Secondary school art teacher Heather McCutcheon has garnered the 2024 New York Art Educator Award. Photo Credit: The Creative Outpost, Inc.

The National Art Education Association (NAEA) announced on April 4, 2024, that Heather McCutcheon, a secondary school fine arts teacher, has garnered the 2024 New York Art Educator Award. Congrats, Heather!

Heather teaches at Herkimer Junior and Senior High School in Herkimer, New York. There she instructs courses in sculpture, mixed media, ceramics, introduction to computer graphics, Advanced Placement Art, and new media.

Heather says she enjoys helping her students to get involved in the community. She has organized real-world projects for her students such painting a mural at the Herkimer VFW, and a vinyl sticker design initiative that helped spread a positive message while giving students practical experience in art.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Heather serves as the Herkimer-Fulton-Hamilton-Otsego BOCES Arts in Education Coordinator. (BOCES stands for Boards of Cooperative Educational Services.) She also serves as the Co-Chair of New York State Youth Art Month. She works with teachers across the state of New York and has national engagements.

The honored educator confesses that, although she always enjoyed drawing and painting, she never took an art class until she was in the sixth grade. This is because she attended private catholic schools as a child. Nevertheless, she is an avid proponent of arts in the classroom. “The arts, and especially the arts in education in schools, helps students become well-rounded individuals,” Heather asserts. “It helps them think outside the box and use creativity.”

Her award as New York’s top art educator is not the only recognition that Heather has earned. Last year, she garnered the same honor. She also earned Art Education’s Youth Art Month Claire Flanagan Grand Award. And she earned an Apple Distinguished Education Award, enabling her to travel to Dallas, Texas, to deliver a showcase speech during the ADE Institute 2023 Americas event.

Heather earned her Bachelor’s degree in Sculpture in 2005 and her Master’s degree in Teaching in 2006, both from the State University of New York, Oswego.