Life & Work with Kristal Hoeh

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Kristal Hoeh.

Hi Kristal, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
As someone who wanted to go into the arts for my career from the beginning, it has been my goal to be able to support myself and my family.

The moniker of the “starving artist” has haunted me throughout my life. I would be perfectly happy creating art all day long and then putting my finished pieces in the closet when finished. However, coming from a background of economic hardship, I wanted to use my talents and interests to gain meaningful employment.

I felt I could have easily gone into the hard sciences by using my math and science knowledge as I did the liberal arts. I had over a 4.0 in high school and did well in all of my AP classes. However, when reflecting on the quality of life I wanted, I knew I wanted to deal more with people and ideas than facts and figures.

Using scholarships, grants, and loans and working at the college cafeteria, I paid for my undergraduate education. I thought about the stress of creating art for others as a graphic designer or illustrator with deadlines and subjective guidelines and decided that I wanted to create the deadlines and assignments as an art teacher. This has allowed me to work with children and introduce them to the world of art.

At this point, I have been teaching art for 20 years. I started out in Arizona’s public schools as a full-time elementary teacher. As a young mother, I switched to online teaching so I could stay at home with my brood and still make an income. For the last 13 years, I have taught Art History to high school students virtually.

Recently, my youngest moved on to middle school, which allowed me to go back to teaching full-time in the elementary classroom.

We all face challenges, but would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I have encountered several challenges along the way. The first was finding funding for college. My father was a single parent of 5 children and did not have the means to put us through college. He did have a small inheritance which he divvied among us children that would pay for my housing and food for one year in the dorms.

He urged me to stay home and go to a community college to make the money go further. While not a bad idea, I was bent on starting at a university as a freshman. When I ran out of money at the end of freshman year, I knew I needed to find a way to feed myself, so I got a job at the dorm cafeteria. I also got grants and loans from the federal government. I kept my GPA above 3.5, which renewed a partial-tuition scholarship for all four years of college.

I was told that art teaching jobs are hard to find. I did not listen. I quickly found one that required that I travel between 2 and 3 schools and teach over 800 students a week. Learning how to manage a classroom of feral children proved to be my biggest challenge. I also had to find ways for self-care because I flirt with burnout on a regular basis.

When it came time to start a family, creative problem-solving helped me continue to stay employed.

While my husband was also pulling in an income, not working and losing our second income was not an option for me. I knew that I would not have the energy to teach full-time and have babies, so I opted to teach online school. This was in the early days before COVID when online school was new and was looked upon skeptically.

Once I got hired, I quit my brick-and-mortar job and started learning the ins and outs of virtual teaching. It turned out to be a blessing! While I often had late nights grading and long afternoons making phone calls, it gave structure to my day and a way to use my mind in between changing diapers and nursing my children. I continued with this job as I moved from state to state. As long as I kept my state license in which the online school was based, I was able to work for them.

When the pandemic came around, I made my home a place for my children and those from the neighborhood to come over and do their online work. Having been in online teaching for 9 years at that point, gave me an advantage to understanding the learning management systems and video conferencing software.

Fast forward to today, and I am ready to go back to teaching full-time. The school district I was recently hired for gave me credit on the salary schedule for all those years I taught both in the classroom and online. Plus, in the last two years of teaching online, I also started my graduate degree online in Art Education through the University of Florida.

I have learned to make creating art a priority as part of my self-care. Luckily, I have evenings, weekends, and summers to work in my basement studio.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe you can tell us more about your work next?
Juggling my own artistic studio practice and teaching is not easy. Teaching full-time and taking care of my family takes precedence over my art making. However, I build it into my schedule by participating in workshops put on by both the Colorado Art Education Association and my local artist guild.

Opportunities to display my art are also available through these organizations. I am continuously inspired by my teaching colleagues and local artists. As part of my Master’s Degree in Art Education requirements, this summer, I am participating the Summer Art Studio program on the University of Florida campus. It is 2 weeks of intensive art making in the areas of printmaking and art as narrative.

When my children were little, I wanted to find an art medium that was non-toxic and inexpensive. This allowed them to make art along with me. Despite my checkered past with watercolor, I decided I would give it another try. Watercolor was the class I struggled with most in college. I have learned to master the glazing technique and use different brushes and transparency to render texture. It is now my favorite medium.

I am a nature and botanical artist who can been seen doing plein air painting on the sidewalk during First Fridays in downtown Littleton, Colorado. First Friday is one night a month that local shops, galleries, and restaurants stay open late to welcome the public. I also have been one of the demonstrating artists for the Superior Plein Air Festival in Superior, Colorado 4 years in a row. I display my artwork in galleries throughout the Denver, Colorado metropolitan area.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up, I was creative and stubborn. I think part of it has to do with my birth order. I was 4th child born out of a total of 5. Having middle-child syndrome, I wanted to be noticed and different from my older siblings. I also loved being with other children. When my little sister was born 5 years after me, I looked after her like my own baby.

Also, coming from a large family of 4 sisters, I have been competitive all my life. Getting good grades, doing well in sports, and winning art contests got my attention and validated my existence. As an adult, I have tried to move away from my work, validating my existence, but I still love school, running in local races, and entering art competitions. Exploring and experiencing life is a priority as I spend time in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and travel abroad.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kristalmelodyart.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kristalmelodyhoeh/
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/kristal-hoeh-a1a62b96