SPRING
2017
A MAGAZINE FOR COLORADO’S ART EDUCATORS
Clay
EVERYTHING
Potter’s Wheels
YOU NEED TO TEACH
CERAMICS
Lead Free Glazes
Lesson Plans
Kilns
Slab Rollers & Equipment
amaco.com 2.
Tech Support
Table of Contents
In Every Issue 5. President’s Message by Vanessa Hayes-Quintana 8. Letter from the Editor by Alexandra Overby 42. CAEA Executive Board and Division Representatives Council Directory 42. CAEA Task Force Chairs and Publications Directory 43. Regional Representatives
28. Mann’s Musings by Carrie Mann 32. A Look into My Art Room by Christina Martinez 36. The Scholastic Art Awards of Colorado 2017 by Breezy Sanchez
Page 28. Mann’s Musings by Carrie Mann
In This Issue
38. 2017 Summer ArtSource Institute Mindful Odyssey: Further Play with Your Genius by Paula Rowinski 40. Art Show Rx by Michelle Zuccaro
12. Colorado at the National Art Education Association Conference 14. YAM Events at NAEA & State Capital 16. 2017-18 CAEA Members Art Exhibition Closing Reception at Rodeo Market Gallery 18. High School Level News by Justine Sawyer 19. Show + Tell: Alternative Narratives through Collaborative Artwork by Rachael Delaney, Christine Loehr, and Jesse Bott COLLAGE is published by the Colorado Art Education Association Vanessa Hayes-Quintana – President Alexandra Overby – Editor Rosemary Reinhart & Elisabeth Reinhart – Copy Editors Janet McCauley – Layout Design & Production
Page 36. The Scholastic Art Awards of Colorado 2017
Cover Photo: Artwork Image from Show + Tell: Alternative Narratives through Collaborative Artwork by Rachael Delaney, Christine Loehr, and Jesse Bott
Please submit all materials to: COLLAGE Editor: Alexandra Overby, alexaoverby@gmail.com COLLAGE is published tri-annually. Submission deadlines for COLLAGE are: Spring Issue - February 1; Winter Issue - October 1; Fall Issue - July 1. Email all submissions to alexaoverby@gmail.com. Contributions of articles, photos, and artwork are encouraged. Submissions of text should be emailed as Word documents. Accompanying photographs of student work or students at work is encouraged. Do not include images within a Word document. Images should be in .jpg format and sent as separate attachments. Refer to the attachment and the file name in the body of the e-mail. Whenever possible, include captions and, in the case of photos of original student or teacher artwork, include names of artists. Submitted items may be edited for clarity, length, and format. Opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and publication does not imply endorsement. Lesson plan submissions must include lesson objectives, appropriate assessments, procedures, standards applications, and materials.
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4th Annual Drawing Contest Ages 5-18 "If I Had A Wagon"
Grand Prize
- Weekend stay for the winning student, their family, their art teacher, and their art teacher's family in Rocky
Mountain National Park with lodging and meals provided by YMCA of the Rockies.
- Plus a Topo Designs backpack, Imagination International art kit, gift certificate to Blick Art Materials online store, and admission into the Windows to the West Art Show and Sale
For more information, visit coloradokidscreate.org 1st-4th Place Prizes
- Topo Designs backpacks, Imagination International
art kits, gift certificates to Blick Art Materials online store, and admission into the Windows to the West Art Show and Sale
Special Recognition Prize
- Campfire and hayride for 20 people at Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch in Loveland, Colorado.
Talia Hartman As well as Imagination International, The Print Source, Copy, Copy, Blick Art Materials, Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch, and The Wrangler Store
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President’s Message
President’s Message
It’s Always Time for the Arts by Vanessa Hayes-Quintana
Because there have been many conversations about presidents this year and because I’m continuing my dive into the history of our CAEA organization, I find myself comparing the arts in the time and place we exist in today with the arts in the time and place that existed 80 years ago.
Roosevelt at the dedication of the National Gallery of Art on March 17, 1941 in Washington D.C. It is noteworthy that this “Bill of Rights” for artists was produced just months before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II.
In response to the recent rumored budget cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts, there have been social-media memes of Winston Churchill proclaiming, “If not the arts, what are we fighting for?” While Winston Churchill didn’t actually utter these words, their message is reflected in the content of a Special Bulletin made by President Franklin D.
In light of the social-media meme, I chuckled at the irony of stumbling upon an artists’ Bill of Rights made by a president who was a contemporary of Winston Churchill. I wonder: During a time of war, what are the perceptions of the arts that are held by individuals
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in their day-to-day lives that might align with or differ from the values of their community? I also ask myself, “Given similar circumstances, how might art look for me in 1940 versus 2017?” My family history is peppered with a number of talented artists and writers. Some of them led quite avant-garde lives for their time. What would their success look like today? My personal sentiments are ignited by individual American’s dedication to the arts being in perpetual conflict with our collective commitment (or lack thereof ) to these endeavors that enrich and bring purpose and meaning to our lives. I have many friends of all political and religious affiliations. I can remember one person who has
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outright denied the value of the arts to my face. I truly believe, maybe to an idealistic fault, that most people value the arts. I think they even value the process that turns dry macaroni, a piece of faded construction paper, and some Elmer’s glue into bowls. But I won’t be completely convinced until I can drive down the street of any town in the U.S. and view committed evidence to the arts on any given street corner. Art educators’ work goes far beyond the classroom. Milestones are being made everywhere to influence formal understanding of the arts from all possible sources where they converge into a lifelong perspective passed from one generation to the next. It’s 2017 and we still discuss, how we might “explain” Michelangelo’s David. Or lament
the time wasted searching for that “just right” art history video devoid of all things “inappropriate.” But there are far-reaching effects that can result from our shift to authentic questioning and creating, and keeping the natural act of creating alive in young people as they grow. The effects of deepening and broadening our practice can result in a presidential proclamation for the arts that would seem redundant, rather than elevated to religious status. I always like to say that Colorado has everything except the ocean. This is certainly true regarding the arts. Maybe our country as a whole isn’t ready
to put its money where its mouth is, but Colorado actually does when it comes to creative industries. Colorado Creative Industries produced a study in 2008 titled “Colorado: State-of-the-Art, Key Findings from The State of Colorado’s Creative Economy.”(See Creative Economy Study snapshot.) You can review the breakdown of creative industry information at http://www.coloradocreativeindustries. org/about/creative-economy-study. You’ll also find that Colorado ranks fifth among all states for concentration of artists. You’ll enjoy the diagram and bullet points illustrating the number of creatives working in Colorado. It’s always time for art, and it’s always time to be that voice.
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Letter From the Editor
Letter Fr om the Editor by Alexandra Overby I recently got back from the National Art Education Association (NAEA) Conference and have been reflecting on the big take-aways from my time in New York City (NYC). It was interesting to hear new perspectives on pedagogy and possibilities in the art classroom and I always love getting to catch up with friends and colleagues from across the country. It was also wonderful to get away from the daily schedule of the classroom and to be motivated by all the art-teacher energy within the conference. After thinking about all of this, I have come to the conclusion that my greatest take-away wasn’t so much the conference as my ability to go see artworks in person. I feel guilty saying that the sessions didn’t inspire me to do great things, but I have been to quite a few of the national conferences and have sat in my fair share of sessions. In fact, if you are dedicated enough, you could go to sessions straight from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. without a break (and I have come close a few times)! This time, I decided to enjoy a little slice of what NYC has to offer instead of spending all my time in the claustrophobic hotel meeting rooms. I made it to three museums: the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Guggenheim, and the Whitney, and can honestly say that those experiences were well worth stepping away from the conference. The power of art is amplified when you can see it in person. I still vividly remember seeing the Mona Lisa at the Louvre for the first time and being so mad at how small it was and how many people were clamoring to see it. It looked so different than the slide projection in my art history class in college! On this trip, I saw some of my favorite works plus many new pieces that were amazing to look at. To
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The power of art is amplified when you can see it in person. see the actual size, the texture of the surface, the true colors…no book or website can ever compete with seeing the work in front of you. For example, there was an Asian contemporary landscape show at the Guggenheim that I spent a lot of time with. One piece was a giant robot that was engineered to sweep up this dark-red liquid when it strayed too far from the robot. Hearing the sounds of the robot, seeing the giant size of it, connecting the liquid to blood, and seeing the robot frantically try to contain the liquid gave me a feeling of horror and fascination as I connected the idea of technology and control to our contemporary lives. Looking at an image or video on the web could never have given me the same experience. It is so important that we give our students a chance to see actual artwork as well. I am a little spoiled in my job – I teach a section of AP Art History and get to have deep conversations about art and culture every day. It’s an amazing opportunity when I can tell students exactly what it is like to see a particular piece in person and give them more information than the textbook can. It is even better when students can share their experiences with encountering an artwork or piece of architecture – especially those students who are fortunate enough to travel. Hearing students tell me how they were
Photo mural by J.R. – Highline Trail
On this trip, I saw some of my favorite works plus many new pieces that were amazing to look at. To see the actual size, the texture of the surface, the true colors…no book or website can ever compete with seeing the work in front of you. able to talk about the artwork they saw on their trips and be the tour guide for their families makes my job worthwhile! I have taken students to the museum and had them ask me, “Is this the real piece?” When I tell them yes, it is amazing to watch their faces as they intently study the work and connect it to the projection we were looking at in class. The experience internalizes the work of art into their minds and gives them an appreciation they may not have had before. My end goal is to have them feel comfortable in a museum or gallery so that they may bring their families to these types of spaces
and hopefully become lifelong art supporters. It is easy for me to push for all of you to take your students to see “real art” when my school is a couple miles away from the big museums in Denver, but I do encourage you to think outside of the box to get students in front of actual art. Beyond the work that they create in class, what other types of art are in your community? Is there a giant mural on a side of a building? Does the local historical museum have some work? Is there an office building nearby that has some quality pieces? How about a parent who is a wood carver, quilter, or a basket maker? What about the local coffee shop?
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LNAPRK, Jean-Michel Basquiat mounted on top of Keith Haring pattern (Whitney Art Museum)
Can’t Help Myself, Sun Yuan and Peng Yu(Guggenheim)
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Woman II, William de Kooning (MoMA)
Another option is to use the power of students to get professionals to come in and share their work. I have high school students who follow artists on Instagram and I encourage them to contact the artists and ask them questions. If they are local, sometimes my students ask the artists if they are willing to come to the class and talk to the students out of the goodness of their hearts (aka for free!). It never hurts to have students take the lead on this (with permission from their parents) and, oftentimes, the artists will positively respond and be happy to make connections with your school. I have also set up Skype calls with artists to talk with the students; a little more complicated and not an actual encounter with artwork, but still a powerful experience for the students. By the time this issue reaches you, it will probably be too late to set something up for this year, but I hope that you will be encouraged to get your students to experience actual artwork next year. In the grand scheme of things, we all want our students to embrace a love of art that takes them throughout their lives; this is a great way to start that connection. I hope everyone has a wonderful end of the school year and is looking forward to some much-needed rest and time in art museums this summer!
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Colorado at the National Art Education Association Conference Did you know that there is always a group of CAEA members that attends and presents at the National Conference? Next year’s conference proposals are due June 1st (same as CAEA’s!)...we hope you will join us in Seattle! Come represent Colorado in the biggest conference for art educators!
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YAM EVENTS NAEA
Overall winner flag at NAEA YAM Museum – Overall winning work at NAEA YAM Museum
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Victor Ramirez, Glenwood Springs HS
STATE CAPITAL
Overall winning Colorado work at the State Capital Event
2017 Governor Hickenlooper’s Proclamation for Youth Arts Month
Elementary winner with Elizabeth Stanbro
Senator Michael Merryfield (Colorado Springs) at the reception
State Capital Show Art Work on Display in the Rotunda
and Vanessa Hayes-Quintana
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2017-18 CAEA Members Art Exhibition Closing Reception at Rodeo Market Gallery The next showing of this Exhibition will be at the Bridge Gallery in Colorado Springs, CO May 5th – May 27th, 2017 JUNE 2017: TBD, Bailey, CO (Amy Marsh) SEPTEMBER 2017: Denver School of the Arts, Denver, CO
NOVEMBER 2017: Cranford Cove Tea Taverns, Greeley, CO
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(Deb Rosenbaum) (Vickie Graber & Deborah Frain)
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HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL NEWS by Justine Sawyer
I am excited for the opportunity to represent all of you during my term on the CAEA Representative Council as the High School Level Representative. My current teaching role is at Denver South High School where I teach Drawing and Painting Level One through Portfolio Development. I recently attended the amazing NAEA Conference in New York and came back with some great new ideas including a possible National Art Honor Society Leadership Day for our state. Please consider starting a chapter at your school or reinvigorating your current chapter through this opportunity. CAEA is currently in the initial planning stages so if you are interested in being a part of planning this event, please contact me. Dates and details will emerge at the beginning of the 2017-18 school year. A frequent comment I hear about fall conference each year is about a lack of high school content workshops. I encourage all of you at the high school level to consider submitting a conference proposal to represent our needs as high school or secondary educators. If you have never presented a workshop at the fall conference or have not presented in a long time and would like some guidance, please let me know. For those of you seeking opportunities to support AP-level classes, the incomparable Laura Thompson is working on a full-day workshop to present at fall conference this year.
Is Youth Art Month (YAM) on your radar for the beginning of the school year? Elizabeth Stanbro, Youth Art Month Coordinator, will be sharing details as soon as she receives them from the national level in August. I encourage you to consider being a part of this year’s flag design competition and advocacy opportunity. Submissions will be due at the CAEA fall conference in Breckenridge in November so this could be a great beginning-ofthe-year lesson to ease back into school. Please do not hesitate to reach out with ideas you may have or concerns you would like me to address. (You can email me at justine_sawyer@yahoo.com) Additionally, I encourage all of you to share art happenings at your school with me or directly with Collage editor Alexa Overby at any time throughout the year. If you are in Denver near the South High neighborhood April 27 through May 4, be sure to drop by to see our spring show! All my best to you as you finish the school year.
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show + Tell: Alternative Narratives through C ollaborative A rtwork by Rachael Delaney, Christine Loehr, and Jesse Bott I brought in dirt because I like to plant with my sister and we have poppies. – Fourth-Grade Student My mom gave this to me, it was so special to her. – Third-Grade Student My spoon is so special to me because I eat yogurt with it every single day. – Second-Grade Student Show + Tell is a collaborative artwork created by 700 elementary school students, two elementary school art teachers, and a college art education professor. Show + Tell began with the premise that student thinking can be made visible by using the aesthetics of truth to raise criticality (Thompson, 2004). What we mean by the aesthetics of truth concerns those visual codes that suggest to the viewer honesty and
truthfulness, a believability that does not need to be questioned. Within our schools, these visual codes took the forms of graphs, pie charts, progress reports, growth models, spreadsheets, and flow charts that made factual claims about student achievement as consistently underperforming. In response to the certainty of the data, each of our schools made it a priority to improve achievement scores as a way
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to turn deficiency into proficiency. Unfortunately, instead of raising criticality, our schools reduced the distinctiveness of student thinking down to impersonal numerical achievement scores. We knew that our schools were more than the accumulation of data, and we wondered if this same data could be visually manipulated to include the not-so-quantifiable humanity of our students
that we experience everyday. Show + Tell became our opportunity to intervene and reveal a more honest and compelling portrait of our schools. We began our research for Show +Tell by asking ourselves: How can we create a collaborative work of art that emphasizes the value of our students’ lived experiences? And how can we call attention to the role of standardization in stigmatizing and misleading perceptions of an entire school community? To effectively answer these questions, we knew that we had to replace the immediacy of data with complexity and ambiguity through meaning-making. As described by Wiggins and McTighe (2011), meaning-making involves active intellectual work to make sense of a big idea and its implications “through processes of inquiry, inferencing, and rethinking” (p.63) because “meaning is not so much ‘taught and learned’ as ‘challenged and constructed’” (p.103). Show + Tell offered us the opportunity to expose preconceived notions about our schools through the practice of making, to visually challenge the label of “underperforming school.” Our intentions were to construct alternative perspectives by showcasing our students’ curiosity, creativity, and engagement with the world through objects and narratives.
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Show + Tell offered us the opportunity to expose preconceived notions about our schools through the practice of making, to visually challenge the label of “underperforming school.” This article describes the development, construction, and exhibition of a collaborative work of art using objects and narratives informed by the lives and interests of our students. Rachael Delaney offers an overview of the project and describes how working collectively meant relying on the expertise of students to facilitate meaningmaking. Christine Loehr shares the impact this collaborative process had on her professional development. Jesse Bott provides examples of student narratives and describes how those stories allowed him to have a deeper understanding of his students’ lived experiences. The Germination of an Idea by Rachael Delaney Contemporary art played an important role during the development of this project through examples of artwork that critically examined and responded to important issues happening now (Mayer, 2008). In 2008, the artist J. Morgan Puett created a large-scale participatory installation work called Department (Store): A Collaboration with J. Morgan Puett. The work was created to accompany the opening of the Sullivan Galleries at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. One hundred twenty-one (121) glass department store display cases were rented on a first-come-first-serve basis to individuals interested in putting something on display. Participants were asked: What is important? What is the statement you would make? And how would you display it? (Moore, 2008) Contributions to the display cases included bric-a-brac, piles of clothing, giant candelabras, ceramic bowls, dolls, and, in some instances, the participants climbed into the cases and put themselves on display. With this work, Pruett was able to contrast the act of display as a
means to generalize and simplify information with display as a means to contextualize information as complex and evolving. Pruett’s distinction seemed to be at the heart of what was concerning us as educators: We wanted to do more than merely display student work. We wanted the opportunity to make the complexity of students’ meaning-making visible. During our first brainstorming meeting about Show + Tell, I shared Department (Store) with Christine Loehr and Jesse Bott and wondered, with them, how the format of our exhibition could present an alternative to the highly managed proficiency ratings and how could it question the negative generalizations this type of data can have on a community. While we agreed that the display case seemed to be an ideal format, it was also important to us to not duplicate Department (Store). We wanted to borrow from the concepts in the work to create an original artwork that had students “examining, reflecting, questioning and responding to the important issues of their world” (Mayer, 2008, p.78). Christine Loehr and Jesse Bott agreed to begin the process of collecting, cataloging, and storing the small objects that the students brought in while I researched material costs and found funding sources for the project.
We wanted to do more than merely display student work. We wanted the opportunity to make the complexity of students’ meaning-making visible. We decided that simple acrylic cubes (the type typically used to store and protect memorabilia like autographed baseballs) would function as display cases for our project. The cost of approximately 900 acrylic cubes, one for each student, was close to $2,000. A successful Kickstarter campaign allowed us to move forward with the project. Once the shipment of acrylic boxes arrived, we spent many hours in my garage packing each of these boxes with an object and stenciling onto the exterior of each box the words “Show + Tell.” As they were collecting objects, Christine Loehr and Jesse Bott meticulously cataloged each item that came into their classrooms ascribing a number to each object that was a combination of the student’s grade level and the ranking of the student’s school. This number was then applied to the exterior of the box.
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Along with the objects, Christine Loehr and Jesse Bott also collected test scores for reading, writing, and math; the hours per week devoted to instruction focused on each of these content areas; and the hours per week devoted to visual arts instruction. They also included in their data the gender, ethnicity, and age of each student along with their English Language Learner designation. I then took this information and handwrote the data into a ledger; student names were replaced with the same number that was put on the outside of the box. This step ensured the anonymity of the students involved in the project while also allowing a viewer of the artwork to look up the data on a student in the ledger and then find the corresponding display cube holding the object that the student selected to include in the exhibition. The final element of the piece was a recording of each student describing what the student had brought in for Show + Tell and why the object was important to the student. As each element of the project came together, we grew more confident in the artwork and its ability to poetically present a complex portrait of our students.
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Structuring the project around the stuff of our students’ everyday life was a choice we made because of the potential for these familiar objects to cultivate an understanding of our students as contributors to their communities and not just underperforming learners. As described by Gude (2007), “the essential contribution that arts education can make to our students and to our communities is to teach skills and concepts while creating opportunities to investigate and represent one’s own experiences—generating personal and shared meaning” (p. 6). By asking our students to curate the objects and stuff of their lives, we asked them to become the interpreters of the project, responsible for the aesthetic investigations and meaning-making. This allowed us to take on the role of facilitator so we could be attentive to the process of producing the work; we immersed ourselves in the qualities of the learning experience and paid attention to the possibilities, promise, and actualities of our exchanges with our students and each other (O’Donoghue, 2015).
Sustaining Professional Growth and Cultivating Relationships by Christine Loehr I have always known that teaching art was my passion and I had promised myself that I would never be the teacher who gets bored or loses passion for the craft. However, 10 years of increasing isolation and few art education professional development opportunities had whittled away at the promise I made to myself to always be the engaged and curious teacher. I was in the need of a creative surge and, fortunately, this came in the form of a student teacher, Jesse Bott. During Jesse’s time at Rose Hill Elementary, we seamlessly integrated our similar pedagogical philosophies, each from our own separate experiences. As a new teacher, Jesse was very interested in finding ways to sustain his practice as an artist, something I had lost sight of over the years as lesson plans replaced my own creative practice as a sculptor. With two distinct vantage points, we created our own professional learning community (PLC). A key attribute of our PLC was shared leadership (Owen, 2014). We worked as a team using inquiry to experiment with different teaching strategies. We shared lesson-planning ideas, honestly discussed areas for improvement, and engaged in reflective dialog at the end of every school day. Our mutual respect for each other allowed us to learn together uninhibited so we could focus our collaborative efforts on improving student learning. At the end of a nine-week, whirlwind art frenzy, Rose Hill and I had to say goodbye to Jesse. Luckily for us, Jesse was soon hired at Monaco Elementary just minutes away; our collaboration was to continue as district colleagues. I share this history because it demonstrates how transformative a professional collaborative partnership can be, and suggests the level of trust already established between collaborating art educators well before Show + Tell was conceived. While working with the students and their Show + Tell objects, I was reminded of how important teachers are in the lives of their students. With each item donated to the project, I was entrusted with my students’ treasures and secrets. As a result of this project, my students spoke freely about their families, cultures, and communities because
With each item donated to the project, I was entrusted with my students’ treasures and secrets. As a result of this project, my students spoke freely about their families, cultures, and communities because they trusted me. they trusted me. Students brought in items that reminded them of their parents who were in jail or family members who had been deported. The 300 stories that came with each donated object reminded me of how privileged I am and that, when kids are given the opportunity to be listened to, they feel honored and treasured themselves. As artists, we all know the power an impactful work of art can have on a viewer and, after 10 years of teaching, I was reminded of the importance of not taking this for granted in my own classroom. As a result of this project, I now try to include opportunities in every assignment for new and unexpected collaborative experiences so students can think about making in different and surprising ways. I have also become more attentive to my own practice as an artist by making and submitting artwork to local juried arts shows. Challenges, Possibilities, and Hope: Charting the Stories of Students by Jesse Bott When we began Show + Tell, I was a new teacher trying to navigate my second year of teaching. It was both exciting and unnerving to participate in such a large-scale project where I would be responsible for ensuring that my students’ heritage, struggles, joys, pride, and accomplishments would be accurately represented. My first concern was figuring out how to present this idea to students to begin the collection process without disrupting the projects already in progress. I decided to keep the process as simple as possible, making it a side project or homework. I announced to my students
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that we were going to be working on a personal art project that I was developing with two colleagues and that we needed the students as collaborative partners in order to complete the work. I showed my students a coffee filter I brought from home to represent my love and need for coffee. On the coffee filter, I had drawn a picture of my house to illustrate how grateful I am to have a safe place to go every day. I also brought in a section of a graph that documented the heart rates of my pregnant wife and my unborn son. My aim in sharing these two items was to show students that there are a variety of ways of using objects to show and tell what is important in one’s life. Show + Tell objects rolled in slowly. One kindergartner brought in a bag of dried spaghetti noodles, another brought in a couple of toys he used to play with when he was a baby, and a fourth grader brought in a bag full of dirt. As the weeks progressed, more students brought in objects and my boxes marked with the different grade levels began filling up. Similarly, my audio recorder was filling up with the students’ narratives. I started to fully understand the purpose and the potential of this project as I listened to the stories of my students. The kindergarten student who brought in spaghetti said he simply wanted to show his need for food to stay alive, and that spaghetti happened to be his favorite food for doing this. The fourth-grade girl who brought in a bag of dirt told me that it came from the garden where she and her grandma spent time in the summers. A third-grade girl brought in three pieces of dog food, each one representing one of her dogs. Listening to their stories provided me with a more complete understanding of who my students were. I learned more about their lives outside of school than I had learned in my entire first year of teaching. I didn’t know until he donated it to this project that a second-grade boy’s last gift from his mom before she went to jail was a necklace, or that the sole purpose of a second-grade girl was to grow up to become a doctor because her family had experienced some serious medical difficulties. Together, these objects documented moments of joy, sadness, frustration, worry, and hope, informed by the past, with aspirations
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for the future. This complexity is what makes us human. Show + Tell connected my students’ actual concerns to the broader implications of assessments, promoting transformative learning for each of us through an authentic collaborative experience (Campbell, 2011).
Together, these objects documented moments of joy, sadness, frustration, worry, and hope, informed by the past, with aspirations for the future. I believe that working on this project altered my students’ perception and understanding of my intentions as their art teacher. Being new to the school, I was cautious and so were my students. Show + Tell generated trust through a very unassuming process of sharing objects and stories. A bond was created, easing student uncertainty about what was going to happen in the art room, opening the door for more genuine exchanging of ideas and collaboration. While working on the project, I was constantly reminded of an interview question I was asked when I was applying for my job. The principal wanted to know how I would approach whole-child instruction in my classroom. In my answer, I remembered saying that I wanted to help students learn to build relationships by including their interests in their art making. Show + Tell gave me the opportunity to follow through on this statement in a way that I had not been able to do prior to the project. The Exhibition As we worked on the project, we tested out different formats for exhibiting the work. Eventually, we decided that stacking the transparent cubes on top of one another would emphasize the dimensionality of the objects and, as one sculptural mass, would have the strongest visual impact. We wanted viewers to be able to walk around the stacked cases to explore each object individually and collectively.
We installed the cubes on a 4’x8’ platform, staggering our stacking of the cubes to create different heights. At the opening, an audio recording of the students discussing their work played in the background and, on a pedestal near the stack of cubes, was the ledger filled with the data for each student. It was exciting to experience the work with those who attended the opening – students and teachers from both schools and one principal – and to discuss with them our intentions: resisting the definition of our schools as “underperforming” by demonstrating the complexity of our students’ meaning-making. Learning through Experience As educators frustrated by the overemphasis our schools placed on test scores, Show + Tell became our point of clarity. When we agreed to participate in the project, none of us really understood
the level of commitment it was going to take to complete the work. We were rather surprised to find ourselves installing the finished work in the gallery because there were times when the project seemed too big for the three of us to accomplish. But each time we put an object into a box for display, our connection to each student as an individual deepened, reminding us that the aims of education must reach beyond standardization. We learned for ourselves the value of prioritizing experience and reflecting on accomplishments. As stated by Dewey (1916), “when we experience something we act upon it, we do something with it” (p. 139). Show + Tell called on us to act on other ways of making with our students and, because of this, “a change made in us”(p. 139) was the result of learning how to cultivate a culture of collaboration as a means for creating deeper connections with our students.
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Conclusion Show + Tell places as its central aim the recognition of the lived experience of our students as critical to the practice of learning; it stands as a visual metaphor for the ways in which multiple perspectives are shared and linked. As educators and artists, we were initially attempting to demonstrate how performance scores do little to provide a robust and complex portrait of a learner and a school because they assess using a single perspective that does little to uncover complexity. During the process of making this work, our conversations often drifted to our habits in the classroom, those that we thought worked and those that we knew we could do better. These reflective moments gave us the opportunity to develop new awareness about our daily instructional habits so new possibilities could be imagined in our own classrooms (Buffington & Wilson McKay, 2013). We became better educators because of this collaboration. Our shared belief that a comprehensive school performance score can be built using more than just a set of data points became manifest through our students’ voices and objects. Through this collaboration with our students, we challenged the “structural objectification and neutrality of knowledge” (Shin, 2013, p. 106) to actively defy presumptions about our communities. If assessment is to be successful as an indicator of growth, then it must be as dynamic as those it is assessing. Show + Tell was our attempt to create such a dynamic assessment: we tell an alternative narrative of two underperforming schools by showing who our students are through a collaborative artwork. References Campbell, L. (2011). Holistic art education: A transformative approach to teaching art. Art Education. 64(2), 18-24. Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education. New York, NY: The Free Press. Gude, O. (2007). Principles of possibility: Considerations for a 21st- century art & culture curriculum. Art Education. 60 (1), 6-17. Mayer, M. (2008). Considerations for a contemporary art curriculum. Art Education. 61(2), 77-79. Moore, R. (2008, August). Invitation to play. Retrieved from http://deptstore.blogspot.com/ O’Donoghue, D. (2015). The turn to experience in contemporary art: A potentiality for thinking art education differently. Studies in Art Education. 56 (2), 103-113. Owen, S. (2014). Teacher professional learning communities: Going beyond contrived collegiality toward challenging debate and collegial learning and professional growth. Australian Journal of Adult Learning. 54(2), 54-77. Shin, R. (2013). Stand and unfold yourself! Post-structural challenges for art teachers. In Tavin, K. & Ballengee Morris, C. (Eds.), Stand(ing) up, for a change voices of arts educators (pp. 105-111). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association. Thompson, N. (2004). Strategic visuality: A project by four artist/researchers. Art Journal. 63(1), 38-40. Wiggins, G & Mc Tighe, J. (2011). The understanding by design guide to creating high quality units. Alexandria, VA: ASCD
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School of
Art and Design LOW RESIDENCY MASTER OF ARTS DEGREE The Low Residency Art & Design Master’s degree is designed for current art educators who wish to build upon their credentials while pursuing development as artists, teachers, and leaders in the field of art education. • Reconnect with your studio practices and develop new teaching strategies • Courses designed to fit your schedule with two summer residencies and courses conducted online • Learn through both expert faculty and practical field application • Discover new resources and contacts • Synthesize your personal talents with curricular interests
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR LOW RESIDENCY PROGRAM, VISIT ARTS.UNCO.EDU/ART-LOW-RES. Collage Spring 2017
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Mann’s Musings by Carrie Mann
I have been thinking about collaboration. Collaboration is a way for students to become part of a big picture, figuratively and literarily. I have done a variety of methods of collaboration, from all students working on the same project to all students’ individual projects becoming part of a whole. Here are a few examples of ways I have used collaboration in my classes. Here everyone worked on the whole, taking turns to papier-mâché, wrap, paint, and create a life-size mummy and sarcophagus.
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Another way I have used collaboration is when each person’s individual work becomes part of an installation, as in this Dot Day example. Here every student created a Dot, or round work of abstract art. We then put them together to celebrate the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds.
Another example of this method of collaboration is a rainy day installation. Here each student created a raindrop with his/her school picture on one side and a self-portrait on the other side. We hung the raindrops from umbrellas. This picture does not do the installation justice because moving through the drops was a wonderful way of experiencing the installation.
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One of my favorite ways of doing collaborative art is something in between the previous two methods. Each student creates a standalone piece, but then each piece becomes an integral part of the whole. Here are the beginnings of a project like this. The students each created a monocromatic self-portrait in one of the colors of the spectrum. They will be featured in our end of the year art show. I am just not sure how yet.
My school is working on another project like this right now. We are making a sticky note mural. I have done these murals in the past, but it has been quite a while. Here is an example of the sticky notes.
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I am especially lucky because I teach K-12 and have a rich variety of art examples and levels. I have all my students from kindergarten to senior year in high school make the sticky notes. By about second or third grade, you can’t stop them. Here is an example of the finished work from a previous year.
As you can see, the finished product really is greater than the sum of its parts. I am excited to see the finished product for this year. I would like to know what other teachers are doing. How are you using collaboration in your classroom and program? If you send your ideas and pictures to me, I will put them together for a future article. Send to mannc@merino. k12.co.us. Label the email “Collaborations.” I look forward to seeing all the great ideas.
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A Look into My Art Room by Christina Martinez I am so excited to share with you pictures of my art room. I wanted my room to be a fun, bright place, but it was painted a gross pastel yellow so, over the summer, we painted all the walls white with an accent wall painted a dark blue violet color. This has really helped the room look more put together. I have labeled each table by color and have hung paint cans above each table to help students place the tables back if the tables shift during art making. On my back wall, I have frames with our “I Can” statements as well as instructions for each class, which can include pictures of supplies the students will need. Each table of students has a dedicated area, indicated by color, where the students go to get any supplies they may need. I also have a yellow dresser that I turned into shelving that I call the “Art Supply Store.” This is where students can go to get supplies that are needed for specific projects only. On another wall in my room, I have a huge bulletin board with the elements of art that I refer to and encourage the students to refer to as we are making art. I also have a small bulletin board for students who are the classroom helpers for the week. These students will help me with anything and everything during their assigned week. Thank you so much for stopping by my art room! If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at: martinezch@hcosd.org
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The Scholastic Art Awards of Colorado 2017 by Breezy Sanchez Volunteer, Scholastics Art Awards
Scholastics has had some exciting events and news this season! Scholastics hosted its Red Carpet Premiere night on February 28, 2017. The Red Carpet Premiere showcased the winners in the category of Film and Animation. We rented out a theater at the Sie FilmCenter (the home of the Denver Film Society) and got the students popcorn, a red carpet, and a photographer. Then they watched their films on the big screen! It was so exciting and brought so much joy to the students, teachers, parents, and friends. Congratulations to the five American Vision nominees! These are considered Colorado’s “best in show” and are judged at the national level in New York. And, the exciting news is that “Golden Ram” won a national American Vision medal! This piece will be showcased along with other Gold Key winners at Parsons New School and the Pratt in New York City in June. The full list of national winners can be found through our website: https://www. coloradoartawards.org/
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2017 Summer ArtSource Institute
Mindful Odyssey: Further Play with Your Genius by Paula Rowinski ArtSource Member Who is interested in a journey? How about a mindful journey surrounded by the beauty of the Rocky Mountains in Estes Park, Colorado? Yes, summer is coming soon and who is not inspired by the loveliness of our Rocky Mountains? Well, if this sounds like professional development that could inspire you as an artist and educator, then this is worth its weight in art supplies or, if you prefer, gold! As an ArtSource member and recruiting officer, I am no doubt a fan of ArtSource and the Summer Institute we provide to art educators and educators who take the leap of faith to work collaboratively and artistically. Each summer we have gathered inspiring groups of artists, poets, dancers, and puppeteers who guide an investigation. And this summer is another opportunity to take a journey alongside these professionals in the Rocky Mountains. Portions of the week are divided into investigating, art making, journaling, and collaborating as well as practicing balance in our busy lives. This exploration of bringing intention and calm into ideas through visual art will be guided by our presenter Jenna McBride. Community sharing and taking time to connect to nature will be part of how we explore mindfulness. Our goal this year is to help you find balance and direction in your journey as an art educator and artist. Applications for the 2017 Summer ArtSource Institute were due the first week of April. If you missed the deadline but are interested in attending, please contact Paula Rowinski as soon as possible. At the time of writing, there were still some spots available. Partial scholarship requests were reviewed April 8th. Jenna McBride MA-LPC is a Licensed Professional Counselor. Her concentration for her master’s is in expressive art therapy. If you have questions about ArtSource, please contact: Paula_Rowinski@msn.com
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Art S how Rx by Michelle Zuccaro
How do we keep life’s demands in balance during this crazy time of year? Welcome to spring, a time of bursting vibrancy. The earth is rejuvenated and springing to life. Along with this comes the time for school art shows, which take an incredible amount of time and energy. Work demands are high and many of our needs get set aside. It’s kind of like pulling an all-nighter in college. You know you’ll pay for it later but you get a ton of great work done. It’s invigorating and exhausting. These are the times when you get through with your trusty cup or pot of coffee or tea and chat with friends in the hall while stretching your legs and waiting for a bag of popcorn to pop. Then it’s back to work. How do we keep life’s demands in balance during this crazy time of year? Let’s start with a list of basic human needs put together by Sura Hart and Victoria Kindle Hodson who wrote Respectful Parents, Respectful Kids: 7 Keys to Turn Family Conflict into Cooperation. Rest Fun Exercise Creativity Healthy Food Purpose Learning and Growth Companionship Support Honesty Empathy Contribution Meaning Where and how do you generally meet these needs? What does balance mean and look like for you? Which are your strongest needs? What are simple things you can do to refresh everyday when the bigger things have to be set aside, i.e., small rituals/habits that you do every day? How might you plan in order to meet these needs?
Recognize the space between events as an important time to pause. 40.
Manage your waking thoughts. Here are some ideas that might help get you through this busy time of year: Find small but important rituals or habits that sustain you until you can get back to a clearer, more sustainable balance of your needs. This might be a cup of coffee in the morning or a brisk walk when you get home from work. Stay connected with those around you. I tend to get very focused and forget to have eye contact with people when I am busy. So my goal is to look up from what I am doing to look people in the eyes when they are talking to me. Recognize the space between events as an important time to pause. Noticing your breath and clearing your mind of cluttered thoughts during these spaces helps to bring greater energy later when you return to your work. Choose snacks to have on hand. It can be doubtful you’ll get in a solid meal during especially busy days. Manage your waking thoughts. When you wake up in the morning, think of something you are grateful for and something you are looking forward to during the day. Swing your legs over the edge of the bed and pause, then place your feet on the ground, stretch a little, and begin to feel ready for a productive day. See the bigger picture. When pediatricians talk with parents about children’s diets, they advise parents not to worry about what children eat each day but rather about the big picture of what they eat in a week. Similarly, we may not able to maintain a comfortable balance during the busiest times of the year but, with time, we will return to an overall state of balance. Remember to laugh every chance you get. May you enjoy seeing the accomplishments and growth that your students have achieved this year. Art shows serve the purpose of celebrating and providing recognition. They are an important part of feeding your needs for purpose, creativity, meaning, and contribution.
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CAEA TASK FORCE CHAIRS & PUBLICATIONS Title
Name
Natalie Myers Pam Starck Elizabeth Stanbro Kelley DeCleene Kim Williams Robin Wolfe & Michael Cellan Tiffany Holbrook Alexandra Overby Rosemary Reinhart & Elisabeth Reinhart Janet McCauley
coloradokidscreate@gmail.com tplbstark@aol.com justine_sawyer@yahoo.com kjdecleene@gmail.com caeaawards@gmail.com caearobin@gmail.com Tiffer_1122@yahoo.com alexaoverby@gmail.com rsrhart@gmail.com janetmccauley@comcast.net
Task Force Chairs Commercial Scholastics Youth Art Month Arts Advocacy Awards Web Master Social Media Collage Editor Collage Copy Editor Collage Layout
CAEA EXECUTIVE BOARD & DIVISION REPRESENTATIVES Title
Name
Executive Board 2016-2019 President President-Elect Vice President Interim Treasurer Secretary Past President
Vanessa Hayes-Quintana DJ Osmack Ben Quinn Alexis Quintana Rachael Delaney Elizabeth Licence
caeapresident@gmail.com dosmack@jeffco.k12.co.us bennyquinn@hotmail.com lexi.quintana@me.com taranpappas@yahoo.com elicence@comcast.net
Title
Name
Division Representatives Elementary Multi-Level Middle School High School Private/Independent/Charter Private/Independent/Charter Museum/Gallery Supervision Higher Education Retired Student
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Amy Marsh Carrie Mann Chris Lager Justine Sawyer Jesse Diaz Sam Mizwicki Sarah Kate Baie Open Theresa Clowes Open Open
abeth127@yahoo.com carrieartmann@gmail.com clager@jeffco.k12.co.us justine_sawyer@yahoo.com JDiaz@cca-denver.org sam.mizwicki@gmail.com sarahb@mcadenver.org tclowes@rmcad.edu
CAEA REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Title
Name
Regional Representatives North West North Central North East Metro Metro East Central South Central South East South West West Central
Open Sharon Jacobson-Speedy Christina Martinez Kim Chlumsky Michael Carroll Open Lisa Cross Open Kari Pepper Open
speedywheat@aol.com martinezch@hcosd.org kmchlumsky@gmail.com mcarroll@jeffco.k12.co.us lcross@d49.org kpepper@bayfield.k12.co.us
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For CAEA details and event information: go to www.caeaco.org