All About Me...........

I have truly enjoyed art my whole life.  During elementary and high school I was a member of the Artistically Talented program.  In high school  my artwork started getting recognized.  I won several awards for my ceramic sculptures, and received an art scholarship for college.  

I graduated from Stockton College in 2001.  I obtained a Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts, majoring in Arts Management.  During my college career I  worked in several different museums including the Noyes Museum of Art in Oceanville, New Jersey, in public relations for the Stockton Performing Arts Center, as a radio station disc jockey for 91.7 WLFR radio, and most importantly I did my observational teaching alongside Ms. Judy Beach, Art Educator at Northfield Community Elementary School in Northfield, New Jersey. 

I have been working in the Caldwell/West Caldwell Community since April 2003.  I have actually worked in every elementary school as well as Grover Cleveland Middle School.

I ADORE my job and each one of the students that I have encountered.  I feel like I am in such a wonderful place with such a strong passion for the arts.  I take great pride in each lesson that I teach.  The student artwork is just the most amazing thing to me.  Art is a way for each individual to give life to their thoughts and imaginations.  Every child has an opportunity to express themselves freely through their artwork.  It is amazing how much personality and life are displayed in each creation of art. 

Over the summer of 2006 I enrolled in The Creativity Workshop in Aix-En-Provence, France.  I took an artistic journey through France.  I not only admired and recreated many architectural structures, but also followed in the foot steps of several famous artists.  My journey began in Aix-En-Provence where the town celebrated the one hundredth year of Paul Cezanne's death, who lived in this beautiful town.  I climbed up Mont Ste-Victoire which was the focus of many of his paintings.  I actually sat on the top of Rue-des-la-Painters and created a picture of this famous mountain from the same place that Cezanne painted from in in the 1890s!

While I was in Aix-En-Provence, I also got engaged!  My husband, John Kaufman proposed in French!  We got married on June 28, 2008, and I changed my last name from Perhach to Kaufman.

My artistic journey continued up north in Paris.  I could've spent a whole lifetime wandering through the enormous Musee des Louvre.  But besides the getting engaged part of the trip, my favorite place was Monet's garden, Giverny.  Giverny is a place I have dreamed about going to my whole entire life!  Believe it or not, it was more beautiful than I ever imagined, and I do have a pretty large imagination!  The garden was just bursting with color and it had the most refreshing scents.  I remember thinking..."Wow, I wish I could get married here."  Then the amazement continued as we went through the underground tunnel to the lily pond.  It is so clear to me how Monet was able to create such lively, colorful paintings.  I wasn't able to create any artwork while in Monet's Garden, because it was just way to crowded, but later that day I painted my impression of his garden.  Even though I am not a fan of camping, I would pitch a tent, and just live there forever!

I am pursuing my education at New Jersey City University where I am enrolled in the Studio masters program.  I enjoy being a student so much more now that I am a teacher, that I think even when I receive my masters degree, I will still continue to take more classes.  Every year I look forward to attending the Art Educators Conference.  This conference is an amazing way for New Jersey's Art Educators to share ideas and projects with each other.

I have established a business of my own, where I go to homes and create faux finishes and original murals.  This business is a great way for me to bring other people's images to life.