Podcasts
Many of you know the Maine Poet Laureate Stu Kestenbaum who served as the Director of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts for 26 years. Stu is now the interim director at Maine College of Art and he is working with The Craft School Experience, a consortium of five craft schools, listed below. All of them have fabulous learning opportunities!
- Penland School of Crafts Penland, North Carolina http://www.penland.org
- Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee http://www.arrowmont.org
- Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, Washington http://www.pilchuck.org
- Haystack, Deer Isle, Maine http://www.haystack-mtn.org
- Peters Valley School of Craft, Layton, New Jersey http://www.petersvalley.org
From The Craft Schools website: Craft schools across the U.S. offer an educational opportunity like no other. Here, you’ll find internationally-renowned instructors, intensive and focused study, and time for exploration in beautiful residential settings. Those of us who have be fortunate enough to spend time making art at Haystack know how true the statement is about the place.
Stu has interviewed five artists so far in a continuing series of podcasts available by CLICKING HERE. The interviews are very interesting and a great resource to share with students who are interested in learning about the lives of artists and/or are considering being artists themselves. The artists and information on them, taken from The Craft School Experience website is included below.
Roberto Lugo is a potter living and working in Vermont. He grew up in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia and began his creative life writing graffiti. Roberto is a professor at Marlboro College, and he talks about the different languages of academia, the pottery room, and the community where he was raised and the challenges and joys of truly communicating across cultures.
Rowland Ricketts is an indigo grower and artist based in Bloomington, Indiana. He studied traditional indigo making and dyeing techniques in Japan, where he was living after college and where he met his wife, Chinami, who is a weaver.
Vivian Beer is a furniture designer and the winner of HGTV’s Ellen’s Design Challenge. Its about learning how to blend traditional making with new technology, and how her time on the tv design contest showed her that not only can great design be made more cheaply, but it should be.
Sonya Clark is about family, roots, textiles, and the joys of making art in a community.
Tim McCreight is a jeweler, teacher, publisher, writer, and activist.
Sculptor Tom Joyce trained as a blacksmith when he was a teenager. His art work can be found in museums across the country, including the National September 11th Memorial and Museum in New York City.
PMA Family Day with Scott Nash. Illustrator, author, and designer Scott Nash visits to share drawing tips and tricks. These workshops encourage kids and their grown-ups to experiment with unique sketching techniques—including some that Scott even uses when imagining and illustrating his books such as Shrunken Treasures. After the art-making, visit the exhibition Of Whales in Paint: Rockwell Kent’s Moby-Dick to explore how various artists and writers across time have represented the iconic story of Moby-Dick. 
The Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI) Mega Regional Conferences will be held throughout the state during the next five months. Each site will have different sessions offered so you may wish to attend more than one Mega. Sessions will be provided by MALI Teacher Leaders and Teaching Artist Leaders. In addition, almost all sites will have technology offerings as well. A portion of the afternoon will feature a Teaching Artist and information on the statewide arts education census that was conducted during the 2015-16 school year. The report will be officially released in December.
Where are your Art Standards within the Studio Habits of Mind! presented by Janie Snider, Hancock Grammar School Visual Arts
Ellsworth High School VPA Academy presented by Rebecca Wright Ellsworth High School, Performing ArtsLeah Olson Ellsworth High School, Visual Arts Shannon Westphal Ellsworth High School, Visual Arts
Using Multiple Intelligences to Teach Students with Disabilities presented by Brigid Rankowski Teaching Artist
More Cowbell presented by Tim Hart MLTI Apple Learning Specialist
Illustrating to Write presented by Ann Marie Quirion Hutton MLTI Apple Learning Specialist, former Art Educator
Bringing It All Together! presented by Sue Barre Waterville Junior and Senior High School Music
Evidence of Learning Through Google presented by Charlie Johnson Mount Desert Island High School Visual Arts Digital Arts Media/Photography
Making 8-bit Art presented by Tim Hart MLTI Apple Learning Specialist
Looking in the Mirror: The Importance of Student Self-Reflection presented by Mandi Mitchell Hermon High School Visual Art
“RSVP is a fabulous event organized around the current needs of Art Educators. There so many advantages to this group, in fact, too many to list. Some are: Being connected to art educators in ALL reaches of the state / the group itself stars the topic / the topics are current and always helpful / the participants provide authentic feedback on the topics giving participants real world connections to problems we all face every day / ANYONE is welcome but MAEA members get contact hours.” ~ Debra Bickford, MAEA President
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