Katharine "Kay" Furst selected for the state-wide award of Massachusetts Art Education Association Special Needs Art Educator of the Year of 2012

Katharine "Kay" Furst, Tufts University Lecturer in Art Education, has been selected for the state-wide award of Massachusetts Art Education Association Special Needs Art Educator of the Year of 2012.

Kay teaches two undergraduate Art Education courses for Tufts at the SMFA: EDS 121 Art Education & Human Development w Multicultural Perspectives and EDS 122 Art Education with Special Populations.

According to Art Education program director Patty Bode:
"Kay Furst has been teaching art in Public Schools for over 25 years. Throughout these years, Kay has taken a specific interest in meeting the learning challenges of her special needs students, and has emerged as a leader in the field of art education and special education. The success of her program comes from Kay’s deep passionate commitment to art making, art learning and aesthetic expression as a human right. In this regard Kay has been a fierce and staunch advocate for students whose needs differ from the mainstream and whose intelligences may not be visible to the common eye."

The awards ceremony took place at the MAEA Awards Luncheon of the conference of the Massachusetts Art Education Association in Hyannis, Massachusetts on Saturday, November 12, where Patty Bode introduced Kay Furst to the audience.