Emma Jane Butler
Artist · Visual Arts Educator · Writer
Emma is the creator of The Yellow Art Book and an experienced Visual Arts educator with nearly two decades of teaching in international schools across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Since graduating with a BFA (Hons) in Fine Art from the University of the Arts London in 2006, Emma has worked across teaching, curriculum development, assessment, resource development and professional learning. Her experience includes MYP and IB DP Visual Arts, as well as work as an IB DP Visual Arts examiner and professional learning facilitator.
Emma began developing IB Visual Arts curriculum resources in 2022 while finishing the academic year at the Anglo American International School in Moscow. What began as a way of supporting her own classroom practice grew into The Yellow Art Book — an independent platform for Visual Arts education, resources and professional learning.
She has also led IB professional learning workshops through InThinking.net, and non-IB workshops at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, experiences that have shaped her belief that some of 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?
This experience sits at the heart of The Yellow Art Book workshops. They are designed specifically for 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.
Emma is also a practising artist, originally trained as a sculptor, whose work now moves between painting, drawing and mixed-media. Her studio practice continues to inform the way she thinks about making, observation, experimentation, reflection and artistic thinking — and her teaching continues to influence the way she makes.
Teaching and making are not separate worlds for Emma. They continually inform one another.