2D Animator and Children's Book Illustrator
Najja is a teaching artist dedicated to cultivating creativity, confidence, and storytelling in young people through interdisciplinary art education. Her practice blends visual art, writing, and hands-on making, encouraging students to explore their ideas across multiple mediums, from drawing and collage to puppetry and animation. With experience through AmeriCorps Community Art Collaborative at Maryland Institute College of Art, Wide Angle Youth Media, and other community youth programming, Najja develops engaging, student-centered curriculum that emphasizes creative voice, collaboration, and the power of storytelling.
Teaching Artist Highlights
Americorps Community Art Collaborative
(CAC) Final Youth Exhibit
The Community Art Collaborative is an AmeriCorps program run through the Maryland Institute College of Art. It brings together 6–7 teaching artists who partner with nonprofit arts organizations across Baltimore to develop and lead community-based arts programming.Through her placement at Wide Angle Youth Media, Najja curated and showcased her students’ work in the culminating CAC Youth Exhibition. This week-long exhibition, held at the MICA Pinkard Gallery, featured artwork from young people and community members across the city.
KIPP Middle School Aesop's Fables Puppet Theater
At KIPP Middle School, students reimagined The Lion and the Mouse through a collaborative puppet theater project. They wrote an original script, designed characters and sets, and fabricated their own puppets using hands-on materials. Students also directed and filmed their scenes, working with cameras and lighting to bring their stories to life. The project integrated writing, design, and fabrication, highlighting the full creative process from concept to performance.
Mount Royal Middle School Story Swap
At Mount Royal Middle School, students explored storytelling through a collaborative “Story Swap” project. Each student wrote an original short story, then exchanged it with a classmate who translated the narrative into a three-image visual sequence.This process emphasized authorship while introducing students to visual storytelling, highlighting the relationship between images and text. By interpreting each other’s work, students engaged with story arcs, perspective, and creative voice—cultivating both writers and visual storytellers.
