The North Carolina Art Education Association awarded the Distinguished Fellow and also the 2020 NCAEA Supervision/ Administration Art Educator of the Year to Penny Proffit Freeland.
Freeland resides in Yadkinville and is a former educator with Yadkin County Schools. Currently she serves as the Visual Arts Administrator in the Winston Salem Forsyth County School district, working with 100 Visual Arts Teachers in the system. In this position of supervision, she has been involved with providing and facilitating professional development for her teachers, for creating and revising a visual arts curriculum, and connecting with many community partners including Carolina Classic Fair, Reynolda House Museum of American Art, the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, and the Sawtooth Center.
“It is a great honor to be recognized by our NC Art Educators! It is so awesome to know what you do makes a difference. I love what I do! It is such a pleasure to serve all of my art tribe. You are all such awesome people, artists, and educators! Keep on doing what you do! You make so many hearts happy!” said Freeland.
Through NCAEA she was a member of the inaugural class of the NCAEA’s School for Art Leaders in 2015. She has been a NC delegate at the NAEA’s conventions and presented at local, state, and national conferences. She served as NCAEA president from 2015 – 2018 and with the Board in the president/conference planning roles for extended cycles. In support of mentoring leaders, she conducts sessions at conferences on Taking on Leadership and personally mentored several leaders to serve on board positions. Her appointments have been on the Teacher Advisory Council of the NC Museum of Art and has attended the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer institute, NCCAT’s Cherokee Artistry Teacher Institute, Penland School of Craft, and Duke University’s Asian Studies Summer Institute.