Archive for February, 2013
Monhegan Artists’ Residency
February 9, 20131 week residency for an art educator
For many years now the Monhegan Artists’ Residency Program has offered two five-week residencies during the “shoulder” seasons of May-June and September-October when rentals for studio space and lodging are less expensive. This schedule, as we have been told by many teacher-artists who would like to apply, is prohibitive for K-12 visual art teachers, who are in school during those months.
After discussing this situation for a number of years, the Board of Directors is pleased to announce the establishment a two-week residency in July open only to K-12 visual art teachers. We are very excited about this expansion of our program to include this group of artists, who are often underserved in terms of professional development opportunities to nurture their own art and creativity.
The Visual Art Teacher Residency includes a $200 stipend to help cover costs for food, transportation and supplies. The first Visual Art Teacher Residency will be in July 2013, and any K-12 visual artist teaching in a Maine school is invited to apply. Please go to our website for details http://monheganartistsresidency.org/
MAEA Spring Conference
February 8, 2013Maine Art Education Association
The Spring conference will be held on the UMaine campus on Saturday, April 6, 2013. A variety of workshops are being offered and a keynote by Dr. Kerry Freedman who is a faculty member at the School of Art Northern Illinois University.
It’s all relative.
Travel Time to Orono:
Fort Kent – 3:25
Kittery – 3:15
Calais – 2:25
Bridgton – 2:50
Our spring conference will soon be here providing a stellar professional development opportunity.
Workshop offerings: American Indian Curricular, Explorations in Felt, Teaching Art History, Wonder of Watercolor, Perception and Illusion, Clay-scapes, Sculpture in Multiples with Molds, Addressing the Critique, Non-toxic Printmaking, Digital Photography, Experiments in Drawing.
Solo or Group: Will you be arriving as an individual? Commuting? Regardless, opportunities abound to network and create professional learning communities. If you are new to MAEA conferences and are not sure where to start, find me….I will connect you.
Ride Board: Driving north, south, east or west? Interested in commuting? Please let us know if you have a need or ride to share.
Lodging: Coming in Friday night?
Art in the Heart members may be available in advance to, “Adopt an Art Teacher”
Hotels abound in the Bangor area and Orono has lodging as well.
Celebration: Please make a plan to join us Friday evening for a pre-conference event as we celebrate our Excellence in Teaching Award Event at the UMaine Museum of Art. Join us after at Seasons (where Millers once was) for a casual social event of drinks and or dinner.
For more information please contact: Suzanne Goulet at sgoulet@aos92.org
Congratulations Mike Davis!
February 7, 2013Educator Hall of Fame
On Friday night music educator Mike Davis was honored along with 5 other educators and 4 administrators when he was inducted into the Educator Hall of Fame at the Portland Pirates game sponsored by Unum.
Comments from Mike’s principal, Laura Shaw:
“Mike is an amazing educator, who is deeply committed to enriching the lives of elementary students. He is not “just a music teacher!” While he enthusiastically teaches band and music classes full-time at Sherwood Heights for 400 studenets in grades Pre-Kindergarten through Sixth Grade, he also demonstrates how he is deeply invested in providing students with a positive learning experience in every area of the school setting.
Mike is the team leader for all elementary music teachers, facilitating monthly meetings with this group. He has worked to improve the music programs in the district, as well as improving collaboration and integration between music and all other academic areas.”
Each honoree was recognized on the ice, given a personalized jersey and a $500 check for personal use. YAY for MIKE! Arts Education in Maine is PROUD of YOU! We know this recognition is well deserved! By the looks on the faces in the photograph below it looks like the event was a lot of fun. For those of you who do not know Mike, he is the second from left, top row.
Common Core and the ARTS
February 6, 2013College Board Releases Common Core Study
I have received emails in the recent months from visual and performing arts teachers who have said they have been asked to do work with the Common Core State Standards (CCCSS) for English/language Arts and math.
Most of you know that the National Core Arts Standards Conceptual Framework was released on January 14, 2013. The College Board has been part of the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards and has provided several research components that supports the work.
Late last week, Amy Charleroy of the College Board announced that the Common Core alignment study is complete. The work, entitled A Review of Connections between The Common Core State Standards and The Next Generation Arts Standards may be downloaded at http://nccas.wikispaces.com/Common+Core+Alignment.
Dr. Nancy Rubino, of the College Board, discusses Common Core connections in the Conceptual Framework roll out presentation, also housed on the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards wikispace. The presentation and PowerPoint may be found at: http://nccas.wikispaces.com/Conceptual+Framework+Presentation+to+Field.
These studies can provide answers to your questions and valuable information that can help with the curriculum work you are doing at the local level.
In Today’s News
February 5, 2013John Bapst Memorial High School student, Christina Long was selected for the American High School Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall for the second year. Read about Christina in today’s Bangor Daily News Community section.
Kids Learn From the Arts
February 5, 2013ARTS BLOG
The ARTSblog is a program of Americans for the Arts and is authored by Lisa Phillips. She has written a book called ‘The Artistic Edge 7 Skills Children Need to Succeed in an Increasingly Right Brain World‘. You can find a link to the ARTSblog in the blogroll on the right side of the front page of meartsed blog.
On November 26, 2012 Lisa wrote a post called The Top 10 Skills Children Learn from the Arts. We know that there are plenty of articles and educators promoting STEM/STEAM and 21st Century skills and the connections to the arts. Lisa outline 10 skills that are directly connected. Arts for arts sake is a priority however we can not deny that the arts contribute (as they have over time) to the development of the whole child for balance and citizenship.
Here are the 10. Please go to this link to read the entire blog post.
- Creativity
- Confidence
- Problem Solving
- Perseverance
- Focus
- Non-Verbal Communication
- Receiving Constructive Criticism
- Collaboration
- Dedication
- Accountability
What do you think of Lisa’s list?
washington post
Habits of Mind
February 4, 2013Studio Thinking
Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Art Education was written by Lois Hetland, Ellen Winner, Shirley Veenema and first published in 2007. (new printing is due out next month) It is a book that provides some answers to why art education is essential. The authors provide research on how the habits of mind are learned by studying visual arts. Practicing teachers voices, lessons, and pictures are included in the book.
Thank you to Pam Ouellette who has shared a summary of the book. Pam teaches visual art at Lisbon High School and is a teacher leader for the Maine Arts Assessment Initiative.
Belfast High School art teacher Heidi O’Donnell shared this link to an online assessment project where students are sharing their ideas on Studio Habits of Mind.
STUDIO THINKING
Students develop valuable dispositions in art classes.
Dispositions: Skills, alertness to opportunities to use these skills, and the inclination to use them—a trio of qualities that comprise high-quality thinking. These habits of mind are important not only for the visual arts but for most disciplines/areas of study or employment.
1. Craft – Learn to use and care for tools, materials, and procedures. Learn technique to enable you to create what you intended.
2. Engage and Persist – Learn to embrace problems of relevance within the art world and/or of personal importance, to develop focus and other mental states conducive to working and persevering at art tasks. Make a personal connection to the art assignment. Practice!
3. Envision – Learn to picture mentally what cannot be directly observed and imagine possible next steps in making a piece.
4. Express and Create – Learn to create works that convey an idea, a feeling, an atmosphere, an emotion, a narrative/story, a drama, a sense of movement, or a personal meaning.
5. Observe – Learn to attend to visual contexts more closely than ordinary “looking” requires, and thereby to see things that otherwise might not be seen. Notice, pay attention, learn to SEE!
6. Reflect – Question and Explain: Learn to think, explain, and talk with others about an aspect of your work or working process; Evaluate: learn to judge your own work and working process, and the work of others in relation to standards. Reflect in your journals! Learn to articulate about your work and process, record your ideas and growth. This helps you self-monitor and become independent.
7. Stretch and Explore – This is the heart of creativity. Learn to reach beyond your capacities, to explore playfully without a preconceived plan, and to embrace the opportunity to learn from mistakes and accidents. Think about several versions of the same idea or different ways of getting to the same idea. There are no clear right or wrong answers. Don’t worry about how a piece will end up, experiment, take risks, go beyond your comfort zone, be brave, be creative!
8. Understand Art World –Learn about art history and current art practice and how it can inform your work. Learn to interact as an artist with other artists (i.e. in classroom, in local arts organizations, and across art communities) and within the broader society. Understand how what you learn in school connects to what people do outside of school. Understand that art is a part of your everyday life.
Encourage Reflection, Envision, and Stretch and Explore:
Decisions, planning think about, what if, you might consider, I wonder if, experiment, it might be because, you could try (x or y or z).
Hetland, L., Sheridan, K. M., Veenema, S., Winner, E. (2007). Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Learn from the Arts
February 3, 2013Top 10
I am not sure where I came across this list so I thank whoever provided it.
Top 10 Skills Children Learn from the Arts
- thinking outside the box
- creative problem-solving
- self-expression
- other ways of seeing the world/expressing themselves
- patience
- long-term planning
- discipline
- freedom to explore and discover
- school can be fun
- not to run with scissors
Vision of the Future
February 2, 20136 Artists vision
The BBC asked 6 artists from around the world for their vision of the future. They put together a short video with each artist, their images and the artist telling about their vision. Glenn Hatton from Australia, Levi Pinfold from the UK, Koji Yamanura from Japan, Abdoulaye Konate from Maii, Play Collective from Argentina, and Chema Madoz from Spain are the artists who were chosen. The medium, ideas, and thoughts are influenced by a variety of components of their personal and global lives.
Perhaps this could be a platform for creating art with your students. You can view the video by clicking here.
Thank you to Peter Bernard for sharing this link.
me arts ed 