Cat Miller

My name is Cat Miller, I live on the Bellarine Peninsula Victoria and completed a Master of Teaching (Primary) with a specialisation in the Visual Arts from Deakin Univesity in 2022.

My call to education came largely through a re-introduction to primary school as a parent, I have served on school councils and pre-school committees, and I came to realise my interest in educational outcomes extended beyond my own children to all students. I became interested in nature pedagogy through running a Bush Playgroup and recognised that this growing philosophy aligned deeply with my values and I feel a calling to empower students through natural connections.

Some of my earliest memories are linked to the smell of paint, ink, paper and clay taking me back to happy moments in a school art room as my mother volunteered to work with kids to paint murals and create costumes for school parades. As such the joy that comes through making art for myself has always been deeply linked to the school environment.

Throughout my own schooling I would take any opportunity to be in an art room; eventually completing my VCE with three folio subjects; Art, Studio Art and Media. At university I initially majored in Fine Art – Printmaking then took quite a journey through Design and Media Studies and eventually gained an undergraduate qualification in Media Communications with a split major in Graphic Design and Journalism.

Since having my own children, I have been able to again experience the joy of arts and crafts with children and taken my own time to volunteer in schools to make art not just with my children but with many children. My decision to become a teacher grew out of these experiences and I have always intended to become a specialist art teacher in a primary school.

Bearing witness to children engaged in art is bearing witness to the very essence of the best of humanity, through art children learn the depths of themselves and their abilities, they learn who they are.