It’s been a while…

It’s a new year and I am feeling like myself again. It’s been years since I have written on this blog. I’ve been gone healing. My husband of almost 30 years unexpectedly passed away.

We were happily married and he was my best friend and biggest supporter. It’s been four years since he passed away and a lot has happened. I sold our home and moved closer to our only son. I have started teaching again after a year off. I’m teaching at a charter arts-based 7-12 school and I am the 8-12 art instructor. I am navigating my current students through a Choice-Based Art program. I am learning a lot about how to rebuild my life and how to rebuild and implement my Choice Art practice in a program that was teacher-directed. I had a very strong and successful Choice Art program at my prior school. I had a small art studio, limited storage, but great resources. I currently have an amazing studio space, great storage, but limited resources. I am learning a lot about myself and how to deliver the quality program I am used to delivering to my art students.

Personally, I have undergone a great transformation. I value things differently. I was broken into a billion pieces after my husband passed away. Everything I knew was gone, all the plans we made disappeared. I am an artist but I couldn’t create anymore. My artwork was always heart-centered and spiritual. When he passed away my heart was broken and I was lost. For a time, I could not read, write, or taste food, I was numb. I walked around in a haze and it took a year before I started to see the light. I relocated and changed my whole lifestyle. I walked 10,000 steps a day because it was the only thing I could control. Soon my two precious doxies, 22 and 16, passed away. Everything that was in my prior life was no longer with me. I fought through depression and feeling defeated. It was dark days but I am a fighter, I knew my late husband would want me to shine again and keep living.

I had a wonderful life and everything I wanted. This was my new chapter to write, rebuild, and place the people, things, and routines in my life that helped me rediscover myself. I briefly, had a fun and sweet relationship that proved to me that I could love again. I discovered new emotions and who I was becoming. I learned who I need in my life. My best supports have been my son and his wife and the strong women who are in my life. I continue to focus on bringing more strong women into my life. I developed a healthy exercise routine and a good diet. I adopted a sweet little doxie through one of my artist alumni. Tallulah has been a bright light in my life. She helps me navigate meeting new people with her happy adorable spirit. I get to love her and she loves and protects me.

This journey as a widow isn’t for the faint-hearted. I do not wish it on anyone. Discovering oneself after being a partner to someone since 18 has been eye-opening. I am not the same woman I was, I am forever changed.

I have slowly transitioned into a more secure individual with goals for myself. I have gained a tribe of strong friends. I am still building my community in the town I live in, and I am beginning to make art again. I am hopeful I will buy a home this year settle my art studio and begin my artistic journey again.

My professional life has changed. I maintain balance more than I ever have. I do give to my students but maintain clear boundaries and focus on myself. It is good to remember to take care of yourself. You cannot be good for anyone if you are not solid yourself. I love working with my young artists. They fill my mind with new ideas and they challenge me daily. I love seeing them discover, try, fail, and rebound in beautiful ways. This is what life will demand of them when they gain more life experience in the world. I look at my art students differently than I had before. I want to protect them from the harsh realities of life but at the same time, I want them to become self-confident and happy. I want my artists to know they are enough and the world can be tough but they are tougher.

I know this is an art education blog and I have been absent in my writings, but I do hope someone sees some value in this entry. I will try to write more about the implementation of Choice Art in my new school soon.

See the good in the world and shine the light for others,

Joy

Busy times…

Wow!

I have been so busy and I just wrapped up on the Arkansas State Art Conference.  I presented two sessions, I assembled three sessions which included ChoiceArt educators meeting up to greet each other, offer grade division specific sessions, and to get the ChoiceArt educators signed up for a shared folder for content.  I also presented on Design Thinking on a topic that I feel many art teachers found direct application for their classrooms from the session experience.

Getting back to my life at home, I took time to make a few magnolia leaf wreaths and bake some sour dough bread from a starter.  This always relaxes me and I need it because I will be hosting a NAEA webinar on the ChoiceArt Studio.  I am very excited to present and show how teaching Choice can be implemented in a classroom.   On my school agenda; I am hosting a recycle fashion workshop, a parent coffee about the Visual Arts program, and launching into our next Arts Reveal Night.  Presenting is important for so many reasons.

Just as attending conferences for our own development and learning so is presenting.  During my presentation at the AR conference, I stressed the importance in sharing and presenting what and how we do our practice.  I know it is more work and it is scary but we need to move past this if we want to get better.  We can only become better at what we do by sharing how we do it and reaching out to each other.  Art educators are notorious at being extraverts when it is necessary but then retreating to our safe spaces when we can.  I do this all the time.

I am perfectly comfortable with my students and working with them brings me so much joy.  I am not the most comfortable in front of a large group, writing and publishing my thoughts, and basically always pushing out my thoughts.  I am a very cerebral person and I process my ideas for some time until I am comfortable with it before letting it out.  I am getting better at it and I keep pushing on through it.

I make my students present for this same reason.  You know yourself better and why you do what you do, when you have to tell someone about it.  Artists do love to share their accomplishments with like-minded people.  Standing in front of a crowd and explaining your ideas or process is much harder.  But I want my students to do it because it will make them stronger and much more confident.  I know this because it has worked for me.  I believe in modeling what I ask my students to do and then supporting them to do it to.

I was sitting next to Dennis Inhulsen an accomplished art educator and school principal and now, the NAEA Chief Learning Officer. At the conference luncheon, we chatted about the Arts Standards that he helped to write.  He admitted that he was never a great writer but he got better by being put in the position to have to do it.    Now, he represents the NAEA all around the country and presents to educators the importance of the Art Standards.  Presenting is one of the new standards that is emphasized in my studio.  I also balance presenting with writing/reflecting on the process.  It is essential for student growth and confidence.

I walked away from my sessions and I hoped that I clearly expressed the importance of connecting with other art educators and sharing what they are doing in their own teaching practice.  I feel my role as the Co-President of the ChoiceArt Interest Group is to encourage individual voices to gain volume and confidence.  It’s not my own voice that always needs to come forward.  I want other educators who are working through how to teach with offering more Choice to their students to share.  The teaching theory of ChoiceArt embraces individuality and voices.  We help our students find their passion and elevate their voice….We need to do it for ourselves too.

Join an organization, sign-up for an interest group, write a blog, participate in a forum, post content you created and share it….just do it!

Please join the NAEA Webinar on November 15 @7-8PM EST when Nikki Kalcevic and I present Teaching the Visual Arts Through Choice. NAEA Virtual Art Educators Webinar

 

Fall Season Has Arrived

The first quarter has already flown by and I am measuring how all of my courses are functioning and developing.  This semester, I am teaching full choice tri-level drawing, painting, mixed media, convergent technology, and a AP Studio Art course.

I am a very reflective educator and I routinely look at my student’s art work and written reflections.  I feel I have delivered on the “how” and “what” for my students to be successful at managing the student lead learning.  The routine is established and the push to grow is evident in the research and progress documentation my students create.

 I am constantly sharing new artists with my students to help them open their minds and to challenge them to think deeper about their choices.  There are days I want to capture all of my students for a much longer time.  Time seems to evaporate too quickly when we are in the studio.

Seriously, I want to bleed one hour into another to keep the flow going.  The disruptions of fire drills, field trips, and testing has impacted these past two weeks and I feel the momentum slipping away.   Thankfully, I have established the Sway documentation and research links so we can quickly get reacquainted with our focus and dive back into our thoughts.

I am so proud of the growth and confidence my students have already gained and demonstrated in class.  In our Convergent Technology class we hosted our first viewing of our collaborative stop animation for a critique.  Since we had a captivated audience, we also pitched a few of our independent film ideas to get some advice.  We appreciate the critics comments and it will only make us better.

One very important aspect of a Choice Art is to make sure students are individually growing and developing.  This can be one of the most important pieces of a successful program for student artists.  First, students need to be able to develop a sense of what they want to target to improve and also have a concept of a direction/voice they want to establish and communicate.

I received a comment from a parent who is new to our school, she said that I manage my class so differently and I focus on the intent of the work so much more than any art teacher before.  Her child appreciates the thoughtful approach I instill in the purpose of creating art.   That is a win in my book.

I’m preparing for our State Conference and getting our Choice Art/TAB teachers all together.  I hope we will all be able to connect and start sharing strategies to help us be more successful in offering a quality choice art programs. I’m also presenting Design Thinking at the conference with a focus to solve a problem many of us deal with every school year.

 I’m so looking forward to Nationals in Seattle.  It will be a beautiful area and our Choice Art Interest Group is HUGE!  I cannot wait to attend as many of the sessions that I can get to; so I can glean new methods to adapt for my studio.

Heading into second quarter and striving to push the limits.

Collaborative chalk mural brings us together.

“We have to get messy to make it beautiful.” – Art Educator Joy Schultz

We have been participating in a local city chalk art celebration for several years.  It supports a local organization which support students with funding and scholarships to continue to go to college or to supply arts educators much needed supplies.  The Thea Foundation was created by two parents who lost a talented artist daughter named Thea.  Her legacy lives on every day in the hearts and minds of young artists and dedicated arts educators.

I love participating in this event because it’s our first public art collab.  It starts with the first art club meeting when we decide a theme and brainstorm visual imagery to support the theme.  I let my student art club directors take the lead and I support them by moving the idea along.  I am lucky to have a well-trained and dedicated student leader, Junior Celia, for year two.  She was trained by her older sister who ran the art club before her for two years.  I strive to have the current leader mentor another future leader as the second year begins.  This helps maintain consistency and a lot less training on the spot from year to year.  The student leaders, Celia and Sophomore Bella, feel much more in control of the group and step-up in wonderful unique ways, with their own ambitions, to help the art club be engaged in the school and greater community.

Our theme this year was “Unity” and we had all of our members draw up many variations on the theme but we had lots of images that overlapped.  I needed someone to pull all the concepts together to help tell our story and support the theme.  Junior Madison was excited to contribute to the project but would not be able to attend the actual chalk mural event so she volunteered to pour over all the students ideas to create a cohesive design.

We combined our ideas with the lower school and middle school students to create one large design.  It was a hot sunny day and we had some students arrive early but needed to leave midway to attend other responsibilities so our students needed to work together to finish the final design.

We had students stop and evaluate the mural while it was evolving and they checked in on one another to see if they needed help.  The communication was between the art students of all ages was supportive and helpful.  The other two art educators and I made sure students took water breaks and sat in the shade for a breather.  I love that we had photographers pop by and ask to take photos of our students at work.  You could see the pride each student had in the mural.  We overheard comments about all the different world flags we added and the wonderful hot air balloons created by our youngest artists.  I love all of it but I was mostly struck by the students at the end that suggested that they hold hands around the globe for a group photo.  Right then and there, I realized they truly understood the purpose of the mural and the meaning of our theme.  “Unity/United”.  I could have not been more proud.

“Unity” Chalk Mural created by Episcopal Collegiate School art club students 1-12 grades – Art Educator Joy Schultz

 

The Opening Matters

We all want to start on the right foot.  We want our students to feel confident in enrolling in the art course, the students want to know they can be successful and gain new skills.  In a Choice/TAB studio class it is important that students grasp what is student agency.  What is required of them to be successful in the studio?  I started this past week with a collaboration project and also an icebreaker piece.  I build in assessment tools for me to gauge what the confidence level, skill set, and interest is in the course.  I believe in launching into using all the terminology and techniques needed to establish the expectations for the work. For some of my students, I might as well be speaking a different language, but I assure my students they will pick up the information quickly.

Here are my goals for the first week of class:

#1 Create a safe environment and work on a collaboration to help set the tone and share procedures.

#2 Set the expectations about original works and how to achieve independence and skill building evidence.

#3 How to document and research effectively for success.

#4 What is success in a Choice Based Studio? How are you assessed?

#5 Know the WHY in creating.

I am in the middle of setting the standard for creating original works and how to document progress, plus demonstrate skill building.  We are still using Sway.com to document and I am requiring more written reflections within the portfolio documentation.  Artist Proposals with Artistic Targets will help the artists set goals for the concepts they choose to create and Themes will also guide the concept shape.  I created student based assessments to help each artist decide to what degree they would like to develop their levels of content on the Sway link.  I am striving to support my student artists to be as independent in their process as possible so I can spend my time scaffolding their learning to level up their skills.

I have curated content on my student learning management platform to support the development of each project. Because my courses have multi-level students, in the studio at the same time, I also utilize studio mentors.  I find this to be very empowering for everyone.  It is exciting to see students engage in helping others achieve an individual voice in their art work.  We are off to a solid foundation and I cannot wait to share what we are creating.

This week we are dedicating student works for our school permanent collection with a wonderful reception.  I’m excited we are beginning to collect works from our talented artists for the history of our school.  This year we are going to make a call out to alumni artists to participate in an art show in the winter.  The school will then select a few for purchase to add to our school art collection.  Hoping to capture a few current works from our talented alumni.

Good luck on your start of the school year.  Enjoy the eclipse!

Spring Time Fun

I really love seeing all the evolutions by students create from the choices they make in the art studio.  Offering choice through themes and artistic targets allows my students the opportunity to select areas of interest, materials to explore, and levels of inquiry.  I have witnessed students repeating the motif, materials, or theme to dig deeper and improve skills.  When the lesson was teacher directed, my students did very little connected thinking from one piece to the other, and often didn’t get another opportunity to explore the media a second time.  Now, I have students perfecting designs, experimenting, and pushing all kinds of possibilities.

I’m loving how independently my students find their supplies and move forward on their art work.  My students ask very good questions about the work such as “why are you doing that?, “why are you using that?”, “what does this mean?”.  My students expect the artist to know why you are creating, what is the purpose, and is it original.

I am excited about the possibilities of seeing my youngest students evolve within the choice based art program.  I have seen an increase in application of their knowledge that they researched to achieve goals they set for themselves to complete an artistic target.  In one semester the growth in student independence and initiative has grown.  The confidence to speak to the class about their ideas and possible creative solutions is gaining strength.  I’ve noticed an ease in which my students now preform tasks in the studio that required so much direction and set up; to a simple rhythm in the space.  In other academic areas my colleagues have noticed the cross-over and blending of our curricular areas merging them closer together.  This merger is being promoted not by me but my students.  My students are experiencing, seeing, and talking about the connections.  The importance in offering choice and self-directed learning is beginning to take hold.

The school year is quickly coming to a close and it will be time to celebrate all of our accomplishments.  We have done very well this year, claiming many awards, scholarships, and accolades.  I am most content in seeing my students happily working independently, caught up in deep thought, and working through a task they designed.  I love that several of my students have embraced an entrepreneural spirit, when thinking about their art.  They have taken to setting up websites and controlling their own social media brand showcasing their style of art.  I could not be more excited for the possibilities of this new found digital platform control, mixed with an ambition, expressing their voice, sharing their ideas/passions,  balanced with a creative drive…..there is not stopping them.  Art can change the world to be so much better.

I believe it.

Love to Illuminate Art

Love mashing skills and creating hybrid curriculum for elevated learning opportunities.

We experienced some of the cooler things that can happen in our art studio in a while within the last few days.

It has always been my purpose to reach my students the best way I can and to find new ways to inspire them to reach further than before.  So when I went to ISTE last year, I discovered a brilliant MIT doctoral student, who was creating paper circuits.

I participated in her workshop because I have a mini obsession with illuminating things all over my home and whenever possible my art.  I have been know to influence my student’s projects from time to time to include lights.  So when I realized I could teach my students how to use paper circuits with a coin battery to illuminate art ….I was transfixed.

I love the packaging, the ease of understanding how to create circuits, and the application of Chibitronics materials.  I immediately set my mind to try to get the inventor Jie Qi to come to my school for a workshop with my students.  Well, it happened this week….for three super packed days we had the pleasure of working with paper circuits with Dr. Jie.  Our students learning ranged from simple circuits to parallel circuits.  The more advanced students created their own circuits for specific works of art and a few had the chance to work with a prototype microcontroller and do some coding.

I was impressed with how quickly the school community lit up with excitement to learn all about paper circuits.  We had workshops with 6-12 graders but this did not hold back elementary parents from purchasing the toolkits for their younger children to explore.  I even had teachers from all different courses stop by and purchase toolkits.  I am hoping this will be a new trick everyone can add to the class curriculum for projects they may create in the future.

If you want to learn more about paper circuits I highly recommend you check out the website: https://chibitronics.com/learn/  Dr. Jie is great at presenting the content and methods to apply for the simplest circuit to more difficult programming of microcontrollers.

Additional links to explore:

http://papercuriosities.media.mit.edu/

https://www.adafruit.com/

To view videos go to my Twitter or Instagram

@joycschultz          Schultz_Life

If you are attending the National Art Convention in NYC, you are in luck.  Dr. Jie is planning on joining us to see what art educators are doing.  The convention is across the street from the MOMA and her toolkit is on sale in the museum store.  PS Dr. Jie also has work in the MOMA exhibit.  If you see us wandering around don’t be afraid to ask us all about paper circuits.

ART CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

I have had the opportunity to work with talented and compassionate artists throughout my career as an art teacher.  I have had several alums become art teachers, designers, and advocates for change.  I am so proud to have been a part of their development.  This is no exception.  Celeste Jennings is a junior in my art studio and she has been in my studio for three years.  She has participated in Curbside Couture as a designer and has blossomed through this experience.  Celeste can draw, paint, sculpt, sew, and just about anything else.

Celeste Jennings “Broken Heart”

Celeste created a touching painting about the loss of her father. She completed the piece during the last three weeks of school.  She often has several works of art going on so it wasn’t a surprise to see her sprawled on the floor with a large piece of mat board with watercolor, ink, and scraps of paper strewn all around her work space.  As I was teaching a different class Celeste came in to work during her study hall.  I circulate around the studio all the time, so I glanced over to what she was creating and what I saw, jerked at my heart strings.  A beautiful silhouette with gradations of thinned India ink dripped down the long surface.  The addition of a realistically painted heart was placed in the chest area of the girl who is symbolic of Celeste.  I watched as she tore the heart into pieces and placed it scattered away from the figure like a broken heart.  The lines of ink that dripped down the composition completed the figure but also reminiscent of a gown.  “Very Celeste”  She glued the pieces down on the surface and added crumpled pink and red pieces of Oriental paper.  I did not say a word but I knew I would need to ask her about this imagery later.  I continued with my class and the bell rang.  Celeste kept working….I looked over to her work space and she added red and pink drips of watercolor streaming down from the girl’s heart.  I had to walk away.  Such a powerful image and it said so much about her feelings- so personal.  I watched her clean up and prop the image against an easel.  Celeste was happily putting things away.  She was very pleased with her painting.  I did not speak to her about it.  I couldn’t – not yet.

OK Love- Progress Celeste Jennings

Days went by and Celeste left the painting alone and worked on a new design for a skirt.  I removed the painting from the easel and elevated to the front board.  Then during my prep Celeste came into work so we talked about her imagery.  She was not sad and was happy that I found her work so moving.  I told her that it was so different from her other works of art.  This was emotional and sad.  Celeste did not feel it was sad….she saw beauty.  Yes- it was beautiful …..a beautiful way to express her feelings about the loss of her father.  Celeste’s father passed away two years ago to a sudden heart attack.  We speak of him often and I feel I am beginning to know him through her.

Artist Celeste Jennings

I posted the image on my twitter and on the Ning Art2.0 and it got the attention of a friend who is an art teacher in Wisconsin.  She offered a suggestion….”maybe adapt the lines at the bottom and turn it into a tornado.  Do something with this image to help the children in Moore, Oklahoma.  You know like you did with the Homes for Haiti project.”

It never entered my mind….I was still captivated by her original image about her father.  Yes- I could see the possibilities but I already work very hard to support my Homes for Haiti project and this is a personal image for Celeste.  This needs to be her project and her decision.  It was exam week so I did have the opportunity to go to lunch with Celeste and so I offered her the suggestion.  She lit up!  She was so excited to have the opportunity to help the children in Oklahoma.  We raced back to the studio and within three hours she completed the painting.

I documented the process for her and we discussed how she can make this project work.  She took to the ideas like a duck to water.  The whole time she spoke about her father and what he did and that he loved working in elementary schools so this is a perfect tribute to her dad.  So today Celeste has opened her Etsy store to sell poster prints of her painting and is in the process of selling t-shirts too.  She is taking this project on with her mother and brothers support.  Our school community has embraced her idea and is supporting her project too.  It is my wish and hope that many more will support her efforts to help the children in Moore, Oklahoma.  Proceeds from the sales will be donated to an organization in Moore, OK for immediate support for families and hopefully a sizable donation can be given to an elementary school to help pay for rebuilding the school with a safe room.

Artist Celeste Jennings- OK Love Project

Just have to repeat myself again- ART CAN CHANGE THE WORLD!

Link to Celeste’s Etsy Store

http://www.etsy.com/shop/DesignsbyCelesteJ

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