Disttinguished Instructor Named Art Teacher at Franklin Academy in Pembroke Pines FL

Brett Thomas Joins Faculty at New Pembroke Pines K-8 Charter School

Pembroke Pines, FL (January 27, 2011) – Brett Thomas has been named art teacher at Franklin Academy, a public charter school which will open in Pembroke Pines for the 2011 -12 school year. Thomas, a nationally and internationally exhibited artist who has been teaching for 13 years in Florida, Illinois and Pennsylvania, will work with other teachers to integrate art and art history into the curriculum.

“I intend to bring the art environment into education in a much stronger manner than usually found in schools,” said Thomas. “I want the students to understand the connection between society, culture and art movements. For example, the students will learn how the industrial revolution influenced the art of the same era. I hope after attending my class they will have opened their minds up to art.”

A strong proponent of the importance of art history, Thomas will illustrate to the students how art movements travel from culture to culture. The curriculum will include drawing, painting, collage, sketching, art history and color theory. Working with the school’s architect, Thomas helped create three state-of-the-art classroom studios complete with potters wheels and kilns for firing ceramic pieces.

Thomas, who earned a Masters of Fine Arts in Ceramics and a Bachelors of Fine Arts, has taught at K-12 schools, colleges and continuing education programs. He specializes in Raku pottery and has operated Mobile Raku, a traveling ceramics classroom complete with kilns, glazes and tools. Thomas’ work has been shown at galleries and museums in Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Diego and Cincinnati, as well as in Paraguay and Poland.

Franklin Academy is a not-for-profit charter school offering a rigorous curriculum and a comprehensive program aligned with the Next Generation Florida Sunshine State Standards. Unique to Franklin Academy is the emphasis on the student beyond just textbooks. Through a sustained and integrated program of character development, Franklin students will explore a sense of community, integrity and obligations to self and the world. A unique feature of the school is single-gender core curriculum classes, although students will attend co-educational social activities and enrichment programs. An extended school day, from 7:45 am to 3:30 pm, allows students and teachers more time to pursue subjects in depth. Enrichment classes for all students include chess taught by a grand master, art, music, physical education and computer technology and research.

The inspiration for Franklin Academy was Ben Franklin himself, a founding father who personified the pursuit of excellence, discovery and creativity. Additionally, he was an innovator, had a strong sense of community and lived by his virtues of character. The school will incorporate many of these virtues into the school day.

The campus, which will be located at 18800 Pines Boulevard, will include a newly built 81,000 square foot state of the art facility, athletic fields and jogging paths with exercise stations. Groundbreaking at the ten-acre campus is scheduled for January 2011. Applications are now being accepted online at www.franklin-academy.org or at the school’s Information Center at 18243 Pines Boulevard. For more information call 954-703-2294.

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This release was published on openPR.