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

New Phase

I’m writing this after a bit of time for me to process the journey that I am on now.  I’ve always heard people say “listen to the universe”.  I’m relying on that now more than ever.  Some thoughts that have been filtering through my mind for several months.  Bare with me on this part….

Being a great dedicated educator requires many years of education and commitment to your craft.  You also need to always work on elevating your craft and learn new innovative technology, media, terminology, and educational shifts.  All the while you need to support and invest in the relationships you have with the students in your care.

Many of us sacrifice our time with our own family and children to do this.  Not only are we shepherding the young people in our care, but we are also striving to elevate them and nurture them to reach levels they never knew they could achieve.  This is rewarding and it is equally challenging.

After almost 30 years of teaching, I am transitioning into working for myself.  All the effort and dedication I put into my beautiful artists and art program are over.  With any change comes pain and trust me it’s like death while you are still breathing.  I’m working through the change and some days are wonderful and I love the new pace of my days but there are days when I miss the hum of a well-run artist studio with my art students.  It was magic.  My students knew it, my parents knew it, some of my colleagues knew it and respected it.  Others will never get it and would like to dismiss it.

My accomplishments so far are creating and publishing my own artist website.  Joy Schultz Studio  It was a learning curve but I did it just like I had to teach myself how to use two different 3D printers and numerous digital design platforms.  I’m proud to have accomplished this in time for the opening of the new school year.  The second accomplishment is to be selected to be on the Arkansas Artist Registry for artist residency programs.  The third accomplishment is to paint almost every day.  Keep being creative and growing.  The last is writing this post on my blog to let people know why there will be an absence of posts about my school art studio and my wonderful students.  I feel it would not be authentic of me not to let my readers know of the journey I am currently navigating.

I will still be working with young people and adults who wish to learn how to tap their individual creativity.   I plan on going through all of the many lesson plans and activities I created over the years and figure out how to share them.  I will also be purging the many curated artifacts, books, reproductions, and other things I accumulated over my teaching career at a garage sale or online.   I am fulfilling my role as a Co-President of the Choice Art Interest Group for NAEA.  Beyond that, I will listen to the universe.

I have been mulling over a list of advice to offer teachers going through similar paths but it’s still a process for me.  I do want to thank my ArtEd #K12artchat community for quietly being there to support and express concern for my well-being.  I’m unsure of what the universe will offer me.  I hope it will be as rewarding as it has been to launch and inspire all of my artists and all of you.

My best for the start of the new school year to all of you.

 

Starting a New School Year

The postings on the Art Teacher FB pages are buzzing with new classroom decor ideas, purchases, and ideas.  New educators are asking for icebreakers and best practice ideas.  It will be my 29th year of being an art educator.  I still get the before school start dreams/nightmares.  I love adding some new artifacts to my studio and also editing old things.

I have been busy all summer educating other art educators about new techniques to offer in the studio and ideas on how to create a Choice Art studio to their current environments.  I also completed my Google Level 1 training this summer that compliments my methods of delivering my studio content though my Google Forms and my LMS.  It feels great to have some established systems in place and the buy-in from my school population on my ChoiceArt practice and my desire to host a student driven program.

There is a lot of front-end loading to prepare for when serving a blended studio program.  You have to create a solid method of content delivery for a diverse set of skills, media, content, research, and submission process.    I’ve worked with different methods but now I have settled into using Sway for studio documentation, Screencastify for presentation recordings, Haiku Learning Management Platform for my resource content, and Google Suite for submission forms.

I just revamped my older forms to streamline my questions and to freshen up the old ones.  I created a new Powerpoint to present to my new students and to remind my experienced students how to prepare for an Artist Proposal Submission.  I am currently reviewing my past ice breakers to come up with new twists for each of my different courses.  I am able to do all of this in the comfort of my home all online.  NO paper! It’s seamless and I love it.

I have one more Professional Development presentation to complete with about 40 LRSD art educators to complete before I get to start my own inservice prep for the new year.  I did spend some time in my studio straightening up my storage room but with a ChoiceArt program the studio doesn’t require loads of redesign.  My students maintain a good studio flow and it works for all of us.

New additions are two nice new computer stations loaded for my studio to create films and photography.  Plus- my keyboard garage sale find will make an appearance to add a musical component to the originality of our presentations.  I have a motivated group of AP art students and a enthusiastic group of student artists ready to turn the year into one of the best years yet.

The summer flies by more and more as my career advances.  My online PLN #K12ARTCHAT keeps me sane and motivated.  I’m so very thankful for their support and influence.  Soon enough I will be swimming in a sea of teenagers again so having my #HIVE to reach out to is a blessing.

Thank you #Hive #HiveMind

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Professional Development on the Flip-Side

 

I just completed a Statewide tour of Arkansas.  I was able to travel all over to areas I didn’t know and visit arts buildings to see the programs they offered the community.  I spent several nights in hotels and one magical night in a Bed and Breakfast.  I traveled with a talented artist from Arkansas who has an eclectic life story that matches her layered and fascinating art work. It was a fantastic experience and we matched up perfectly.

I have attended loads of PD in my almost 30 years of education.  I have presented at local conferences and at the National convention for years, but this was personal.

The professional development program was created by the Arkansas Education Department and it connects working local artists with art educators, to bring professional development for visual arts.  This an opportunity to engage with a local arts programs and become informed about the artist registry.

Jeri Hillis was the talented artist I was matched with for the workshop. After doing research on her, I figured that her work in collage was going to be our focus for the art making.  http://www.arkansasarts.org/artist-registry/jeri-hillis

Collage is a wonderful approach to introduce the methods of teaching how ChoiceArt is implemented into a studio classroom.  I was able to show how I implement ChoiceArt in my studio and I was also able to demonstrate to the educators how to figure out the methods that would best fit them as the facilitator plus meet the demographics of their school population, and how to explain the ChoiceArt methods to all the stake-holders. I also wanted my participants to get back in touch with the inner artist, and level up skills/techniques, and open their minds to my teaching practice.  I designed the professional development program to try to bring out the working artist in each participant with the focus on Appropriation and Collage.  It is very important to NOT jump right in but really think about how to implement this in your program.   Think about how you would educate the population in the school district.  Also, how to educate others on what ChoiceArt teaching practice will bring to the educational program.

ChoiceArt FB page  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1699665476977044/?ref=br_rs

My presentation included the way I figured out a work flow, method of implementation, how to leverage my student learning management platform, my grading process, and how to communicate to everyone.  This has been a program developed over time.  I stressed that this is how it works for my school and for my personality.  I know myself well and I know my school community well.  It took a lot of front-end loading to get to where I am.  People can see and hear what I do but ultimately, the educator needs to customize the practice to suit the situation.  If I would move to a new school and teach a different population, I would need to make adjustments.

I had several participants at the workshop who were not visual arts educators and they came to learn about how students present their process and how to cultivate individual voices. I feel they were able to collect ideas from how I also stress the importance of building community by verbal critiques,  how to implement classroom mentors, how to  engage students to present their ideas in progress, and showcase the portfolio the students created for documenting the process for final critiques.  In addition,how to use  artist proposals and written reflections as a key to developing a voice that leads to a solid artist statement.

My goal was to educate and get educators back in touch with how they feel when creating, how they organize thoughts and materials, and how their individual pace in thinking/progress happens.  We often feel pressure of our daily schedule, expectations for evaluations, and the curricular requirements.  I wanted to remind the educators about how the most important part of what we do is visual communication.  How do we support our students where they start and meet their individual needs?  Where to do we leave room for thinking, practicing, experimenting, inventing, etc.?  This is all learning and it happens during the process.

IF the student is engaged the end product will speak for itself.

Art educators are often under-appreciated for how well we juggle the materials, behaviors, studio space, and nurturing the soul of our students.  In our studio’s the space needs to be a community that is safe for everyone.  All students deserve a safe place to explore, learn, grow, fail, and succeed.  Succeed based on what the student has identified as success not by the appearance of the product.  The learning is an intrinsic value.  This is often invisible accept when there is time and a method to communicate the learning.  We need to continue to create methods to make the learning and the success from the process, visible beyond the finished product.

We need to meet our students where they are when they enter our space.  It is nearly impossible to meet the needs of everyone when we don’t even consider a student-centered approach.  I am not going to have everyone or even a handful of students become famous successful artists.

I will have all of my students aware of their visual communication skills, how to figure out their work flow, apply the techniques and vocabulary they explored, be in touch and aware of artists worldwide, blend seamlessly the other academic areas they love into the visual communication created in the studio.  I will have young people who understand the importance of the “WHY” when creating original works of art.  I will have students that are confident recording their thoughts, ideas, progress, failures, research, and the confidence to speak and assist others.  I will have students who see the visual arts as a powerful tool to communicate effectively in the world with the balance of understanding how to wield that power on social media.  Plus, have an understanding of the damage that can be done to oneself for not comprehensively planning what they share on social media.  Leveraging visual communication is powerful but it needs to be taught how to be effective.

I communicated at the workshop that I feel that I am always perfecting my teaching practice and my studio is my lab.  It is my goal to be an effective practitioner of Visual Communication and this requires reflection and data points.  I utilize Google Forms and other digital platforms to gather and analyze how effective I am doing in my attempts.  Through my Google Forms and my student learning management platforms, I am able to collect information to adjust my practice.  I am also able to communicate with my individual students easily and to offer input and additional research, support, and plan scaffolding to increase student success.  This is work but with digital tools it makes it easier.

Wow! Didn’t think I’s write so much.  I guess my reflecting on my experience helped me clarify my own voice.  Funny…. I preach that all the time.  Again, practice what you preach.

So, glad I did this summer PD.  Looking forward to not driving and staying in hotels for a while.  I need some deep immersion into my own art before beginning my storage room clean out at school.

Happy summer to you all.

https://www.asc701.org/events/2018/6/28/taking-it-to-the-schools-iii-community-experiences-in-visual-art

What I learned after the first week.

One full week of studio classes are running and I have learned a few new things for this year.  I learned that the students I had in my choice art/TAB art courses are ready to launch with ideas formed and research at the ready.  My “new to me art students” grasp the concept of choice art studio but still need direction on how to formulate the approach to filling out the artist proposal and make decisions.  My response is “What is the Why?”.  

 

WHY?

Why are you in this studio class? Why are you choosing to work with this particular media? Why are you focused on this motif/idea? Why are you creating this?  Why?

Why do I need to know this?  More importantly, why do YOU NEED to know the answer to this question?

I spent my first few meetings with my students getting them to have a clear understanding of the studio expectations, how to interact with one another, and what will be their responsibilities to be successful.  I establish the importance of an ORIGINAL idea and how it is important to connect to what you are creating/designing.  I also ask my students to set up a challenge or a skill to level-up.  My students complete an Artist Proposal with Artistic Targets.  A series of questions are required to be completed that help the artist to form the skill building and research the artist will need to complete for evidence of learning.

For the first days of defining the individual Artist Proposals, I visit with each artist and reinforce the Themes and ask lots of questions.  I help students identify the skill-building techniques and how to work on building up the evidence of learning.

I am working on pushing my students to do most of their research outside of my class so they can utilize the art studio for the actual work to take advantage of the resources in the studio and guidance from me and the class mentors.

This week I had more students requesting to take the skill building work home and if they can work in their sketchbooks.  YES!!!  Students prescribing homework for themselves for self improvement…..Of course- YES!

I have been ordering specific materials my students want to engage in using and learning more about for their concepts.  I have more students interesting in working with digital draw pads and the 3D printer so I need to secure several draw pads for students use.  I have acquired three iPads with some apps for 3D printing and a budget for filament.  The new course Convergent Technology is humming along and we are mashing-up traditional art skills with new technology.  I am excited to get the Midi keyboard and microphone up and running to record original music, voice overs, and sound effects.  Think old school radio shows for our short films and you are getting the idea of what we are creating.

Collaborations and visiting artists is going to also be a feature I plan on exploiting this year.  It adds a whole new dimension to the Artist Studio and I believe it will keep the creative ideas growing.  Our teaching practice needs to always include changes and adjustments.  This year is no different.  Looking forward to all the new possibilities.

 

Summer Pace Begins

And just like that I’m still here…

This year has been a doozey and one for people who can endure many challenges, changes, and growth.  As I complete my year in review that lists all of the activities, conferences, awards, contests, exhibits, etc. I am fully aware of the stretch that I laid out for me as an art educator to accomplish.  I do believe in setting goals and to push forward in spite of obstacles.   

2016-2017 Year in Review 

Joy Schultz

Upper School Visual Arts Program

Award: Stephens Award for Academic Excellence -City Education Trust 2017

Celebrate 10^th Year at Episcopal Collegiate School

Co-President NAEA Choice Based Interest Group 2016- present

Arkansas Regional Director 2015-2017

Accepted into The Ultimaker Pioneer Program- 3D Printer Innovation

Arkansas Art Educators Visual Arts Art Educators Gallery Show-2016

Episcopal Collegiate Art Teacher Gallery Show- 2016

Arkansas Art Educators Convention-2016

• Choice Based Art Studio Implementation and High School Discussions

NAEA Convention presentations- NYC  2017

• Choice Based Interest Business Meeting
• Shark Tank Experience in the Art Studio for Stronger

       Student-Centered Experiences

Arts Reveal Night- Ten Artists Presented

Chibitronics – Dr. Jie Qi Artist Workshop for paper circuitry US and MS art studio classes and the Design Lab

ART CLUB Activities and Events

Watermelon Festival- face painting

Peace Rocks Project

Painted Piano Project- Mayor of Little Rock for the City of Little Rock

Homes for Haiti- Workshop at Clinton Library and the Christmas Mission Market Sale

Empty Bowls- Arkansas Food Bank-  Art Club Project

• Hosted Girl Scout Workshop 35 bowls donated & $510.00 raised

Paves the Way Thea Foundation- Chalk Art Mural K-12 Art Club

Art Competitions and Exhibits

Thea Visual Arts and Fashion Scholarship Competition-

Curbside Couture Runway Show- First Place Winner $500.00

Central Regional Art Show-

Arkansas State Art Show-

Young Arkansas Young Artist Show-

Fine Arts Showcase- March 13^th

Governor’s Mansion Art Exhibition- Governor’s Choice Award $100.00

2017 Governor’s Young Art Competition and Exhibit at the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion. submission “Open Strings” was awarded the “Judge’s Award” in the Governor’s 2017 Young Artist Competition.

Governor’s School Visual Arts Student

Student Art Scholarship Awards: SCAD

 Congressional Art Show Competition: Six Participants

  Laying the Foundation

 “Imagine the Inclusive School of the Future” art exhibit, on view September 1-30, 2017 at the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site Visitor Center.  The outstanding quality of the work and the historical significance of the 60^thcommemoration, the Central High Visitor Center would like to invite your student to donate the artwork to the National Park Service as part of the Little Rock Central High School 60th commemoration archive.

Senior Art Show- First one ever at Laman Main Branch Library 12 students

Established the beginning of the Student Art Collection: 4 works selected

Alumni Art Show- Jan 2018 -option to purchase pieces for Art Collection

AYAA State Awards: Multiple Award Winners

 Publications:

School Arts Magazine April 2017

Picasso Sea Book- 2016

This year I completed my tenth year at my current school.  This is the longest I have ever stayed in one place.  I am fortunate to be able to navigate through my curriculum changes with confidence.  I have autonomy in how to build the best program to meet the interests of my students.  I keep up with the National Standards and I feel I keep up with education journals to help guide my practice.  This next year, I am going to add a new course.  I believe the course I have created will meet a population of students who are underserved among the traditional media and the course will support the fast-paced content creators who are already contributing but need more guidance.  As I work this summer on collecting content to use as exemplars and articles to help guide my young creators, I am also redesigning a section of my crowded art classroom space.  I have written my grants and have my professional development ready to tackle this summer. I will work through Lynda.com to brush up and learn new platforms in addition to reading books, playing with the Morphi app, and finally spending time creating my own content.  I like being prepared and I am looking forward to working with my clever and talented students to break new barriers. 

I am drafting my NAEA proposal and I am getting feedback from my online PLN.  It’s new territory for most but I do like having input on my thoughts to make sure my information is clear to everyone. 

This summer I will be traveling to Paris and will be able to view places and art that I have up to this point only viewed in books and the internet.  It will be a great way to celebrate the past ten years.   Next is to spend some time back in Wisconsin, hopefully doing some plein-air painting. Then I get to participate in a SCADYear summer workshop with two talented students learning about new design and technology to elevate my program.

My summer calendar is filling up fast but I am determined to keep pushing the boundaries and maintaining an exciting program.

Finding the Flow

It’s my tenth school year at my school, 26th year of teaching, my second year of full choice. You would assume I got this under control.  I do have things lined-up and a system in place but with new students in the studio who are new to the program it’s all new to them.  So I have a lot of housekeeping information to disperse before a successful launch of my choice based studio can begin to flow.  I feel the momentum has been growing for the choice program and my students are excited about the self-directed and self-pace studio opportunities.

 

On the second day of school I focused on warm-up experiences and the kinetic body drawing was a huge hit.  After two days of hands-on experiences; I introduced the process to submit artist proposals and how to document the research and their artistic journey.  One blip I discovered was the platform I was using for student documentation had changed some of the navigation and uploading tools.  It became too many steps for a smooth process for my students.  So I spent the night vetting out a new platform to introduce to my students as a replacement.  I don’t need to tell you how stressful it was making a switch mid-gear.  Luckily, I found Sway.com and it is perfect to meet my needs as the educator and my students find it user friendly.  They love it.  The platform is a Microsoft platform that connects to my student’s school email account and it also has a nice smart phone app.  The value added is the quality of the appearance and the design layout options are really nice.  Each student can modify and design the look of the documentation on Sway to match the style of the work or student’s personality.  I also appreciate the curated resources that populates on the link for each Sway when my students use key words for the document.  Before I would curate information I collected on our class Haiku page to use as a starting point for my student’s research.   Sway having this feature is an added benefit to using this platform.  Students can still upload documents, websites, YouTube videos, and add written comments for each slide.  The only piece missing is the ability for me to comment directly on the Sway so we will need to do more one-on-one discussions to have full communication about their process.  This isn’t really a negative but it was a convenience to comment on each of the student’s links from home each evening so my students could read and have a record of what was said about the submissions.  The sharing options are similar to the prior platform so each Sway can be visible when the artist chooses to open sharing beyond the artist proposal form.

This year I am going to add QR codes to help share all the research/process my artist creates.  We will continue with the Arts Reveal Night presentations but we will be adding QR code links to each of our displays.  I will be requiring students to write artist statements and titles on each piece.  On the artist statement students will add a QR code to share what they want viewers to see and learn about their work.  The Sway link can be copied into a QR code creator and saved for future use.  I can also see using this QR code for attaching to scholarships, resumes, and art competitions.

Busy week setting up my students to understand the proposal and submission process then leads into how to collect and design an artist proposal and keep it original.  I have several videos I share about Remixing and best practices to follow when appropriating ideas to create original works.   I support my young artists with Artistic Targets and Themes.  I read the artist proposals and review the skills each artists wants to explore.  My next step is to plan workshops to scaffold the learning of each artist.  I hosted several individual and small group workshop sessions.  This next week I will review with everyone how to push the compositional layout to get the most unique and well composed compositions.   This week I felt as if I was keeping a whirling storm under control.  Loads of energy and excitement to submit their Artist Proposals with the new Sway platform.  I had an evening with my student’s parents for our Open House and the excitement was echoed by the parents.  I have to say, having my students share what they are doing with their parents is a big deal.  Teens don’t often let their parents in, so when they do, you know you struck a chord.

We had our first big school social at a Watermelon Supper and my art club kids showed up in force to help spread school spirit with face painting.  The energy will carry me into next week for our Club Fair when my student leaders will present all the club’s activities.  We already have a Girl Scout Troop Empty Bowls workshop to plan and a Saturday Chalk Art drawing day to celebrate the arts.  Our theme is “Celebrating our HeART”.

One more little bit of exciting news is that I was asked to submit an article on the Kinetic Body warm-up drawing inspired by Heather Hansen’s “Emptied Gestures” for the School Arts Magazine.  I have been reading that magazine since I started teaching so it is an honor to publish an article about my artists in the magazine.  I will keep you posted when it is published.

Have a great start to your new school year.

NAEA16 Chicago

I came back with a new “twist” from the carefully crafted presentation I prepared to share at the National Art Convention on my Transition to a Choice Based Studio.  It is proof that if you have something to share and you are passionate about it, you can share it with or without technology.

My morning started by arriving at the assigned room at the convention center.  I enter the room and there is no projector or screen.  No problem, the NAEA assured that all rooms would have a projector and screen in every room.  So I wait a few minutes… time passes and I don’t see any tech people around to get some assistance.  Next jumps in two educators that take super hero action to help resolve the situation. One is calling anyone she can on the phone to get tech support and the other runs all the way from the fourth floor in the North building to the support desk in the lower level of the Lakeside building.  NO Results- but not from lack of trying.  Thank you friends. (Tim Bogatz and the wonderful lady I could not remember her name in my panic state)  So resourceful as I am, I head into a room a few doors down and swipe the projector from the other room that was not using it.  I was halfway to my room when one of the convention workers stopped me and said I could not take it out of that room.  Even after I explained my plight, he did not agree.

Imagine walking to the room that has every seat filled, people sitting in the isle and down the sides of wall, plus people still trying to enter the room.  I was sweating already from running around and now- stress sweat is no fun.  I contemplated making a run for it, not presenting, or standing tall and just do it!  I decided I’m doing this!  (Self-talk:Hopefully, I can engage and inspire this group.  I’m an art educator and I do this everyday for over 26 years. ) I open my PowerPoint as my guide and encourage everyone to look at my Instagram or Google me for all the content I have online as a reference.  At this time I didn’t have my presentation uploaded on the NAEA16 app but you bet I did after the session.

I was very sequential in my presentation and very clear on how I came to my organization of the running of a Choice Based Studio.  I shared a few stories about my students and tried to paint pictures about my studio with my words.  The audience was engaged and asked great questions.  I maintained my composure and delivered.  I wanted to share so many great visuals and videos but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.  I lived through my worst nightmare.  I believe I had an out of body experience while standing at the podium.  After I presented I had a rush of teachers asking me so many questions and I was able to share a portion of my presentation on my laptop.  By the time I left the room, I was uncertain if I did a good job.  In fact I felt disappointed, frustrated, and angry.  I took a few minutes to calm myself down before I spoke to anyone about the tech issue and I made sure my presentation was uploaded immediately.  It was uploaded so I spread the word about it on the convention app and Twitter.

 

For a while I just wanted to crawl into a hole.  I traveled alone and I didn’t have anyone to talk to about this unfortunate experience.  I was feeling really bad.

Then a woman came to me and told me she learned so much from my session.  I was pleased but I couldn’t help but feel she was sensing my disappointment and was being kind to me.  I appreciated it but it really wasn’t what I planned.  Trust me, I am a planner and super organized so this was a hard pill to swallow.

But then more comments were posted on the app about the session.  I was at first terrified to even look at it.  I’m so glad I read a few comments.  The comments were positive and supportive. Then a few more messages popped up through my email and my other social media sites.  Okay- maybe I can finally admit to myself that I accomplished what I wanted to do in spite of the situation.

Thank you for all who attended my session and who spoke to me in person and posted comments on the convention app and on social media.  It was reassuring that I accomplished what I wanted to do.  I am grateful.

 

 

 

 

Retooling

“Creative thought is a trial-and-error process that generally produces a series of failed associations before a creative solution emerges.”

TOM JACOBS

So the semester is beginning to wind down or up, if you have frantic artists striving to complete works at the end.  I have placed the above quote on my laptop for me to read and reread.  It is necessary for me to have an orientation for what I am doing this semester.  I have a formula or so I thought, that would work this semester, and for the most part it has.  I need to adapt for larger enrollment starting next semester. I need to update and tweek a few Google forms.  My plan it to keep the set of Themes and add some Verbal Prompts to help assist my artists that need a bit more to get started.  I am also thinking, I may need to limit some of the media or steer students to materials to consider for their art proposal.

This of course has me diving in for more research and better ways to get my artists to connect deeper into their individual inquiries.  I also need to find a method to drop-in skill building techniques for the students who need it.  I am finding that often many students need some individual attention on a variety of media skills all at the same time.  I tell you I am a “jack of all trades” but I haven’t figured out how to clone myself yet.

I want to accomplish more than I can ,but I do enjoy the research and challenge.  I want to keep the discovery, inquiry, and choice for the individual artists.

Most of my students are developing, exploring, experimenting, and creating wonderful works that speak to their interests.  But I am still struggling with the student who craves more framework and directions.  I am doing the scaffolding and individual skill building but the motivation to do the work on researching the concept/process is still not there for some students.  I think for some students it may not be what they want from a studio experience or in the cycle of comfort or desire to learn more about creating.  It could be that the student has come so accustomed to just being told what to do. If that is the case, I will need to continue to offer support and guidance to lead them to choice.

I am preparing to present at the Art Closet Arts Integration Conference –http://artsintegrationconference.com/  

I will present what I have learned from a semester of doing the work and offer a few new questions for the viewers to research to customize the concept of Choice Based Art for their programs.

 

 

Serving Your Local Organization- Do the Walk

We just wrapped on the Arkansas Art Educators 2015 Art Convention.  I volunteered to present two sessions and to also step into a Regional Directors position.  Yup!  It’s official I am full.  I have my hands full at my school all day and the addition of all the other organizations I run, advise, host, do…I am nuts.  So what’s the big deal to load on more?!  

Okay- yes prepping for a sub for two days and preparing two sessions was a challenge.  Stepping into a position and finding my footing along the way was stretching me but I think I survived.  My sessions did not go without their hiccups with poor Wi-Fi issues but overall not too bad.  I hope some of the teachers who attended my sessions gleaned some new ideas.  I was excited to meet with the region I have been assigned to lead, about what we can do to continue to connect throughout the rest of the year.  I proposed a few art coffee meet-ups to have face-to-face discussions and encourage professional development.  It seemed to be well received.  I guess we will find out when we have our first meet up.

I was honored at a reception this year for the Secondary Art Educator of the Year and as much as I felt it was an honor I wasn’t prepared for the emotion that spilled out of me in the moment.  I was so humbled and appreciative of the selection from the other art educators.  They get it…they understand what we do as art educators all day.  We are passionate people who are driven by a calling that we cannot control.  All week as I was preparing my sub plans and my session materials, I was thinking of my undergrad college art education professor.  Dr. Ernella Hunzinker, she would have loved to see me get this award.  Her eyes would have lit up, her smile would have stretched across her face, and she would be beaming.  She believed in me before I believed in myself.  I grew under her support.  She was a tough professor and students either loved her or disliked her.  I loved her.  I truly admired her ability to meet her demands as an art education professor in a male dominated field and manage her disabilities as MS took control of her body.  She never complained and pushed herself to get it all done despite the physical challenges.

Dr. Hunzinker came to my first district art show at my first full time teaching position.  She found a bench in the hallway and admired the display I had hung of my students work.  She sat there and waited for me to find a break from a group of parents and students to visit with her for a few moments.  I wasn’t expecting her.  I turned around and I saw her.  I was so happy she came and I was excited for her to see me in action.  I was her prodigy and she was my mentor.  I sat next to her on the bench in the hallway surrounded with my first years student work and she held my hand.  I looked at her and she had tears welling up in her eyes.  She said, “I knew you would be this great.  I knew you could do it.  I am so proud of you.  You will be great.”  I was a little surprised by her tears but not her words.  I could sense her pride in me.  We hugged and she stepped out the side door and was driven away.  Not long after I received news that her MS had limited her mobility and she retired from teaching.  Not long after she passed away.  My mentor was gone.  To this day I hold that last meeting in my mind.  This memory flooded my mind when I reached the podium to receive the Secondary Art Award.  I was overcome with her memory.  I could see her face again in my mind.  Dr. Hunzinker would have been in the front row.  

 

So I do the walk and the talk to help elevate art education in her honor. She would want it that way. Represent and elevate others to carry on long after you are gone. This is the legacy she would want me to leave behind.

 

I encourage you to step up and serve your art organization and help elevate art education in your area and then I challenge you to spread it on up to the National Level.