New faces in fine arts: Jacobson joins art team
Kiba Jacobson, a graduate of UNT, poses in her art classroom. Jacobson joined the fine arts department this year as an art teacher.
November 13, 2017
While growing up, Kiba Jacobson’s mother was an art student at the University of North Texas, and Jacobson was always around to observe and participate in her works.
Since Jacobson was 7, her mother both inspired and encouraged her daughter to be an artist.
“I always remember her working on artwork and being impressed with her art ability,” Jacobson said. “But also I remember it made me intimidated because she’s really good and so I was inspired by her, but at the same time, even though she helped me do stuff, she set the bar pretty high. She was really encouraging to me but still pretty stern, and I think I probably grew as an artist because of it.”
Jacobson followed in her mother’s footsteps by studying art at UNT. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a masters degree in art education. Seeing her students develop their own style is one of Jacobson’s favorite things about teaching.
“Every student has something new or different that they’re bringing to each project,” Jacobson said. “[They] express themselves through their art, and I think that’s really cool to witness.”
The students have impressed Jacobson by how much they already know about art.
“I’ve taught 9th [grade] through 12th [grade],” Jacobson said. “When I came to Braswell, it really was inspiring [to see] a lot of the 9th graders that have already developed good drawing skills or care for craftsmanship.”
Jacobson said she hopes to get a better understanding of her students and their styles.
“Before you don’t know them, you can only go so far, but I feel like we will be able to go really far once I get to know the students a little bit better,” she said.
As a Denton resident, Jacobson feels Braswell is the right fit, and she is delighted about how new the school is.
“I have actually taught at three schools. [Braswell is] an awesome school; it’s brand new … so that’s interesting. It’s almost like you’re starting out on the ground level of something developing so I’m pretty excited to see how the art department grows,” she said.