me arts ed

Workshop: Art Museum World Tour – by Phil Hammett

Virtual Art Museum Tour workshop blog:

Bethany Dunfee Pierce

Those who attended the Virtual Art Museum Tour were exposed to a dazzling panoply of possibilities for using the internet in Art class.   Bethany and Cori provided us with a packet of resources, which served as a guideline.  We started the workshop  with the observation of an actual exhibit of art posters, which we analyzed as to their potential for integrating with other disciplines, writing these on 3×5 cards.  It was
great to read others comments to get different perspectives on the pieces.

This mimics an activity that would be done with students in an actual museum (minus the integration piece), which could easily be adapted to an online museum tour.  A lesson plan for this activity was provided in the packet.  This would be fun to try with an online blog, where students could react to works of art and to their fellow students comments, making it interactive.

In the packet were some amazing sites- some museums, and some reviews of museums with links, like this little gem http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/museums/ that I wasn’t able to check out until later:   [ / This is a great springboard to touring many different museums around the world.  Merely scratching the
surface of the myriad opportunities, we didn’t actually try a museum tour, but went way beyond this by exploring some of the amazing visual activities on the web.

Cori Modisette

Stuff like the “Switcheroo Zoo”, where you can create virtual animals by combining any number of characteristics from various animals (I always wondered what a spiderman would really look like).  Also ‘breezed through’ were ways to distort photo portraits, create comics or digital portfolios, and many sites that make integration with math, science and history look like fun!  Some tasty “integratable” appetizers include the following:  http://www.artnatomia.net/ with the anatomy of facial expressions, and how to make kaliedocycles (math integration) at http://www.kaleidocycles.de/.  If you haven’t checked out “women in art” you’ve got to experience this wonderful time warp through art history at http://www.vimeo.com/1456037.

To wrap up the workshop, we all wrote down one of our favorite lessons that involved technology, so that these could be shared.  All in all, it was a great experience in collaboration, and an eye-opening window into just how many resources are out there in cyberspace!  The only limits are having enough time to explore….

Keynote Speaker Andrea Peterson by Carol Trimble

Andrea Peterson

Oh, what a great celebration we had at The Arts Connect. Now, 2 weeks later, I’m still thinking of the connections I made with so many participants–seeing people I hadn’t seen in a while; viewing artwork on cell phones; hearing about ideas, students, and programs, and meeting new people.

I’m also still thinking about keynote by Andrea Peterson (2007 National Teacher of the Year), especially the stories she told about her students. I keep thinking about the boy who fixed the pencil sharpener (reminding me to notice and respect everyone’s individual way of contributing to our world) and the child who felt “like the National Student of the Year” (reminding me of the enormous impact teachers can have on a student’s view of his/her own life). All of us who teach have favorite–and equally moving–stories about our students.

Andrea Peterson’s keynote reminded me how powerful it can be to share those stories—amongst ourselves so we can acknowledge to each other the importance of the work that educators do—but also how important it is to share those stories with others who may not yet know the many ways that arts education can have a critical and transformative effect on students’ lives. I’m interested in hearing YOUR stories about YOUR students. Please send them to me at ctrimble@maineartsed.org .