me arts ed

Shanna Wheelock blog post

I look forward to reading Shanna’s blog posts and I was especially moved by her description recently on creating a work out of clay. The struggles and thought process involved clearly pointed out to me that it is not just about taking a lump of clay and envisioning it into “something”. My concentration in my undergraduate program was clay so I could relate to her story. I just loved how at the end of her story she brought it back to the importance of arts education. Not about the making but about the many components of learning that one learns and uses. At the end of her vividly explained post I almost felt like I was there. Here is an excerpt of the piece:

The task of creating the top structure took nearly seven hours, leaving me quite exhausted, but feeling like I accomplished what needed to be done. As I worked through various solutions on the sculpture I thought of my students and how important the arts are to their education. One of the Maine State Learning Results’ Guiding Principles is to be a “creative and practical problem solver”. The arts are a perfect venue for building those skills, and those skills can be applied in all parts of life and work. In fact, I recently read that the number one characteristic that employers desire in an employee is the ability to think creatively.

Maybe next time someone suggests that the arts are not important in school, that just the basics such as reading, writing and math are necessary, I think I will refer them this blog entry.

You can read the entire post and see great pictures by going to her blog The Easternmost Potter in the United States called Arts Hone Creative Problem-Solving Skills, October 3rd.

Technology, Entertainment, Design comes to Maine

Sarah Sutter, myself, Jim Moulton and Bette Manchester

If you’ve been a regular visitor on the meartsed blog you’ve seen some of my favorite TED videos that I’ve shared. I do love to watch them, I learn so much. When the chance came to apply to attend the TEDxDirigo I couldn’t resist. Within a few days of submitting my application I got word that I was accepted to the first event in Maine. Needless to say, I was very excited!

I headed down to Brunswick on Sunday for the 9:00 AM start. The schedule was filled with 15 TEDx Maine presentations that were very interesting. There were a handful of TED videos in between some of the live ones. During the breaks yummy food was provided and the opportunity to talk to presenters and the 100 attendees. In fact, the organizers encourage folks to talk to other attendees. That is one of the main purposes of the event!

It was a marvelous day, I left with a smile on my face and my brain filled with ideas and a desire to think more creatively all the time. I was inspired over and over in an environment that felt like something really magical. I look forward to listening to the TEDxDirigo again since in the true spirit of TED they will be online in the near future for easy access.

The presenters included the following Maine folks and the title of their topics and some website information:

• Richard Lugg – Hybrid Engines in Aerospace – SonicBlueAerospace.com
• David McLain – Living a Life of Purpose and Intention – MergeGroup.com
• John Piotti – No Farms, No Food, No Future – MaineFarmlandTrust.org
• Gola Wolf Richards – Sage Qualities in Character Evolve Bountiful Quantities of Timely Change – GolaWolfRichards.org
• Zoe Weil – The World Becomes What You Teach – HumaneEducation.org
• Thatcher Cook – Pictography as a Tool for Social Change
• Peter Arnold – It’s My Job to Save the World; It Can Be Yours Too – Chewonki.org
• John Paul Caponigro – You’re a Lot More Creative Than You Think You Are – JohnPaulCaponigro.com
• Antonio Rocha – Transitions in Eloquence – The Unique Performance Approach of Antonio Rocha – StoryInMotion.com
• Roxanne Quimby – Hives of Creativity Part 1: Why We Need Artist Colonies – QuimbyColony.org
• John Bisbee – Hives of Creativity Part 2: Processes of Art Colonies – Bowdoin.edu
• Don Perkins – Century 21.0 – The Ocean Century – gmri.org
• Paul Josephson – Why We All Need to be Neo-Luddites – Colby.edu
• Lisa Blake – Breath as Inspiration – MaineMindfulnessProject.com
• Russell Libby – Beyond the ‘Roadrunner’ Economy – mofga.org

You can learn more about them at the TEDxDirigo website by clicking here and plan on attending the next TEDxDirigo.