She is an active member of the Houston art community and founding member of Grassroots: Art in Action, a nonprofit organization encouraging connections between artists and art educators. In addition to her teaching, Markello creates mixed media artworks and holds an extensive exhibition history. Markello’s artmaking, teaching, and community involvement foster her research interests. Her primary interest is in artmaking as a way of knowing. Markello’s research interests also include the professional identity development of pre-service and beginning art educators, and the teaching, community, and artistic practices of art educators. Correspondence regarding this article can also be addressed directly to: cmarkell@central.uh.edu.