Bettendorf art teacher Chrissy Block is the 2023-2024 Outstanding Elementary Art Educator Award recipient from the Art Educators of Iowa.

The group awards members of the Iowa Arts Education community who have shown stellar dedication to the craft of teaching art to children in our state, according to a Monday release from the Bettendorf Community School District. Block is starting her 14th year as a K-5 art educator at Neil Armstrong Elementary in Bettendorf.

Chrissy Block is the 2023-2024 Outstanding Elementary Art Educator Award recipient, as awarded by The Art Educators of Iowa. (Art Educators of Iowa)

As a leading art educator in the state of Iowa, Block’s role is dedicated to helping students explore their own creative journeys, while exposing them to a variety of art materials and art adventures, the district release said.

She has worked tirelessly to develop and evolve a K-5 curriculum aligned with the National Art Standards that promotes art education and inspires creativity in the classroom. Block has been instrumental in including a variety of art methods at Neil Armstrong Elementary and she strives to expose her students to many art connections, visual art forms, and mediums, the release said.

Her students’ work regularly gets recognition including getting uploaded to Artsonia as well as being featured as part of the Young Artists at the Figge exhibition. Block’s own work was a part of the Beyond the Classroom exhibit at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport this summer as well.

Block with some of her work at the Figge Art Museum.

Block has also participated in various community art events such as Paint the Lot at the Family Museum in Bettendorf and several Quad City Arts’ Chalk Art Fest events. She has done a few commissioned chalk and painted murals as well.

Additionally, she has participated in numerous art education conferences including the National Art Educators Association and several Art Educators of Iowa conferences where she has also presented.

Outside of being passionate about her career in art education, Block is active in volunteering her time and skills in her community and at her children’s school. This past May, she began her Master of Arts in Art Education through The Art of Education University and will graduate next fall. 

Block and her friend and colleague Meghan Purcell created this piece for a Chalk Art Fest at Schwiebert Park.

Meghan Purcell, a fellow art teacher said, “Chrissy is truly one of the best teachers I have had the pleasure to work with, and I’m so proud to call her colleague and friend.”