Jody Camarra has studied art in many different media (sculpture, drawing, painting, collage) and settings, including the University of Massachusetts, Mass College of Art, The Art Students League and the New York Academy of Art. She has worked with kids in various community programs including the Big Brother/Big Sisters, Boys & Girls Club and the YWCA. Through the Pratt Institute ADE program, she has taught in the Saturday Art School. She went on to teach for 3 years in Williamsburg at the Gan Chabad preschool. Jody has a passion for experimenting, creating, learning from and teaching children. She is a fitness instructor for local moms who aspire to get fit with their babies, is working towards a Masters degree in Art and Design Education at Pratt and has recently celebrated the publication of her first illustrated children's book, When You Lived In My Belly by Jodi Meltzer Darter.
Jody lives in Ridgewood Queens with her husband, two daughters and their 55lb puppy.
Background
In 2004 Jody left her advertising sales career track to explore her artistic vision(s). For the two years following she was primarily a student at the Art Students League, sculpting and drawing 5 mornings a week and at the New York Academy of Art painting in the evenings. During this time, Jody worked as a mentor/teacher for an afterschool program in various NYC public High Schools for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program through a two year grant they received. In 2006 she needed to go back to work and found a more creative position with a floral designer in NYC, where she worked for a few years until needing to go back to her previous industry in order to make ends meet. Every summer from 2006-2010, Jody spent some time in the summers studying at Art New England in Bennington, Vermont with her mom, Caryn King. Jody worked in television advertising sales once more until the birth of her first daughter in 2011. At the same time, the proposition of finding a more meaningful and fulfilling career seems essential, so she went back to school, pursuing a masters degree in Art Education at Pratt Institute. In 2012, Jody co-founded the small hands workshop with another local mom and educator (more here).
Jody lives in Ridgewood Queens with her husband, two daughters and their 55lb puppy.
Background
In 2004 Jody left her advertising sales career track to explore her artistic vision(s). For the two years following she was primarily a student at the Art Students League, sculpting and drawing 5 mornings a week and at the New York Academy of Art painting in the evenings. During this time, Jody worked as a mentor/teacher for an afterschool program in various NYC public High Schools for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program through a two year grant they received. In 2006 she needed to go back to work and found a more creative position with a floral designer in NYC, where she worked for a few years until needing to go back to her previous industry in order to make ends meet. Every summer from 2006-2010, Jody spent some time in the summers studying at Art New England in Bennington, Vermont with her mom, Caryn King. Jody worked in television advertising sales once more until the birth of her first daughter in 2011. At the same time, the proposition of finding a more meaningful and fulfilling career seems essential, so she went back to school, pursuing a masters degree in Art Education at Pratt Institute. In 2012, Jody co-founded the small hands workshop with another local mom and educator (more here).