When students were instructed to write about the person who left the greatest impact on their experience as students, high schoolers Emma Dohrn and Lucia Chapell both wrote about their art teacher, Ms. Miller.
Giselle Miller spent four years teaching art at the Haines Borough School District. Next week, she will walk out its doors for the last time. Her resignation is bittersweet for students, parents, and staff.
“She worked really, really hard for her students. It’s really clear that she loves us all a lot,” Dohrn said. “She made it so kids who have never done art before are fighting to get into art classes so they can be with her to hang out and learn.”
Miller announced her resignation in January. She taught art to every grade level, which led to her decision to leave, she said.
“Being K-12 has been really challenging for me, and I’m not afraid to say that,” Miller said. “Going from teaching advanced ceramics to sixth-grade ceramics then all of a sudden it’s kindergarten then it’s third-grade. … It’s hard to prep for that many levels. I was excited to experience all levels, and now I’m very aware that that’s not something that I want. That’s the biggest reason I’m not coming back.”
Miller’s art room, adorned with paper cranes, freshly-fired pottery, and colorful banners and posters, was “a space for everyone,” high school senior Matilda Rogers said.
“I feel super, super lucky because my whole high school experience was with her,” Rogers said. “She came in my freshman year, and it feels like we’re graduating together. She’s just been by my side the whole time and a super influential person in my life.”
Miller took students on trips to Portland, Seattle, and Yakutat, Alaska. One of her goals in traveling was to challenge her students’ worldview and expose them to life outside of Haines.
“I think it’s huge, especially for students in small towns to be able to get out and experience cultures,” Miller said. “In the process, I got to teach them how to travel, how to get on an airplane, how to find your way through a subway system, how to eat out at a restaurant. Things they don’t necessarily do all the time in Haines.”
One memorable lesson, her students recalled, was a speech on how to parallel park. Another lesson Miller illuminated was the power of accepting your own mistakes.
“When I started, I felt like there were a lot of younger kids that were quite afraid to fail,” Miller said. “They were really nervous about their piece of art not being perfect and it not looking exactly like their neighbors’ or mine. My first year of teaching I really struggled with that. Now, after a few years of being here, I’ve encouraged kids to make mistakes and be okay with that and to try again. It emboldened them.”
Students in Miller’s art class learned a variety of media, including ceramics, print-making, weaving, painting, embroidery, paper-mache, street art, and more.
“Something pretty special about her is she’s able to make every kid feel like they’re special and unique and that they matter and can be artists,” Chapell said. “I think that’s pretty cool, and not every teacher has the ability to do that. She’s created a pretty special place in the art room. It’s a nice place to be because of her.”
On a 2022 trip to downtown Seattle, seven high school students toured colleges, art schools and museums. Miller said the trip was “eye-opening” for many of her students.
“That trip, I know for a couple of those kids, was life changing,” she said. “They were like, I want to go to art school now.”
Rogers said Miller inspired her to pursue an art career after high school. She now plans to study ceramics at Edinburgh Design School in Scotland.
“Ms. Miller definitely changed my whole future with my relationship to art,” Rogers said. “I never thought of it as an option to fully pursue. She gave me the confidence through her classes to do what I want to do and encouraged me to take that risk.”
In 2021, Miller piloted a project to repaint the local skate park. Students learned about street art and took spray painting lessons from a local artist. Chapell said the project was one of her favorite art class experiences.
“I thought that was cool, because it exposed us all to a new form of art you wouldn’t normally get in a high school art room,” she said. “Not every teacher teaches kids about street art or how to use spray paint. We would go over there every day, listen to music and work on our pieces. It created a really beautiful space.”
Superintendent Roy Getchell said Miller’s resignation is emotional for the school. Miller was one of the best hires of his career, he said.
“She was a wonderful fit for our school when we needed it most,” Getchell said. “Art helped us through tragedy, it helped us through a pandemic, and it has become a career option for a whole handful of students that wouldn’t have thought that way before. She’s just been an incredible asset.”
Miller’s shoes will be filled by Ashley Pillsbury, a longtime art teacher from Maine.
“I hope Ms. Miller gets everything that she’s hoping for,” Dohrn said. “I hope she gets to spend time with (her husband) Cliff and go sailing like they want to. I hope that she learns a lot … and I hope she comes to visit us.”
Miller and her husband will return to their sailboat in French Polynesia this winter. From there, they plan to sail to Hawaii. Miller also plans to pursue her own art, work part-time and travel.
“I’m choosing to take a break from teaching in public education and spend some time focusing on my own art practice and possibly doing art education in a different way,” Miller said. “That could be through grant-funded work again or some kind of studio space. … I would be open to getting another teaching position, but I’ll be looking for a high school position in the future. I also want to do international teaching. It’s been a dream of mine, so I want to open myself up to those international teaching options too.”