Experience in Art Education
Education and Experience
2019 - 2020
PROPart Coordinator,
Police Reform Organizing Project
Deirdre volunteered as PROP-Art Coordinator from 2018 - 2020. As a form of outreach to communities suffering from abusive policing she taught a series of painting and poetry workshops for children at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Harlem, New York.
September 2009 - August 2018
Founder & Director, Red Hook Art Project
Deirdre Swords founded the Red Hook Art Project (RHAP) in 2009. She directed the volunteer-driven project until 2018. Under her leadership RHAP's free programming grew to include visual art and music classes on weekends as well as homework help sessions and stress management workshops on weekdays. It also grew from six students with two volunteer educators to 25 students with 12 volunteer educators. You can learn more about RHAP at www.redhookartproject.org.
Under her leadership RHAP's mission was rooted in a two-fold belief:
- all children and youth have the right to an in-depth art and music eduction,
- and non-profit initiatives can thrive under the volunteer model.
Between the years of 2010 and 2018 RHAP students were accepted and enrolled at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, Edward R. Murrow High School's visual art program, the Art and Design High School, Brooklyn High School of the Arts, the Fashion Institute of Technology and SUNY Oneonta.
September - May 1997, September - May 2003
Adjunct Professor of Studio Art, Haverford College, Haverford, PA
Ms Swords taught sculpture and drawing (beginner and intermediate levels) as a substitute for professor's sebaticals.
September 1990 - May 1995
Deirdre's Education:
New York Academy of Art,
New York Studio School,
Parsons Academy
Five years of intensive studies resulting in a Masters of Fine Art with a concentration in figurative sculpture.