Boston, Hartford and Rhode Island.
Mr. LeClair has been teaching at the Beacon Charter High School for the Arts since 2007 and in the Continuing Education program at the Rhode Island School of Design since 2013. As a teacher, Mr. LeClair believes in the importance of art theory and the power of art making. Encouraging his students to create works as they discover their own artistic voices is his primary goal. He accomplishes this by teaching art history and theory as the students create. His students have gone on to schools such as RISD, SCAD, AIB, Maine College of Art, Marymount Manhattan, and AMDA. He frequently writes articles for RI Creative Magazine on topics of arts education and Steampunk. Mr. LeClair has delivered lectures online at the Arts Integration and STEAM conference run by education closet.com, RI League of Charter Schools, Providence Rotary, and he has spoken and taught at the Educational Theatre Association National Conference for Theatre Educators since 2015, and the International Thespian Festival.
Mr. LeClair has been teaching at the Beacon Charter High School for the Arts since 2007 and in the Continuing Education program at the Rhode Island School of Design since 2013. As a teacher, Mr. LeClair believes in the importance of art theory and the power of art making. Encouraging his students to create works as they discover their own artistic voices is his primary goal. He accomplishes this by teaching art history and theory as the students create. His students have gone on to schools such as RISD, SCAD, AIB, Maine College of Art, Marymount Manhattan, and AMDA. He frequently writes articles for RI Creative Magazine on topics of arts education and Steampunk. Mr. LeClair has delivered lectures online at the Arts Integration and STEAM conference run by education closet.com, RI League of Charter Schools, Providence Rotary, and he has spoken and taught at the Educational Theatre Association National Conference for Theatre Educators since 2015, and the International Thespian Festival.
Educational Philosophy
Art, in all of it’s beautiful and complex forms, is the soul of culture and the cornerstone of the human experience. Phylicia Rashad puts it very succinctly, “Before a child talks they sing, before they write they draw. As soon as they stand they dance. Art is fundamental to human expression." Central to my teaching is the concept of educator as lead learner and chief collaborator. As an educator, my passion for the arts informs my teaching and my understanding of what it takes to be an artist in today’s global society. I have come to learn that through the arts, especially the performing arts, we learn about the human condition in conjunction with others causing us to live more enriched, social, and equitable lives.
To emphasize the lead learner concept, I use a modified Socratic method in the classroom. The importance of interaction and feedback with/from the students as we learn together is essential to the arts classroom and in particular, the performing arts classroom. It contributes to the collaborative spirit of the medium, encouraging an environment of mutual respect. Using this as a jumping off point, I have also found that it is equally effective in the visual arts classroom. During critique it is essential, but one of my favorite projects is incorporating my sculpture and scenic design experience into a group installation art piece. Students group together and are asked to develop a piece of art that occupies and redefines a space. This project becomes an important turning point for visual students. Normally, centered in individual work, the visual arts in education are ways to develop great skills and work ethic. They incorporate three of the “four Cs” also know as twenty-first century skills; Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Communication. Where it was lacking in art-making, Collaboration becomes present in the installation assignment.
It is my deep passion for the use of all of these skills that has lead to the majority of my career in the arts being a theatre educator and practitioner. Theatre incorporates naturally all of the aforementioned skills. Students participating in the performing arts use these vital components of life daily. Sharing my passion for the arts with my students is to develop their ability to be valuable assets to society. Each student has the potential to achieve improvements to our world, together they will change the world for the better. My personal mission as an arts educator is to provide my students with the essential tools that will make it possible for them to be leaders, thinkers, entrepreneurs, innovators, and creators of complex beauty that will enrich the lives of all.
To emphasize the lead learner concept, I use a modified Socratic method in the classroom. The importance of interaction and feedback with/from the students as we learn together is essential to the arts classroom and in particular, the performing arts classroom. It contributes to the collaborative spirit of the medium, encouraging an environment of mutual respect. Using this as a jumping off point, I have also found that it is equally effective in the visual arts classroom. During critique it is essential, but one of my favorite projects is incorporating my sculpture and scenic design experience into a group installation art piece. Students group together and are asked to develop a piece of art that occupies and redefines a space. This project becomes an important turning point for visual students. Normally, centered in individual work, the visual arts in education are ways to develop great skills and work ethic. They incorporate three of the “four Cs” also know as twenty-first century skills; Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Communication. Where it was lacking in art-making, Collaboration becomes present in the installation assignment.
It is my deep passion for the use of all of these skills that has lead to the majority of my career in the arts being a theatre educator and practitioner. Theatre incorporates naturally all of the aforementioned skills. Students participating in the performing arts use these vital components of life daily. Sharing my passion for the arts with my students is to develop their ability to be valuable assets to society. Each student has the potential to achieve improvements to our world, together they will change the world for the better. My personal mission as an arts educator is to provide my students with the essential tools that will make it possible for them to be leaders, thinkers, entrepreneurs, innovators, and creators of complex beauty that will enrich the lives of all.
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