Thursday, October 27, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
CAEA Convention
So yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the 2011 Connecticut Art Educators Association convention in Waterbury. It was fun and inspirational. In a profession as isolating as teaching, it's really important to meet with colleagues whenever possible - especially when teaching art. Most teachers are awash in a world of standardized tests and data teams, but specials teachers, especially art teachers, have totally different challenges and responsibilities.
But I digress. The conference had some wonderful workshops. I especially liked one in particular where three women presented a shared journal/sketchbook they had been passing back and forth for nearly a decade. Their candid and intimate presentation reminded me that it's easy to forget to make art, even when you teach it every day, but when you find the time to create, it really fills up a missing piece in your life. It was during that workshop that I decided to start blogging about my creativity and to try to create at least some art every day.
Another workshop was more practical and showed me how to do fast and easy monoprint screenprinting for about a dollar a student, using laminated cheapo mats, nylon curtain bits, duct tape, bits of mat board, tagboard stencils, and of course, screenprinting ink. Success:
The grass is a green oil pastel drawing. I was hoping it would resist the ink more, but I like how you can still see it through the slug's body. Man, I miss screenprinting and I really want to pass the joy onto my students - but it's such a mess and I'm still at the stage in my teaching career where messes and materials management are really daunting for me. Hopefully next year I'll have the courage to try it!
So now for the most important part of the convention experience - SWAG! There wasn't too much this year - Blick kind of dropped the ball compared to previous years, and I didn't even see Crayola there - but this little thing made up for all of that:
SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) gave out this nifty little sketchbook. I love the way it swings open. I can't wait to start doodling in it.
But I digress. The conference had some wonderful workshops. I especially liked one in particular where three women presented a shared journal/sketchbook they had been passing back and forth for nearly a decade. Their candid and intimate presentation reminded me that it's easy to forget to make art, even when you teach it every day, but when you find the time to create, it really fills up a missing piece in your life. It was during that workshop that I decided to start blogging about my creativity and to try to create at least some art every day.
Another workshop was more practical and showed me how to do fast and easy monoprint screenprinting for about a dollar a student, using laminated cheapo mats, nylon curtain bits, duct tape, bits of mat board, tagboard stencils, and of course, screenprinting ink. Success:
The grass is a green oil pastel drawing. I was hoping it would resist the ink more, but I like how you can still see it through the slug's body. Man, I miss screenprinting and I really want to pass the joy onto my students - but it's such a mess and I'm still at the stage in my teaching career where messes and materials management are really daunting for me. Hopefully next year I'll have the courage to try it!
So now for the most important part of the convention experience - SWAG! There wasn't too much this year - Blick kind of dropped the ball compared to previous years, and I didn't even see Crayola there - but this little thing made up for all of that:
SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) gave out this nifty little sketchbook. I love the way it swings open. I can't wait to start doodling in it.
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