ABOUT THE YELLOW ART BOOK
Emma Jane Butler
Artist · Visual Arts Educator · Writer
I couldn't find the kind of Visual Arts resource library I wanted as an MYP teacher — so I built it myself.
I’ve spent nearly two decades teaching Visual Arts in international schools across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. I’m an IB DP Visual Arts examiner and the creator of The Yellow Art Book: curriculum resources and workshops for MYP Visual Arts educators.
Read my full story ↓
Background
I’m a third culture kid: born in the UK, raised in Zimbabwe. I've taught in American and international school settings across three continents — an experience that has shaped how I think about teaching, perspective and whose stories get told in an art classroom. I graduated with a BFA (Hons) in Fine Art from the University of the Arts London in 2006, and have since worked across teaching, curriculum development, assessment, resource development and professional learning. My experience includes IB MYP and IB DP Visual Arts, as well as work as an IB DP Visual Arts examiner and professional learning facilitator. professional learning workshops for IB Visual Arts teachers through InThinking.net. I've also led non-IB workshops at the Louvre Abu Dhabi as part of their summer art lab programme. I've taken part in visual storytelling projects beyond education, including a collaboration with General Electric for COP28.
Those experiences have shaped my belief that the most valuable professional learning begins with the questions teachers are actually asking: How do I teach this? What does this look like in a Visual Arts classroom? How can I make assessment meaningful? How do I support students while still giving them ownership of their ideas? How do I nurture and support young artists?
This thinking sits at the heart of every Yellow Art Book workshop — currently designed specifically for IB MYP Visual Arts educators, creating space to explore ideas, question practice, share experience, and develop practical approaches that can be taken directly back into the classroom.
THE IDEA
The Yellow Art Book began in 2021 with one question: how do I nurture young artists? I began developing IB Visual Arts curriculum resources while finishing the academic year at the Anglo-American School of Moscow — what started as a way of supporting my own classroom practice grew into an independent platform for Visual Arts education, resources and professional learning.
I moved home and started writing in a sunny attic — rather like the beginning of a slightly improbable American movie about people in their thirties starting over. For nearly four years, I wrote without earning anything from it. But I loved it. It gave me the time and space to focus on the things I'd never had enough time to create while working full-time as a teacher: resources, ideas, writing, research, and all the Visual Arts education ideas that had been gathering in my head for years. The Library grew from there.
THE PRACTICE
I'm also a practising artist, originally trained as a sculptor, whose work now moves between painting, drawing and mixed-media. My studio practice continues to inform the way I think about making, observation, experimentation, reflection and artistic thinking — and my teaching continues to influence the way I make. Teaching and making are not separate worlds for me; they continually inform one another.
After many years as an artist and art educator, my dream became having a studio of my own in a beautiful place — a space to make artwork, lead workshops and create art education content. I don't have that studio yet. For now, I make art from home - which is currently split between Harare and Dubai. I borrow studio spaces when I run workshops, but the idea of bringing hese two worlds — the making and the teaching — together has stayed with me — and The Yellow Art Book is, perhaps in some small way, helping me build towards it.
THE COMMUNITY
Teaching art can often feel like a solo effort, especially in smaller departments. That's why community matters so much. There are already a few online spaces where art teachers connect, share resources and collaborate — I hope The Yellow Art Book becomes another welcoming corner of that wider community.
The Yellow Art Book is still growing — new resources, new workshops, new ideas added all the time. If any of this resonates, I'd love for you to be part of where it goes next.
CONNECT
The Yellow Art Book is growing. Join a workshop, subscribe to the library, follow along on Instagram and connect on LinkedIn.