Mrs. Maria Pour

I began college focusing on Architecture and quickly learned my heart was not in the calculus and physics of the building process but within art and design.
I studied studio art at Arizona State University with a focus on painting and graduated in 2010. For a time, I practiced being a starving artist while married to MHS Band and Orchestra Director, Ivan Pour. I work in mediums, from pencil to oil paint, and from fibers to stained glass. I love all art forms and enjoy bringing them with me into the classroom.

I received my Teaching Certification through Rio Salado College's Teacher in Residence program while I ran my own classroom in 2012. During that time, I worked in the Fine Arts Department and expanded from teaching only Art Fundamentals to teaching in subjects such as Art 2-D, Art 3-D, Painting, Drawing and Advanced Placement Studio Art.

Due to a love of learning and continuously growing my skills, I began studying Computer Animation at Full Sail University, where I learned Animation, Modeling, Shading and Lighting, Compositing, Graphic Design, Typography, and Film Making. In 2017, I earned my second Bachelor's Degree and began working with my sites CTE Director to move into the CTE Department. I am currently the proud Educator of Maricopa High School's Graphic Art & Design Program. This upcoming school year, 2022-2023, we are pioneering a new Digital Animation course that I am delighted to spearhead and excited to see what it grows into.

My philosophy of teaching is taken from Laura Seargeant Richardson's article Play Power: How to Turn Around the Creativity Crisis, from the Atlantic in 2011.
""Someday, rather than measuring memorization as an indicator of progress, we will measure our children's ability to manipulate (deconstruct and hack), morph (think flexibly and be tolerant of change), and move (think with their hands and play productively). Standardized aptitude tests will be replaced by our abilities to see (observe and imagine), sense (have empathy and intrinsic motivation), and stretch (think abstractly and systematically). We will advance our abilities to collaborate and create.""