Herstory

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Seigel attended UCSB (BA Studio Art, 1978) and UCI (MFA Studio Art, 1980 and Teaching Credential Program, 1984). She taught elementary students and teachers in the Artists-in-the-Schools program for twenty-nine years, designed elementary art curriculum, and trained teachers. She provided an intensive  program, SPECIAL STUDIO, for a select group of elementary students that resulted in the annual MAJOR ART/MINOR ARTISTS exhibit (for twenty-five years) that was held at venues including the Orange County Museum of Art, CSUF Grand Central Arts Center, the Guggenheim Gallery at Chapman University, and Orange Coast College. In 2007 she joined Godinez Fundamental High School (SAUSD) to teach all levels of Drawing and Painting, including AP Studio Art for fourteen years until she retired June 2021. She was the advisor for the Godinez ART Club on campus, a second family for creative students. 

Seigel has taught classes for children and adults at Orange County Museums including Orange County Museum of Art, Laguna Art Museum, Bowers Museum, and Irvine Fine Arts Center. She was gallery curator at Irvine Fine Arts Center for three years, culminating with a survey of painting in Orange County,  part of a county-wide group of exhibitions celebrating the 1984 Olympics. Seigel taught drawing and watercolor painting classes  for twenty  years at Saddleback College. 

While teaching, Seigel continued to make her own art… drawings, paintings, collages, tapestries, and stuffies. She created art on violins, auctioned to support organizations  including Pacific Symphony Orchestra. Because of the intensity of her teaching career, spanning four decades, it was not possible to be prolific, yet her work continued to evolve. She has exhibited her work at venues including UCI Art Gallery, Bowers Museum, Laguna Art Museum, Visual Arts Gallery at Cal State Fullerton, Fine Arts Gallery at Saddleback College, Fine Arts Gallery at Claremont College, L.A.C.E. (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions), Santa Barbara City College, Women’s Center at UCSB, Santa Barbara Natural History Museum, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, People’s Corridor at South Coast Plaza,  Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana College Santora Gallery, Create Magazine Virtual Exhibit, and Santa Ana College Street Space Gallery.

RECOGNITION FOR TEACHING ART

2021

Woman of the Year, Art 
Congressperson Lou Correa, 46th Congressional District

2016

Woman of the Year, Art 
Congressperson Loretta Sanchez, 46th Congressional District

District High School Educator of the Year
Santa Ana Unified School District

Teacher of the Year
Godinez Fundamental High School, SAUSD

2007

Arts Educator Award, Visual Arts, Elementary
Orange County Music and Arts Administrators

2022

Annual Orange County Arts Award, Education, Elementary
Arts Orange County

1995

Student Artwork: Collaborative Quilt of Transformation
Published in On Common Ground: Strengthening Teaching through School-University Partnership, a publication of Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute

1989

The Spirit of Education to Southern California, Outstanding Service and Achievement, SAUSD Special Studio Art Program
Channel 4 KNBC-TV