Leigh Roche is the Visual Arts teacher at Carlow University’s Campus Laboratory School and is an instructor in Carlow’s Education department. As an artist educator she has facilitated creative learning experiences in schools, museums, and community education for over 30 years in Pittsburgh and NYC. As a visual artist, Leigh has exhibited her work regionally and nationally and has created site-specific murals and installations in Pittsburgh. She enjoys creating environmental-transient art, mixed media work, collaborative community art, and mostly creating art with students. Her writing has appeared in HuffPost, Vice, Telegraph, News.com.au, and Philosophy Now. Leigh is interested in imagination and creativity, cognition and art, SEL in the art room, and symbolic development. Leigh is committed to honoring the arts and aesthetic education as an integral part of education, self-empowerment, social justice, and community. At the Campus Laboratory School, she coordinates the visiting artist/ arts enrichment program and the ADL No Place for Hate committee. When she’s not teaching or making art, she enjoys spending time with her adult children, husband, and pets, reading, cooking, yoga, and sustainable living on their micro farm.
“The creative process in the arts creates spaces in the curriculum to bring in personal experience, voice, and imagination to create, share and connect.”- L. Roche
Education
MA, Arts in Education, Teachers College Columbia University, New York, NY
Art Students League, New York, NY
Art Ed Certificate K-12, Carlow University, Pittsburgh, PA
BA, Fine Arts, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
Selected publications
Roche, L. (2018) The Power of Choice for Toddlers. International Journal of Choice Theory and Reality Therapy, Vol. 37 (2), 50-55.
Roche, L. (2023). A Splash of Color. School Arts, Vol.122 (6), 36-37.
Selected presentations
April 2023. Roche, L. & Zeffiro, S. Art & Learning: Empowering Students through Arts Education. Sr. Mary Paul Educator Workshop Series, Carlow University Department of Education.
May & June 2021. Roche, L. & Zeffiro, S. Art & Learning: Art with our Heart; Sensory Storytelling; Cognitive Flexibility; See Like an Artist. Sr. Mary Paul Educator Workshop Series, Carlow University Department of Education.
March 2021. Roche, L. Maxine Greene and the Power of Imagination. Sr. Mary Paul Educator Workshop Series, Carlow University Department of Education.
December 2021. Roche, L. Symbolic Development in Early Childhood. Sr. Mary Paul Educator Workshop Series, Carlow University Department of Education.
July 2021. Roche, L. Words & Things; Keith Haring & Interdisciplinary Art, CMOA Educators Residency Program, Carnegie Museum of Art Pittsburgh, PA.
February 2021. Roche, L., Herrero, V., Andrews, A., & Zeffiro, S. Girl Talk series: Wintertime Wonder, Ellis School Pittsburgh, PA.