With a new year starting at MSJ, the newest additions to the MSJ community arrive. Since several teachers unfortunately left, St. Joe had to accommodate for the incoming class of 2021. With several new teachers joining the faculty family, each has his or her own creative flair to add to this community.
When talking about creativity, most people tend to think about art. Our newest addition to the art department, Ms. Bastidas, brings her own creative flair to the department and to her classes. Ms. Bastidas is from Bethlehem, PA, and came to the city of Baltimore to pursue her degree in art and teaching. After interning under Mr. Bieniek and seeing the strong community of the school as well as the individual talent of the students, Ms. B knew that MSJ is where she wanted to teach. She hopes to be able to have a positive impact on students and their ability to express themselves through art. Her main goal is to help students get out of the “MSJ bubble,” to have them explore new forms of art and, if possible, to show them galleries and let them experience the world of art. Ms. B has also stated her love for the Catholic ideals, Xaverian values, the creativity of the students, and the school’s individuality as a whole, which make MSJ what it is.
Ms. B isn’t just teaching here at MSJ: she also teaches two summer classes at the Baum School and the Banana Factory in PA. While Ms. Bastidas isn’t teaching, she travels around the world learning new types of art styles and forms from diverse communities. Ms. Bastidas learned and loved the way in which communities around the world create art that is dear to them even though they have limited resources. This is one of the many reasons as to why Ms. Bastidas loves the great city of Baltimore: “I love the community of artists, it doesn’t feel pressured and is supportive to new and rising artists. It’s not as competitive as let’s say, NYC. There are a lot of opportunities for community artwork.”
We welcome one of the newest teachers here at MSJ and the creative flair she’ll bring to our community.
