Hill School faculty member and Art Chair Linda Conti has been elected Vice-President of the Virginia Art Education Association. She will begin her two year term on January 1, 2014. Linda will help to advance the Visual Arts in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The members of the VAEA advocate for art education in the state of Virginia through their mission, which is to ”promote, support, and advance visual arts education through professional development, leadership, research and service.”
W. Scott Russell, the president of VAEA, said, “Linda has demonstrated great leadership by actively participating in the growth and development of her profession. She is gaining insight into actions and legislation occurring in Virginia while helping to provide a strong voice for the profession on a state and national level. She will be leaving a valuable mark on art education in the Commonwealth…You are very fortunate to have her at The Hill School. The VAEA looks forward to her continued leadership.”
Linda has been involved with VAEA since 2006, and feels honored to be involved with a group of creative thinkers who share their knowledge 
and passions with each other. She feels that professional development is essential to becoming a better teacher, “by seeking new knowledge and experiences in our field, we bring fresh ideas to our students, as well as the courage to risk being a student ourselves. Staying open to growth as a teacher is vital to what we do in the classroom.”
Through VAEA conferences, Linda has been able to bring information from the Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Chrysler Museum, and the Taubman Museum to Hill School. Projects shared by art teachers throughout the Commonwealth add to our students’ education, such as the Japanese brush painting which our students experienced during the Culture Study program. Together, members engage, teach, and support developing young artists. Linda also shares her knowledge by teaching workshops to other teachers.
Linda’s one woman show, Reflecting on the Ordinary, can be seen in the lobby of the Performing Arts Center Theater at Hill School through Nov 30th.
