As a novice blogger I”ll make this short and sweet and give you a few sound bites from today:
“I have never had so much art ed in my head!” quote from an enthusiastic student attendee
“My brain is tired!” quote from an enthusiastic professor of said attendee
So in our dog tired state we traveled to the cool and restaurant laden end of town where we had dinner at the Elvis Mexican restaurant ( a thumbs up for sure). After dinner we strolled down the street to a quaint pie shop to test the local wares. A lovely Pie Nazi greeted us with a caustic ‘Are youz out-of-towners?” when we questioned what the specialty pie of the day was. She proceeded to wave a cookie in our face as she snarled what it consisted of. But don’t worry we all bought a piece of pie from her in spite of her UBER friendly and courteous service, in fact Kristen had the audacity to request to buy two pieces. That put her over the edge and she didn’t say another word, just took our money and turned on her heel and headed for the back of the store...mumbling something about how all the annoying tourists had come in and bought up all her pies......grumble grumble, grumble!
Ahhhh, big city life sure is swell!
Ta ta for now!
Friday, April 16, 2010
FRIDAY BLOG (and Thursday Highlights Too!)
Dustin Rubinstein quote of the day about the conference participants seen in the Convention Center:
"The number of scarves is EPIC!"
Almost midnight…so some short highlights of the past couple days:
I went to a terrific panel of scholars titled "Native Americans Affirmations of NAEA's Challenge for Social Justice, Non-Racist Art Education Theory and Practice. The panel included Elizabeth Delacruz and Christine Ballengee-Morris, who have written much on the topic of multicultural art education. Discussed was the fact that in 2010, American Indian mascots are STILL used in many places…and that we need to understand where these images come from and what messages they convey. Delacruz reiterates something that Kristin and I talk about a lot in Methods class: that kids should study the art of other cultures, but then make art about their own life experiences, ancestry & heritage.
Probably my favorite session of the day was Olivia Gude's "Collaborative Murals & Mosaics as Curriculum: Art Teacher becomes Community Artist." I met Dr. Gude last year at the NAEA conference and found her SO inspiring, and for those of you in Methods, it's no secret that she is one of my goddesses of Art Education. Renee already blogged about her presentation, so I will put a couple quotes here:
"Good art teaching functions by creating spaces for discourse"
"Something cannot be a reality unless we can imagine it, unless you can picture it."
"When dictators come into control, they always come after the art."
Olivia Gude is a positive, inspiring force in art education today. Dr. Rolling has invited her to lecture at Syracuse University in the near future, and she is looking forward to that when her schedule allows. I was happy to be able to introduce Renee and Corrie's student Marissa to Dr. Gude!
Today (Friday) I was happy to get one presentation over with…it went well and I enjoyed the discussion the audience had and then shared with the whole group. It was great to have Corrie, Renee, Kristin, Dr. Bey & Dr. Rolling there to support me. One more to go tomorrow!
After my presentation, Dr. Rolling treated all of our SU peeps to a delicious lunch across the street from the convention center. Thanks Dr. Rolling!
After that, I went to an interesting session on bringing back the notion of PLAY to art education, given by the editors of the International Journal of Education & the Arts. Dr. Margaret M. Latta was terrific and I also got to thank her for accepting the article I wrote with Dr. Kelly Chanlder-Olcott for publication.
Graeme Sullivan gave a fantastic session on arts-based research and moving beyond what we think of the typical research strategies of the scientific method. I took a couple of really neat things from his talk:
* You can take your studio practice with you wherever you go…you don't have to limit your "studio" to one physical space…let the world be your studio!
* A really cool idea I think I will incorporate into my summer class - Visual Bibliographies!
Examples of these can be found on the website accompanying the publication of a new edition of Dr. Sullivan's book, "Arts Practice as Research." You'll also see a host of amazing artists (including Dr. Rolling) and their own arts practice.
http://artpracticeasresearch.com/
We ended the evening with another dinner of DELICIOUS Mexican food at ELVIS in the Federal Hill neighborhood, followed by a not-so-nice person who served us delicious pie to go…more on a uniquely Baltimore cookie tomorrow!!
"The number of scarves is EPIC!"
Almost midnight…so some short highlights of the past couple days:
I went to a terrific panel of scholars titled "Native Americans Affirmations of NAEA's Challenge for Social Justice, Non-Racist Art Education Theory and Practice. The panel included Elizabeth Delacruz and Christine Ballengee-Morris, who have written much on the topic of multicultural art education. Discussed was the fact that in 2010, American Indian mascots are STILL used in many places…and that we need to understand where these images come from and what messages they convey. Delacruz reiterates something that Kristin and I talk about a lot in Methods class: that kids should study the art of other cultures, but then make art about their own life experiences, ancestry & heritage.
Probably my favorite session of the day was Olivia Gude's "Collaborative Murals & Mosaics as Curriculum: Art Teacher becomes Community Artist." I met Dr. Gude last year at the NAEA conference and found her SO inspiring, and for those of you in Methods, it's no secret that she is one of my goddesses of Art Education. Renee already blogged about her presentation, so I will put a couple quotes here:
"Good art teaching functions by creating spaces for discourse"
"Something cannot be a reality unless we can imagine it, unless you can picture it."
"When dictators come into control, they always come after the art."
Olivia Gude is a positive, inspiring force in art education today. Dr. Rolling has invited her to lecture at Syracuse University in the near future, and she is looking forward to that when her schedule allows. I was happy to be able to introduce Renee and Corrie's student Marissa to Dr. Gude!
Today (Friday) I was happy to get one presentation over with…it went well and I enjoyed the discussion the audience had and then shared with the whole group. It was great to have Corrie, Renee, Kristin, Dr. Bey & Dr. Rolling there to support me. One more to go tomorrow!
After my presentation, Dr. Rolling treated all of our SU peeps to a delicious lunch across the street from the convention center. Thanks Dr. Rolling!
After that, I went to an interesting session on bringing back the notion of PLAY to art education, given by the editors of the International Journal of Education & the Arts. Dr. Margaret M. Latta was terrific and I also got to thank her for accepting the article I wrote with Dr. Kelly Chanlder-Olcott for publication.
Graeme Sullivan gave a fantastic session on arts-based research and moving beyond what we think of the typical research strategies of the scientific method. I took a couple of really neat things from his talk:
* You can take your studio practice with you wherever you go…you don't have to limit your "studio" to one physical space…let the world be your studio!
* A really cool idea I think I will incorporate into my summer class - Visual Bibliographies!
Examples of these can be found on the website accompanying the publication of a new edition of Dr. Sullivan's book, "Arts Practice as Research." You'll also see a host of amazing artists (including Dr. Rolling) and their own arts practice.
http://artpracticeasresearch.com/
We ended the evening with another dinner of DELICIOUS Mexican food at ELVIS in the Federal Hill neighborhood, followed by a not-so-nice person who served us delicious pie to go…more on a uniquely Baltimore cookie tomorrow!!
Guest Blog from Renee Parisi
Yesterday was a great day! I need to work on my presentation this morning, so I'll blog about yesterday later today. Here is Renee's post:
This NAEA conference is a mecca of creative and inspiring workshops and sessions. The air here is filled with a palpable enthusiasm for the arts and teaching. I have called this a sub-culture of art educators and professionals having the common thread of wanting to push this field to new heights. Another common "thread" can be found in the beauty of the scarves I've seen people wearing.
This NAEA conference is a mecca of creative and inspiring workshops and sessions. The air here is filled with a palpable enthusiasm for the arts and teaching. I have called this a sub-culture of art educators and professionals having the common thread of wanting to push this field to new heights. Another common "thread" can be found in the beauty of the scarves I've seen people wearing.
Can you tell I'm glad to be here?
Here are just a few of my experiences...
Today was my first full day. I'm having fun staying with Kathie and Corrie. The students who accompanied Corrie from Alfred University are really nice; I've been enjoying swapping stories of art ed practice with them. I went to my first lecture this morning about starting a community-based art program in an urban setting in Memphis. It was interesting to hear the successes and the learning experiences of this endeavor.
I then went to a session called "Now that I hold a paintbrush, what else can I do?" This was very informative. Susan Loesl, an Adaptive Art Specialist from Detroit, showcased different tools that make it easier for students to work with paint and other art media who may have tactile issues. Many of these items were made from household items, like milk carton handles. I drew sketches of the tools. I know I will want to use these references in the future. My favorite tip from this session you ask? That's tough, there were a lot of good ones. The one that stuck with me most was using a glue gun to draw lines over a painting so students can feel it while you/they discuss it. Let's say, for example, I was showing students a self-portrait by Frida Kahlo. I would draw her face and other parts of the painting with hot glue. When it was dry, students could feel the lines as I spoke about this painting. Brilliant! I am going to buy a glue gun when I get home. Another point that I liked, which is something I have always followed in my classrooms, is to make these adaptive tools available to all students, so as not to single out the student(s) with disabilities.
My third session of the day was a talk about a course started and created by my host teacher at South Jefferson High School, Mary Elllen Shevalier, who is now my friend and mentor. This is called "I am a Citizen of the World." Two of her student teachers as well as their professor from Oswego talked about this media literacy course, the student produced videos, and the team teaching and interdisciplinary approach. This is a revolutionary course (it is now in it's second year) that, I believe will be part of many high schools' curricula in the future.
http://www.spartanpride.org/webpages/citizen/index.cfm
Next, I saw Olivia Gude present "Art Teacher Becomes Community Artist." I have read her some of her articles, so I was very excited to see her speak. I was so inspired by each slide in her presentation. I liked how she mentioned Paulo Freire several times, Go Freirian pedagogy! It was interesting to see her connect to him with some of the work she has done. One of my favorite quotes Gude said in this presentation was "An art teacher is an artist on extended residency in the community." Another was one she quoted in a mural she worked on honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:
"What do you pack when you pursue a dream? What do you leave behind?" - Sandra Sharp (1988)
http://naea.digication.com/omg/Welcome/published
http://www.uic.edu/classes/ad/ad382/sites/Olivia/OG_01.html
I knew that this conference would be a great experience, but I did not expect to feel this fueled on my first day. I began my morning with a light jog on the treadmill in the gym at the hotel, next to me was a woman who had been teaching art for 14 years in Virginia. After chatting with her about the field, she looked at me before she stepped off and said, with a smile: "It's the greatest job in the world." I smiled back and nodded in agreement.
Cheers,
Renee Parisi
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Highlights from Wednesday!
Click on the slide show to enlarge pictures for viewing.
We started our day bright and early today…up by 7am, Starbucks instant coffee and across the street to a FIND of a breakfast spot…Edie’s. Unfortunately, one of the presenters mentioned it and so we expect it to be mobbed tomorrow. We loved the bagels and the fun people who worked there.
Sometimes Corrie and I attend the same sessions, but often we divide and conquer so we can cover more ground and discuss what we have seen. Corrie’s Alfred students did the same, after our intense session with the conference book and highlighter last night, choosing sessions that interested them.
I started off with a presentation by Beth Olshansky, author of “The Power of Pictures,” whom I have cited in my work. She presented on her research concerning image making within the writing process…a program designed especially for visual and kinesthetic learners. One thing that stood out for me was her idea of Transmediation – where students recast meaning from one sign system to another. They first make their pictures, and then recast that meaning making into written text by authoring their stories. Students create their own collage papers ala Eric Carle, cut out and collage their pictures, and in the process a story develops…the end result being the student authors and illustrates their own book. You can check out Olshansky’s work at her website:
http://www.picturingwriting.org/combined.html
I make a quick stop at the NAEA bookstore, where I purchased two books that look really interesting:
Art Education for Social Justice by Anderson, Gussack, Hallmark & Paul
Reaching and Teaching Students With Special Needs Through Art
I also enjoyed Rachel Williams’ session titled “Graphic Novels, Sequential Art, and Social Awareness,” where she discussed how sequential art can be used to teach issues of social justice. For the most part, this session was valuable to me because she talked about many graphic novel titles and resources that were unknown to me and I am looking forward to exploring those:
• Comix Magazine’s “World War III Illustrated”
• Artist Keith Knight, “K Chronicles” and “(Th)INK”
• Alison Bechtel’s “Fun Home”
• Sally Galman’s “Shane the Lone Ethnographer
What really got me excited was her mention of using the graphic novel / comic format of presenting scholarly research…something I may incorporate into my dissertation…maybe.
By chance, I ran into Art Ed rock star Graeme Sullivan, who lectured last year at SU and also made a wonderful guest appearance in my Foundations / Philosophy of Art Education class. He remembered me! He looks well and I’m looking forward to his session on Friday. We’ve also had several Arthur Efland sightings, an Olivia Gude sighting and also Luna the shorthaired black Chihuahua in the elevator. Usually I see Prof. Mary Stankiewicz from Penn State on the elevator a few times, but not yet. I haven’t seen my hero Elliot Eisner yet either.
Next up was Dr. Rolling’s presentation, “Rethinking Art Education at Syracuse University, Year Two. Corrie and I both attended and we found Dr. Bey in the session as well. It’s exciting to see the direction our department is going in and have the plan laid out in front of us. Being a BIG fan of Batman myself, I appreciated the comic visuals and the metaphor of Batman’s utility belt to explain what tools are needed for the transformation. The desolate winter images of our humble bunker of a building made me laugh and also yearn for the move to Comart…stay tuned.
Corrie did a fantastic presentation on her dissertation research in her session called, “Artism & Adolescence: Art as Opportunity for Participation, Communication & Inclusion.” If you haven’t already read her article, “Paraprofessionals: Gatekeepers of Authentic Art Production,” (Studies in Art Education) you should. I can send you the PDF if you are interested. Corrie’s large audience of people, including bigwigs from the NAEA Special Needs Interest Group, were moved by her research and excited to talk to her afterward…even getting an invite to be a guest speaker at another conference! Yay Corrie! Afterward, we celebrated with a hotdog from the food vendors that park on the sidewalk of the convention center during Oriole’s baseball games.
Finally, Corrie and I along with her students attended a terrific session by Patty Bode called, “Everyday Antiracism in the Art Room: Engaging Uncomfortable Topics of Social Justice in Art Education. The quote I took away from this critically important conversation was this:
“Institutional racism may not be everybody’s fault, but it is everybody’s responsibility in education to address it.”
Challenge, confront, disrupt misconceptions and stereotypes. I’ll be ordering Bode’s book, Affirming Diversity soon.
Then, some work on my presentation, the arrival of Renee Parisi and off to the Crayola Party! This year, this usually fun party on the first night of the conference was disappointing. Not sure if it was the economy or what…but what I missed was the new products to try (there was only one and it wasn’t very exciting) and although there were some really cool artist trees decorating the space, there just wasn’t enough to hold our attention for long. Corrie remarked that it would be interesting if they demonstrated NEW ways to use familiar products. C’mon CRAYOLA! You can do better than that!
We once more to the brisk walk to the Federal Hill neighborhood for dinner at Thai Arroy. FANTASTIC food and portions that no one could finish. Highlights for me included ice cold water with a lime slice and the chive dumpling appetizer. Yummy! Thank goodness for the walk back so we could digest and burn some calories!
Tomorrow…the Baltimore Museum of Art. Van Gogh action figures, Olivia Gude and the arrival of Kristin Goble! Check back with us…same Bat time, same Bat channel!
We started our day bright and early today…up by 7am, Starbucks instant coffee and across the street to a FIND of a breakfast spot…Edie’s. Unfortunately, one of the presenters mentioned it and so we expect it to be mobbed tomorrow. We loved the bagels and the fun people who worked there.
Sometimes Corrie and I attend the same sessions, but often we divide and conquer so we can cover more ground and discuss what we have seen. Corrie’s Alfred students did the same, after our intense session with the conference book and highlighter last night, choosing sessions that interested them.
I started off with a presentation by Beth Olshansky, author of “The Power of Pictures,” whom I have cited in my work. She presented on her research concerning image making within the writing process…a program designed especially for visual and kinesthetic learners. One thing that stood out for me was her idea of Transmediation – where students recast meaning from one sign system to another. They first make their pictures, and then recast that meaning making into written text by authoring their stories. Students create their own collage papers ala Eric Carle, cut out and collage their pictures, and in the process a story develops…the end result being the student authors and illustrates their own book. You can check out Olshansky’s work at her website:
http://www.picturingwriting.org/combined.html
I make a quick stop at the NAEA bookstore, where I purchased two books that look really interesting:
Art Education for Social Justice by Anderson, Gussack, Hallmark & Paul
Reaching and Teaching Students With Special Needs Through Art
I also enjoyed Rachel Williams’ session titled “Graphic Novels, Sequential Art, and Social Awareness,” where she discussed how sequential art can be used to teach issues of social justice. For the most part, this session was valuable to me because she talked about many graphic novel titles and resources that were unknown to me and I am looking forward to exploring those:
• Comix Magazine’s “World War III Illustrated”
• Artist Keith Knight, “K Chronicles” and “(Th)INK”
• Alison Bechtel’s “Fun Home”
• Sally Galman’s “Shane the Lone Ethnographer
What really got me excited was her mention of using the graphic novel / comic format of presenting scholarly research…something I may incorporate into my dissertation…maybe.
By chance, I ran into Art Ed rock star Graeme Sullivan, who lectured last year at SU and also made a wonderful guest appearance in my Foundations / Philosophy of Art Education class. He remembered me! He looks well and I’m looking forward to his session on Friday. We’ve also had several Arthur Efland sightings, an Olivia Gude sighting and also Luna the shorthaired black Chihuahua in the elevator. Usually I see Prof. Mary Stankiewicz from Penn State on the elevator a few times, but not yet. I haven’t seen my hero Elliot Eisner yet either.
Next up was Dr. Rolling’s presentation, “Rethinking Art Education at Syracuse University, Year Two. Corrie and I both attended and we found Dr. Bey in the session as well. It’s exciting to see the direction our department is going in and have the plan laid out in front of us. Being a BIG fan of Batman myself, I appreciated the comic visuals and the metaphor of Batman’s utility belt to explain what tools are needed for the transformation. The desolate winter images of our humble bunker of a building made me laugh and also yearn for the move to Comart…stay tuned.
Corrie did a fantastic presentation on her dissertation research in her session called, “Artism & Adolescence: Art as Opportunity for Participation, Communication & Inclusion.” If you haven’t already read her article, “Paraprofessionals: Gatekeepers of Authentic Art Production,” (Studies in Art Education) you should. I can send you the PDF if you are interested. Corrie’s large audience of people, including bigwigs from the NAEA Special Needs Interest Group, were moved by her research and excited to talk to her afterward…even getting an invite to be a guest speaker at another conference! Yay Corrie! Afterward, we celebrated with a hotdog from the food vendors that park on the sidewalk of the convention center during Oriole’s baseball games.
Finally, Corrie and I along with her students attended a terrific session by Patty Bode called, “Everyday Antiracism in the Art Room: Engaging Uncomfortable Topics of Social Justice in Art Education. The quote I took away from this critically important conversation was this:
“Institutional racism may not be everybody’s fault, but it is everybody’s responsibility in education to address it.”
Challenge, confront, disrupt misconceptions and stereotypes. I’ll be ordering Bode’s book, Affirming Diversity soon.
Then, some work on my presentation, the arrival of Renee Parisi and off to the Crayola Party! This year, this usually fun party on the first night of the conference was disappointing. Not sure if it was the economy or what…but what I missed was the new products to try (there was only one and it wasn’t very exciting) and although there were some really cool artist trees decorating the space, there just wasn’t enough to hold our attention for long. Corrie remarked that it would be interesting if they demonstrated NEW ways to use familiar products. C’mon CRAYOLA! You can do better than that!
We once more to the brisk walk to the Federal Hill neighborhood for dinner at Thai Arroy. FANTASTIC food and portions that no one could finish. Highlights for me included ice cold water with a lime slice and the chive dumpling appetizer. Yummy! Thank goodness for the walk back so we could digest and burn some calories!
Tomorrow…the Baltimore Museum of Art. Van Gogh action figures, Olivia Gude and the arrival of Kristin Goble! Check back with us…same Bat time, same Bat channel!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
We've Arrived!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Here We Go Again!
Tomorrow morning I hitch a ride to Baltimore with Professor Corrie Burdick (AKA my doc buddy and partner in crime!) for the 2010 conference! Also in attendance will be Kristin Goble, also my doc buddy and partner in crime, Renee Parisi, SU grad student and Dr. Rolling and Dr. Bey. I'll be blogging about the sessions I attend, and hopefully will have some guest blogging as well.Wish you were here!
Kathie
Kathie
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
Posts
