ABOUT
At St. Agnes Academy, creativity takes the form of a constant challenge: to be curious, to research and know more, to question more deeply, to match one another's intellectual hunger. But this journey is a partnership with our expert faculty members, which far exceeds that of a traditional classroom.
In our art rooms, students are guided through a variety of courses including various levels of drawing, painting, graphic design, photography, and filmmaking.
OUR FACULTY
Laura Broussard Costa, '78
Laura Costa is an alumna from St. Agnes Academy. She first studied art under Sr. M. Ambrose, O.P. who influenced her to value technical rendering skill. Later, Michael Roque Collins broadened her artistic scope to include a love of oil paint. Costa furthered her study of art at University of Houston where she discovered her love of art history and earned a BFA. While still attending college, Costa taught art classes at the Lowell Collins School of art. It was there that she discovered her love of teaching. Sr. Jane Meyer hired Costa in the spring of '82 making 21 year-old Costa one of the youngest full-time teachers ever hired at SAA. And she never left! Although SAA has always had a strong art department, Costa has nurtured the growth of the art department to its current state. Today's art department is physically larger, better equipped and better staffed than ever before, offering at least 12 different visual art classes per year. Costa's own course offerings include two different art history classes, Beginning Drawing, Advanced Drawing, Advanced Painting and Advanced Studio Art. After 35 years it never gets boring because the courses continue to evolve in new and creative ways. And the students are still amazing overachievers. Just take a peek at some of the student art on this site to see for yourself!
Terry Suprean
Terry Suprean directs the digital and new media arts program, teaching courses in photography, filmmaking, graphic art, and film history, as well as advanced courses in these subjects. His teaching methods center on developing each student's unique interests as a path towards collaborative curriculum building, using the Montessori method as the foundation of his teaching philosophy. Suprean's students are taught from a perspective that values long term mentorship, exposing students to a holistic approach to art education that teaches the technical, conceptual, and historical concerns of art making in tandem with the practical and community concerns artists face during their careers.
Suprean is an active member of Houston's creative-community as a practicing studio artist and the founder of Civic TV Laboratories, a local non-profit gallery that focuses on exhibiting emerging artists. He graduated from Texas Christian University with a Master of Fine Arts in Painting & New Media Arts, and is represented by Pablo Cardoza Gallery in Houston, Texas.
Terry suprean teaches Digital Photography, Graphic Arts, Filmmaking, Advanced Photography & Filmmaking, and Film History.
Claire Loft
Claire Loft currently teaches Fundamentals of Art and Beginning Painting at St. Agnes. Claire is passionate about teaching art. She has 19 years of teaching experience with 14 of those being in the Early Childhood, Elementary, Middle School and the High school Art classrooms. She believes that through the process of creating art, students experience creative thinking, problem solving, and developing an "artistic eye." She encourages her students to explore their inner artist and works to develop their technical skills as well as developing a unique art style and establishing a love and appreciation for all art. She is a graduate of Louisiana Tech University with a BA in Art Education. She is an active member at the MFAH and enjoys taking art classes there when she has time. She also loves painting and often times does so along side her students.