2023 MAEA Awards

Maine Art Educator of the Year 2024

We are delighted to recognize Iva Damon of Leavitt Area High School as the MAEA Maine Art Educator of the Year! Iva is in her thirteenth year teaching high school visual arts. She thrives on teaching foundations courses, instructing in a mixture of traditional and nontraditional fine arts courses. Students are often exploring in and outside the classroom with a focus on student choice and place-based themes. Students are challenged to explore and connect with where they live and why place matters to them personally. Iva went to the University of Maine and earned her Masters in Art Education at Boston University, but has yet to end her continuing education; she has earned certificates in content literacy, gifted and talented, and is working toward certification in educational leadership. Living in Western Maine, she enjoys coaching snowshoeing in the winter with Leavitt's Special Olympics and spending summers puttering in her garden and exploring the coast with her two children.