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!