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TAA Faculty

The Academy core faculty consists of twenty nationally recognized professors, academic instructors, and artists assembled from leading, universities, schools, and arts institutions from throughout the United States. A rigorous curriculum, cutting-edge methodology, and a unique philosophical perspective provide world-class instruction, community, and renewal to arts educators from across Tennessee and the nation.

Serena Rios
 
McRae
Elementary/Lower Middle
 
|
 
Visual Art

Serena Rios McRae is a native of Tucson, Arizona, who is passionate about the fine details of nature, prismatic color, and local food. McRae is a working artist, mother, and mental health advocate. She speaks openly about her experiences with postpartum depression, bipolar disorder, and ADHD, and works to break stigmas around mental illness. McRae follows her impulses to learn many mediums and create art in often unusual forms that include watercolor paintings on animal skulls, murals on taco trucks, intricate relief carvings on tiny pink erasers, and classic watercolor on paper. She is the creator of Affirmations Moms Actually Need and the Pink Eraser Art Project, for which she has written her first book, scheduled to be published this fall. McRae posts on social media @cactustcloudsart and has more than 345,000 followers across multiple platforms. Much of her work is inspired by her experiences with mental illness, and she strives to help others find healing in art.

Core Class: 
Silly Little Art Mediums: Making Art Accessible with Everyday Items
Interlude: 
Tennessee Arts Academy • Tennessee Arts Academy Foundation
801 2nd Avenue North  • Suite 100 • Nashville, Tennessee 37201
615-988-6250 • taa@tnartsacademy.org