Art & Community

Jamie Pettit is a mixed-media artist and art teacher who taught elementary art for 20 years in Austin I.S.D. Jamie also managed, designed, and taught a summer art program in Austin for 11 years. After graduating from the University of Houston in 1997 with a BFA in Studio Art, Jamie attended UT Austin and obtained her art teacher’s certification in 1998. Jamie has exhibited her personal artwork in Houston and Austin, most recently being chosen for The People’s Gallery 2020 show at Austin City Hall. She believes art is essential and is excited about projectART’s youth art mission and advocating for art education in the Wimberley area.

Jennifer Ober graduated from UT Austin with a BFA in Studio Art. She added her TX teaching certification in 2001 and taught K-6 art in Austin ISD for 10 years, earning Teacher of the Year in 2007. Jennifer was part of the Austin ISD art curriculum writing team and was instrumental in the origins of the Cherrywood Art Fair and Little Artist Big Artist program, both of which benefited the art program at Maplewood Elementary. After moving to Wimberley Jennifer opened up her private studio, Agua Fresca Studios, to summer camps and after school art classes. She also taught elementary through high school art at Hill Country Academy in Dripping Springs for three years. These days Jennifer spends much of her time with her two young daughters, teaching creative, small art classes in her studio and as a guest teacher in her daughters’ classrooms. She thoroughly enjoys supporting and advocating for the art programs in Wimberley schools as a founding member of projectART Wimberley, and expanding the reach of youth art opportunities through innovative programming such as projectMENTOR and projectARTSPACE.

Heather Carter is a wood sculptor, parent, and former school board trustee of a public charter school, Katherine Anne Porter School. She has a BFA from Southwestern University and has been invited to speak to undergraduate students about her work and success as a public artist. Her commissions include work for an Austin Public Library, several Texas restaurants, and office lobby spaces. She has taught project-based learning activities with local junior high and high school students and has served as a visiting artist/teacher at the Junior High, High school, and college levels. Heather enjoys her continuing work designing a curriculum for students that includes Maker Spaces and Entrepreneurship and hopes that ProjectART can be a catalyst for this new way of bringing ART into every subject.

Dan Griffiths is the Founder and Executive Director of Coda Learning, a veteran-owned small business launched in 2016 that delivers blended learning and instructional design services for the National Veterans’ Training Institute, a Department of Labor - Veterans Employment and Training Service (DOL-VETS) program.

His support of projectART Wimberley stems from lifelong personal growth through the performing and visual arts, coupled with 30 years of public service in higher education and government agencies. Volunteerism is a priority for Dan, and he brings to the projectART Board over 20 years of community service supporting public education, the arts, civil rights, and social action. His formal education includes a degree in music composition and multimedia performance (BM) from North Texas State University’s School of Music, a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the University of North Texas’ College of Health and Public Service, and certifications in contract and grants management.

Dan is grateful for the opportunity to serve on the projectART Board supporting the development of opportunities for our youth to experience the arts and explore their creative possibilities.