Lara Hincapie
I am Lara Hincapie, an accomplished artist and thespian, and a recent graduate, having earned a Master of Business Administration degree.
From a very young age I joined the exciting world of theater as an aspiring actress, singer, and dancer. Throughout my youth I trained not only as a performer, but I was also introduced to what would become my first passion–scenic art (painting) and scenic design.
I graduated from St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX, with a Bachelor’s of Art degree in Theatrical Design and Technology. After earning my first degree I spent several years working around Colorado and Texas with various theater groups, and primarily worked as the Charge Scenic Artist for The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, and was published by The Guild of Scenic Artists for an article about a faux texture process I created and implemented for an award-winning set design at the FAC. I also have years of experience freelance set designing for different theaters’ for-youth productions, as well as freelance mural painting.
I recently graduated with an MBA from the University of Colorado Denver Business School. Aside from teaching, I also work as Next Level Homeschool’s Administrative Assistant.
I spend my free time working with my best painter friend for our self-started company, Scenic Spark, painting murals, faux-finishing, and specialty painting for residential and commercial properties throughout the state of Colorado. I also enjoy teaming up with my brother, who is a poet, to create children’s books, which he writes and I illustrate.
I have long been drawn to arts education for young people, in large part due to my own childhood and that the arts shaped my life from a very early age. I have taught musical theater acting and dancing to ages ranging from 4-18, as well as studio painting and theatrical painting to high school and college ages. I enjoy teaching art to younger ages, because it helps kids discover themselves, to better understand who they are and who they might want to become; art teaches us about life in so many ways. For me, as a kid, participating in drama was a way to push the limits of my comfort zone, and the perfect challenge to my restless spirit. I have a new found love for teaching literary arts as well, including play studies. But I love teaching the arts in general, especially to youth, because I seek to guide the growth of their inner artist, so that they might find a sense of direction in life through the arts (whether literary, theatrical, or visual arts)– like I was so lucky to find for myself as a young person and turn into my life’s work.
This $5 course offers an in-depth lesson on identifying and understanding plagiarism, learning proper citation methods, and how to avoid plagiarism to help students uphold academic honesty with their writing!
This class is designed to educate students on proper, polite, and effective correspondence communication. It provides resources that students can use to aid in acceptable ways of formatting informal and formal letters and digital messages.
Learn about different forms of poetry, the culture that gave rise to these forms, and some of the famous poets that came out of those movements. Then, put this knowledge to the test with creative writing assignments!
This class explores the work of American writer Richard Connell. We will look closely at the writer’s most famous short story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” and will discuss why this story and the writer have had such a lasting impact on American culture.
This 1-week course will introduce students to one of the great short stories from Jack London, whose work has become known as one of the “classics” in American literature.
This is an introductory class to art theory and art history. In this four week class we will cover the elements and principles of art theory, and then explore the styles of art throughout human history, from cave men to today.
We're starting off our literary series with the famous Lord of the Flies! During this 4 week course, students will read and analyze the novel, and then compare it to a film version.
In this 1 week course, students will read and explore a short story by American author Shirley Jackson, and then we will explore how this story has influenced other famous works in American culture (such as Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games series!)
This class digs into the 1998 novel written by author Louis Sachar – Holes. Stanley Yelnats is sent to a juvenile detention center is the Texas desert, where boys dig holes for the warden, and despite a family curse, he must uncover the truth of what is going on at Camp Green Lake.
In this 1 week course, students will read and explore a short story by American author O. Henry. We will also explore the significance of this story to literature and how it has influenced other famous works in American culture.