Lara Hincapie
I am Lara Hincapie, an accomplished artist and thespian, and a current student in graduate school. 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 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 degree I spent several years working 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 at there at the FAC. I also have years of experience freelance set designing for different theaters’ for-youth productions. I am currently enrolled in graduate school and am an MBA candidate at the University of Colorado Denver Business School. 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.
You can check out some of my professional and personal artwork on my portfolio website:
This course offers an in-depth lesson on identifying and understanding plagiarism, learning proper citation methods, and how to avoid plagiarism to help students uphold a future of academic honesty with their writing!
Shakespeare is just as relevant now than he was over 400 years ago! This course serves as an introduction to William Shakespeare, his sonnets and writing style, and a brief history of acting troupes and the Globe Theater.
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.
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.
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.
This class focuses on the 1953 novel written by Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451. Set in an American dystopian society in which books are outlawed and “firemen” burn books, the novel questions the importance of reading as it explores the perspective of the world through ideas found in books.
Nouns and pronouns are the names by which we call people, places, and things! This class teaches students the different types of nouns and pronouns, as well as their proper use within a sentence.
This class in the Shakespeare series focuses on the original play, Romeo and Juliet, and we explore modern film adaptations of the story in popular culture!
In this class, we will look at famous works from American writer Sandra Cisneros. We will look closely at the short story, “Woman Hollering Creek,” and will discuss why this story and the writer have had such a lasting impact on American literature and culture.