Biography
Siera Speer was born in Bristol, TN on August 21, 1991. Siera grew up as a child in North Carolina until she graduated high school in 2009. After two years of taking a break from classes, she decided to move to Virginia to go to school at Emory & Henry College. Here she has taken a variety of art, education, and psychology classes. She was the Supplemental Instructor for Ceramics for the Emory & Henry College Art Department for two years under Val Lyle, who is a professional artist and professor in the area. During this time Siera experimented with a variety of techniques in pottery making as well as a variety of media. She exhibited these works as well as others from her introductory art classes at the Appalachain Spirit Gallery in Marion, Virginia. In December of 2013, Siera visited Italy for two weeks into January 2014. There she visited Rome, Florence, Siena, and Pompeii. It made a great impact on her life and artistic career as she chose to create as series of works over the course of her painting classes at Emory & Henry College under Charles W. Goolsby. She has had a total of 180 hours of teaching experience, seventy of which were teaching under her mentor professor Tim Smith at Marion Middle School. Siera is still attending Emory & Henry College where she is anticipating to graduate in May 2016 with her Masters of Education as well as a Bachelors of Studio Art. Her goal is to become an inspiring teacher and artist who can educate and engage her students in a variety of art making processes where they can express themselves in appropriate ways.