2016 Arkansas Art Educators Fall Conference

All I can say is...what a conference! We opened this year at the Clinton Presidential library to hear Chuck Gunderson, author of Some Fun Tonight: The Backstage Story of How the Beatles Rocked America, followed by a personal tour of the exhibit. We had a blast looking at the memorabilia, drumming with a tutorial from Ringo, singing in the Yellow Submarine singing booth, and taking our picture on Abbey Road. Even our Thursday morning guest speaker, Tim Bogatz from The Art of Ed, joined in the evening fun! Thursday was filled with tons of options for learning sessions given by art educators throughout Arkansas, including myself. I presented an hour long session over the process of starting elementary art centers. Thursday evening I attended the Awards ceremony, then participating in the Board and Council meeting. Friday began with a touching speech and presentation by a personal favorite, Paul Leopoulos. I encourage you to look up the THEA Foundation.Such a great organization and resource right here in Arkansas! I have benefited from a donor and the THEA foundation in the past and will be eternally grateful for what they do for the arts. At our luncheon, we listened to HSU professor, David Warren, as he recounted his sabbatical to Japan and learned ancient techniques to printmaking. He also gave an afternoon demonstration of some of the things he learned.

I do plan on using some ideas from what I have learned at AAE. I attended a session about Flat Vincent(Vincent VaGoch). This is an extension of Flat Stanley. I plan on trying this out in the Spring, when Flat Stanley is ending. Flat Vincent will travel to different areas of art interest, such as Crystal Bridges, the Arkansas Art Center, and to Arkansas artists. Hopefully next year, with some practice, we can send Flat Vincent around the world or to travel with students on their art related trips! Another session that I found interesting was about Teaching for Artistic Behavior(TAB). This style of teaching allows for students to control their art process from beginning to end. They may have a theme, but they choose how they will produce the artwork. The classroom is arranged where different media are available in centers. Students then must work from start to finish in that center, creating the artwork as assigned. The art teacher from SIS is currently switching to this style, so I hope to visit her room soon!

I am not sure I can speak for all of the art teachers, but I had a very memorable time. Conference has always been a very beneficial source of professional development for me. I am thankful for my administration understanding its importance to my continuing growth as an educator. I also enjoy sharing the things I have learned in my classroom or a special project that the students loved with others. Hopefully next year I will be presenting two sessions, and will have even more to share!

Thank you,

Jeri Newberry

SES Art

jerinewberry@sheridanschools.org