“The Arts Connect” Conference Continues: Part XIII – Sarah Sutter
October 18, 2009Workshop: Exhibit and Critique: Visual Arts and Web 2.0 – by Chris Milliken and Audrey Grumbling
Sarah Sutter
Exhibition is so natural on the internet! The benefits are tremendous from celebrating our students’ achievements in the visual arts to promoting our programs, there is no other tool quite as revolutionary as a visual blog, voice thread or wiki. Sarah Sutter, a high school art teacher and technology integrator at Wiscasset High School brought these tools to life for 25 participants in her energy and information packed workshop. Sarah’s natural love of technology and a ‘can do’ attitude were a positive force spreading almost virally to everyone in her presentation titled, “Exhibit and Critique: Visual Arts and Web 2.0″. Sarah infused practical advice and visual examples into each and every aspect of this learning experience.
I signed up for the workshop because I have wanted to establish an online gallery for my middle school students, their families and all lovers of kid art anywhere on the web. Challenges have gotten in the way such as publishing names of minors on the internet, the daunting task of organizing and shooting all the images and the time to choose the platform on which to establish such a gallery. Sarah cut through the red tape of internet safety within the first 5 minutes of her presentation. She had everyone convinced that personal blogs as portfolios are the best way to archive students’ work! So much for the hurdles of safety. She clearly demonstrated ways to limit and control access to blogs that even the most novice technocrat could manage.
Sarah’s gallery posting suggestions ranged from a simple download to flicker to a snazzy voice thread of students talking about their work that is embedded in a blog or wiki. All of this becomes interactive with people being able to record voice comments and identify elements within the image using pointing and writing tools. The gallery is now a critique platform! Technology allows quiet kids a chance to reflect publicly in a private setting. The voice thread teaches critical thinking, thoughtful criticism and internet etiquette.
Who knew? By the end of the workshop I emerged confident and successful in establishing a wiki, which became my preferred platform at the middle school level. The wiki, it turns out, allows me a lot of access control and I liked the organization and some of the graphics options, though there are more beautiful ways to organize information in other platforms.
Having Sarah demonstrate technology from the perspective of an art teacher as well as a technology integrator helped bridge the gap between basic technology instruction and the application in the art room or music studio. Thanks again to Sarah for capping off a fantastic conference experience with a memorable, applicable and engaging workshop! ~CM
Sarah Sutter’s workshop “Exhibit and Critique: Visual Arts and Web 2.0” was a dynamic, in-depth tour of web-based tools available to allow teachers and students to post work and discuss their work through technology: blogs, Voicethread, Flickr, wordle, animoto, classblogmeister, googledocs, and digital drop boxes were all demonstrated by this energetic presenter, who is both a high school (and college) art educator as well as a technology integrator — the best of both worlds.
She nudged even the most reluctant elementary through high school arts teachers toward useful ways to help students exhibit and reflect on their own and their peers’ work. By the end of the session, everyone was on line, exploring and/or developing useful tools for their own class situations. Sarah Sutter is an energetic and remarkable resource, thank you so much for enlisting her for this conference! ~AG
During lunchtime Sarah shared Animation-ish, a program created by FableVision. Peter and Bill Reynolds are the creative thinkers behind this program. You might know Peter’s name from the wonderful children’s book “the dot”. I recommend you check out their site and what they have to offer by clicking here.
me arts ed 
I, too, attended Sarah’s presentation, and was energized and inspired by it. I’m a middle school art teacher, and I have started a wiki for my art classes this year. I love it! I’m curious to know if there is anyone who is interested in creating a wiki support group to communicate best practice ideas, and possibly collaborate on some student comment swapping. Email me at cbucknam@brunswick.k12.me.us
Thank you for your comment Cory! What a great idea a “wiki support group”. I can put a notice on the arts ed list-serv and include your email address for folks to contact you. I have found wikis very useful and do wonder if I were teaching today how I would use one with students. I am a bit jealous when I hear about teachers using them with students and also think it is GREAT!
Sarah is amazing! Some say that she is adapting the world of “new media” to our content areas……… it always makes me snicker……I don’t think the media is “new” to her at all…….what Sarah explores and shares with others is “new” applications!!
Sarah has a lot to share with us!
Aren’t we lucky to have Sarah in our part of the world?! Thank you for your comment Suzanne.
I also participated in Sarah’s workshop. It was jam-packed with info and possibilities. I would love to see this offered as a course, either online or in person. I have e-mailed Sarah’s conference link to colleagues who wish to pursue these techniques and there is a lot of interest. Any chance of this?
Thanks Carol for posting a comment! As a matter of fact Sarah and I have had a conversation around her offering workshops. As soon as we have a little time we are going to pursue the idea!
Great article! Sarah’s presentations are always so full of new info and inspiring! She’s amazing.
Deb
Hi Deb! Thanks for joining the conversation and offering your comments.
I can only imagine how much fun this workshop was! Sarah is a great presenter and she incorporates so much of the curriculum in her sessions. And Argy, congrats on this wonderful blog! Looking forward to reading lots more!
Hi there Alice! Thanks for joining the conversation. We are fortunate to have the talents of Sarah and YOU as well!