Year: Senior
Major: Painting
Without hesitation, Angela Washko said she knew from the moment she picked up a paintbrush in kindergarten, she found her passion.
Art has become a driving force in the senior painting major’s life, a journey she hopes will lead to a career teaching young people how to express and motivate themselves through art. She hopes to sell a few of her eclectic paintings and photographs along the way.
At the moment, Washko is busy preparing for graduation, working as a student ambassador for the Tyler School of Art and serving as president of Produce Exhibitions, Tyler’s student-run exhibition program. Somehow, she still manages to find time to paint and photograph a range of subjects.
At Temple, she was encouraged to experiment with photography. She figured it would be good for her to photograph her paintings. After taking a few courses in photography, she became more interested in contemporary photography than contemporary painting because “photography allows a sense of removal that painting just doesn’t.”
Her paintings show a funny, irreverent side to the young artist: a woman who sees the playful side of life and creates attractive paintings with bursts of colors and hues.
One of her favorite paintings shows a group of baby chicks highlighted by vivid hues of pink and orange to depict the morning sun. Another painting was of a rabbit nestled beneath a set of large pink rabbit-ear slippers.
Washko said she believes she was bitten by the teaching bug during her sophomore year when she worked with Sam Rich Photo on a mural project at Sheridan Elementary School in Allentown, Pa. She loved interacting with the children, who would hang around between classes and after school to watch her paint.
With a concentration in art history, Washko said she plans to pursue a career as a teacher. She applied to teach at low-performance and -income schools with Teach for America.
“I came across a lot of applicants with portfolios that show passion and potential but lacked the necessary skills to be admitted into an art college,” Washko said of working in the admissions office at Tyler. “It’s these students I want to help.”
Lauren Williams can be reached at laurenw@temple.edu.
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