E18 - Jen Brazier - Sparking Interests and Chemistry

 

All imagery is courtesy of Jen Brazier

Jen Brazier

Chemistry teacher Jen Brazier

I have been a chemistry teacher for over 15 years.  My first year teaching, the AP chemistry program consisted of only about 30 students. Within several years, the program blossomed and AP Chemistry enrollment was over 100 students.  By the time I left the district, I had established a dual-credit agreement with Portland State University and had approximately 120 high school students per year receiving 15-college credits (200-level Chemistry) for their work.  It was such a huge success.  I also established year-long Organic Chemistry classes at both district high schools.  

But throughout my career, I faced an issue that all teachers face - what to do for students who needed extra help?   I was spending every free moment before school, after school and at lunch sitting one-on-one with kids who were absent or just needed extra support.  My time did not scale with student needs.  So I started looking for ways that students could access my lessons at home.  I tried building on so many different platforms and somewhere along the way I became kind of addicted to making, building and creating.  It was so fun.  I am not an artist by any means, but the process of building each page and integrating the content with the feel, look and flow of each page is infinitely satisfying.  I guess there is a need within all of us to create.

Hi Jen - I'm excited to sit down with you and learn more about your new project. I've thought forever that science and creativity is often overlooked. Let's jump in.

What do you love about science and teaching science/chemistry?

Hands down, the students are what I love the most about teaching chemistry!  Developing deep relationships and watching my students as they grow in confidence and knowledge is incredibly rewarding.  So many times, students enter my class with feelings of inadequacy, saying things like “I am not good at science.”  But really, they just have not had science presented in a way that makes sense to them.  

Again, creativity plays a role.  As a teacher you have to be able to find the way to connect the student to the material.  Some students might need to see you jump off desks throwing colored sheets of felt in order to understand how different frequencies of light are emitted by electron transitions.  Other students are highly visual and need visual problem solving techniques.

For example, in my class I present an alternative and highly visual method of solving stoichiometry problems which are traditionally taught as a long string of conversions.  We call this technique “The Mole Hole”.  It involves creating this visual map of the problem solving process and is almost universally successful. 

The creativity that you use to guide students in their learning is only limited by the scope of your imagination (and budget!).

How do you evaluate your work?

I am definitely critical of my own work.  I am constantly revising and refilming.  Every time I look at my work, I see room for improvement.  But honestly, being able to constantly improve is what keeps the work exciting.

The feedback I value the most though, is from my students.  When they tell me how useful they found my website and how it helped them ace their exam, I feel validated.  I am humbly honored when I reconnect with former students and they tell me that my class set them on their career paths (research scientists, pharmacologists, forensics scientists, doctors).  Those conversations bring a purpose and meaning to my life which is irreplaceable. 

Where is your primary work area?

My husband, Mark has definitely become an equal and valued partner in this endeavor and we have taken over the house together.  We set up a green screen and filming studio in our office so that I can make my video recordings.  The rest of the work gets done on our personal computers throughout the house.  

What clues or questions do you use to select an idea to invest time and resources?

The ordering in chemistry is pretty logical.  However, for my website, I started with the subjects that students tended to struggle with the most.  These were also the ones that I felt I had the most to add to.

About your work: what do you hope people notice the most?

Most importantly, I hope they find the website useful.  I want my lessons to help struggling students find success.  Secondarily, I want the students to enjoy being on the site. I want it to be an easy to use, calming and pleasing platform to learn chemistry. 

What is your favorite guilty pleasure?

I have quite a few.  I love anything coffee or coffee-flavored.  Sometimes I need to remind myself that my body is not an urn meant for storing coffee!  I also love silly, medical television dramas like “House” and “Grey’s Anatomy”.  My dad (an amazing nurse) is rolling his eyes as we speak.

"My success lies within the success of my students."
-J. Brazier

How do you define success as a creative -scientist -teacher? How do you hold yourself accountable?

My success lies within the success of my students.  When my students are not successful, I always feel that I need to do better.  When my students achieve great accomplishments, I celebrate with them and then want to know how to reach even more students.

When do you discuss things with your inner critic?

All the time.  Each video and everything I present.  During each class, I constantly ask if I am reaching everyone.  On each webpage, I judge not only the content, but also how it looks on the page, how I appear on the video and how my voice sounds.  There is a lot to critique.

Who are your creative influences, and whose work are you admiring now?

Ivy Newport is an artist (https://ivynewport.com/) who has beautifully integrated her art with an online presence.  She and her husband created a thriving online business selling not only art products but classes, meditations, journals and more.  They have made their dream and passion into a career and are truly inspirational.

 

As a chemistry instructor, I admire the teaching of Tyler De Witt.  He hosts a youtube channel and does such a great job explaining chemistry so that everyone can understand.  I also love Nile Red’s youtube site (https://www.youtube.com/@NileRed).  He has an incredible way of getting everyone interested in Chemistry….  And he is incredibly bright, brave and entertaining to watch!  He does experiments such as synthesizing grape soda out of plastic gloves and then drinks it! 

How can people follow you and your work?

People can go to evolvescience.org  to see the work we have done.

What would you like people to know that I haven't asked?

I have so many visions for the future.  Besides more content, I would like to host live classes to help students with topics they are struggling with.  It would be fun to form study groups on the site who work together towards goals, like passing the AP exam or some other entrance exam.

I also would love to host interviews with people who use science in their careers.  Young students in high school and early college often have limited ideas of how science degrees can be used and don’t know who to ask.  Hearing from diverse people who work in scientific fields might make science more relatable, spark interest and could define a student’s future career path.

Thank you for spending some time with me/us, Jen. We believe in the work you're doing. Please come back whenever you have something to share with the ChC audience!

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Jen and Mark Brazier

E17: Elise Martin - Intimacy, Empathy, and Care

Elise Martin

Shared Personal Space - Installation and Interaction.
All images are courtesy of the artist.

Elise Martin

I was born and raised in Metro Detroit and earned my BFA from the College for Creative Studies (2008-2012). Initially, I envisioned a career in painting or illustration, but my interests shifted and I became more engaged with sculpture, installations, and video art. My work often focuses on themes of intimacy, empathy, and care. I'm particularly drawn to soft materials and slow, hand-crafted processes because they naturally embody these themes. When I pursued my master’s degree at WSU (2020-2022), I chose to focus on fiber arts to deepen my understanding of the history and visual language inherent in these materials and techniques. My studio practice is complemented by my work in community arts and art education, which continually informs and enriches my creative work.

Elise - I'm so happy to have this time to chat about your work. Let's jump in!

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What do you love about making art?

I’ve reflected on this quite a bit—what first drew me to art, and what keeps me invested? It’s a combination of factors.

Firstly, I believe that art fosters community through acts of reciprocity. Much of my early art was created as gifts for people close to me, so art and hand-craft are forever tied to those gestures of care in my mind.

Secondly, there’s a rebellious aspect to art-making that I find deeply appealing. Beyond the freedom of expression, the act of creating, repairing, or mending something feels like a rebellion against the capitalist system. Making your own objects can be incredibly empowering, and this sentiment likely stems from my teenage punk rock DIY days. It’s also a reason I continue to teach art—to inspire moments of confidence in my students.

How do you evaluate your work?

It depends on the project. For more intimate works like paintings, textile collages or embroideries, the goal is often straightforward: to capture fleeting moments of connection or joy. I consider these pieces successful if they evoke similar feelings of happiness or nostalgia in others.

When I make large sculptural works or installations, I qualify them a lot differently. With those works, I might want to synthesize an experience and I’m focused on how the form and material will encourage that engagement. These works feel complete and successful only when they’ve been interacted with.

In both cases, I think the relationship between the work and its audience is key to evaluating the project’s success.

Child Care Worker- Self Portrait Rocking Toy

Where is your studio, and what is your primary work area?

Since 2015, I’ve been based at Fortress Studios, an artist-owned space in Detroit’s North End neighborhood. Initially, I came as an artist-in-residence for a year, but I never left.

We’re fortunate to have a metal shop, wood shop, and ceramics studio in the building, which I use as needed. However, my primary workspace is a fibers studio that I’ve set up in a section of my living space. It’s filled with racks of second-hand fabrics and yarns, and it houses my sewing machine and loom. I’m also known to take over our kitchen for basket-making, felting, or botanical dyeing. As I write this in the summer, much of my work has moved to the patio, where I can spread out to weave baskets or set up a small easel to paint watercolors in the open air.

"I use common materials and familiar forms, hoping to make my art accessible to a broad audience, not just those with an art background." - Elise

What clues or questions do you use to select an idea to invest time and resources?

I have a lot of ideas, and my practice can sometimes feel a bit scattered. However, certain nagging ideas will keep resurfacing, or something happens that reminds me of a previously conceived concept. Sometimes, clarity on a concept comes months or even years later, and that’s when I decide to pursue it.

Let Me Comfort You- Photo Story

About your work: what do you hope people notice the most?

I think the themes of my work—empathy, comfort, and care—are universal, so I strive to avoid intellectual barriers. I use common materials and familiar forms, hoping to make my art accessible to a broad audience, not just those with an art background. While it would be impossible to speak to everyone’s lived experience or account for all cultural differences, I try to use a visual language that will be approachable to others.  

How do you define success as a creative? How do you hold yourself accountable?

I focus less on the notion of being a “successful artist” and more on the success of individual projects. As a creative, I think you have to embrace the reality that many of your projects, proposals, and concepts might fail. The goal is then to appreciate the successes, learn from them and carry those lessons forward. As I mentioned before, much of my practice is deeply connected to relationships with others, so that naturally pushes me to keep sharing my work.

Tactile Memory No.1

When do you discuss things with your inner critic?

Constantly!

There was a meme that circulated years ago, and I think about it often. It said something like, “The Creative Process: 1. This is pretty good. 2. This is awesome! 3. This is tricky. 4. This sucks. I suck. 5. This might be okay. 6. This is awesome!”  I think that pretty aptly sums up just about every project I’ve ever worked on.

Who are your creative influences, and whose work are you admiring now?

As a child, my first “favorite artists” were Georgia O’Keeffe and Van Gogh; I think I enjoyed their use of color. In my teen years, I was more influenced by the dramatic gestures on punk album covers and the rebellious spirit of illustrators like Ralph Steadman. As an adult, I’m drawn to quieter, more subtle moments of weirdness. Artists like Louise Bourgeois, Kiki Smith, Hans Bellmer, Mike Kelley, and Janine Antoni have greatly influenced my sculptural and installation work. In terms of craft, I look to alot of art history and anthropology for inspiration, but I have a particular fondness for fiber artists linked to (or with lineage out of) the Bauhaus School, such as Gunta Stölzl, Anni Albers, and Ruth Asawa.

Tactile Memory No. 4

How can people follow you and your work?

You can find me at EliseMarieMartin.com or on Instagram at @Elise.m.art.in. The next opportunity to see my work in person will be at the opening of Womxn House Detroit 2024 on September 28th.

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I can't thank you enough for taking time out of your schedule to talk with me/us, Elise. I'm cheering for you! Come back anytime you have something to share. 

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Use Me - Small Arrangement View

Use Me Interaction 1