UW-River Falls

River Falls Middle School teacher and artist Gina Pedriana-Basche poses with her award-winning paper-mâché sculptures.

Russian Nesting Dolls Reveal the Artist Within

Inspired by love for her Russian-born adopted daughter, Gina Pedriana-Basche created sculptures that inspired, in turn, her middle school art students and her peers at the 2007 Wisconsin Art Educators Association (WAEA) conference. Like the nesting dolls, she found that revealing the artist within empowered her as a teacher.

The five-foot-high paper-mâché forms, which emulate traditional Russian nesting dolls, received recognition in the WAEA art show held on the UW-River Falls campus last October. Crafted in her classroom/studio at Meyer Middle School, the dolls offered these students a unique opportunity to observe and participate in their teacher’s artistic expression and process.

Modeling An Artist
“I had no idea of the effect my work would have on my teaching and on my students,” Gina said of her decision to create the dolls on school grounds. In her seventh year at the River Falls school, the available studio space and her part-time teaching status were the main factors for her decision. Her daughter, Sophia, adopted from Russia in 2003, inspired the art project.

Gina quickly discovered that in modeling an artist she gave students rare insight into the trial and error process of creative expression. Her students quickly became fascinated in the project and became her greatest supporters and collaborators.

MSE in Fine Arts

The UWRF master's degree in secondary education is designed for certified teachers of fine arts in middle and secondary schools

Key Features

Builds on a teacher's knowledge of fine arts
Summers only and independent learning courses for practicing teachers
Up-to-date studio facilities
Committed, caring faculty with expertise in their fields
Small class sizes offer personal attention
Degree may be completed in three years

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Using her artwork, she encouraged discussion with her students about her material choices, application methods and other artistic decisions. One student drew a parallel between the three dolls and the three members of Gina’s new family: husband, wife and child. Some students even lent a hand with the paper-mâché application.

Balancing the Teacher with the Artist
“The power of modeling [as an artist] for my teaching really surprised and amazed me,” she said. “The interaction and discussion with the students that this encouraged – I think I’m a better teacher because I invest time and energy into my talent as an artist.”

This balance between teaching methods and artistic growth is one of the things Gina enjoys about the UWRF graduate program in fine arts. She is halfway to completing her master of science in education which she says is developing herself as an artist as well as an educator.

Encouraging Collaboration
“I am so fortunate that this program was in my backyard,” she said. She noted early on that educators attending the summer classes came from all over the country.

Gina appreciates that the program is broad enough so educators can tailor it to fit their needs, and that it encourages learning and collaboration with other teachers as well as from the well-regarded faculty. She’s found that the coursework has encouraged her to seek out ways to collaborate with the core-discipline teachers at her own school and make art more interdisciplinary and more relative to learning.

"I think I’m a better teacher because I invest time and energy into my talent as an artist."

—Gina Pedriana-Basche

The small class size at UWRF and the role of faculty as “facilitators to learning” puts a lot of responsibility on the graduate students to guide their growth, she added.

“Graduate school is really what you make of it,” Gina said. “If you have a direction and know your talents, it can be a challenging yet rewarding experience.”

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Russian Nesting Dolls Reveal the Artist Within

MSE in Fine Arts

"I think I’m a better teacher because I invest time and energy into my talent as an artist."