September, 2016
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I’m dying to learn some new dyeing techniques!!
If you plan on being out for First Friday On October 7th during the PAEA conference, then be sure to check out this event!! Fabric artist, Diane Hricko will be presenting dyeing techniques to explore on paper and you will walk away with ideas to apply to your classroom. Oh! And there is going to be drinks and yummy desserts too!! Check out the flyer below!
Cross Pollination Opening at Tyler
If you live in Philly you know that taking advantage of First Friday is the super easy way to see what other artists are making and get inspired. We’re all stoked that this year’s conference corresponds with First Friday, and today I’ll highlight one opening that we (as art teachers) can be really excited about!
Cross Pollination is opening at Tyler school of Art and will feature the work of art educators and their students! The reception (with treats) is October 7th from 5-7. So scoot on out from your last session and head to Tyler to catch this show!
The show is curated (and installed) by Marie Elcin, a Philly art teacher (who will also be presenting at PAEA) who’s involved with all sorts of awesome projects. The show will feature photographs, book art, textiles and more from thirteen educators (including yours truly!) and their students, highlighting the dialog between teachers’ and students’ work.
Exhibiting Artists: Charlene Caosecco, Jennifer Galati, Amanda Eisen, Jamie Forsland, Lynne Horschack, Sue Liedke, Christina Lukac, Katrina Rakowski, Jennifer Rodgers, Lindsay Sparagana, Joy Waldinger, Lauren Whearty and Diane Wilkin.
The show is juried by: Rochelle “Rocky” Toner (Tyler’s former dean), and Tyler Alum Nancy Citrino and Marie Elcin.
Weave anywhere sneak peek
Marie Elcin and Johanna Marshall are both Philadelphia art educators, instructors at Fleisher Art Memorial, and practicing fiber artists (as well as notorious stitch bombers).
They will be presenting a demonstration session entitled “Weave anywhere, anyhow” on Saturday at 9:00 – 9:50 AM. They will share their weaving and felting tips and tricks with connections to art history and artistic development in fibers for k-12. Attendees will have a chance to try out weaving and will come away with strategies for how to introduce fibers into the curriculum no matter what your budget, supplies, or space is!
Felting a Sneak Peek…
Hi everyone! There have been quite a few posts highlighting some awesome sessions coming up during the conference. It’s really going to be hard to choose!
We’re still hoping for more people to send us their session descriptions and photos so we can highlight them (there’s still time!), but until then, I thought I’d show off some of my students’ work. And hopefully entice you to come to my FREE session (ticket required, though, so get one!) called “The Future of Felting” on FRIDAY, 2-2:50 PM, in Wilson 434.
I’ll show you some felting techniques that I have used with my students, and ideas you can use to “felt” it into your curriculum (some felting humor for ya). Using this form of fibers is an easy way to create sculptures and 3D art in the classroom. 
This will be hands on, so bring your ideas and we’ll jump in! Hope to see you there!
Sneak Peek! Exploring Religious Art with Marie Huard
I expect a lot of us struggle with whether or not to incorporate religious art into our curriculum, so I was excited to read about Marie Huard’s PAEA presentation – “From Hajj Paintings to Prayer Flags: Exploring Religious Art”. If you want to hear about how she engaged her students in a semester long study of religious art, check out her session Friday at 2pm in Sarah Peter 202.
From Marie:
I have never shied away from including a religious painting or two in the art curriculum, but last year, I decided to go all the way and engage in a semester long unit on the art of the five major world religions with my 5th and 6th grades. I am so glad I did! At Greene Street Friends School, we cherish the belief that people who are different from us are interesting and worth getting to know, so I knew I would have support from parents and my colleagues. What I wasn’t expecting was the intense interest of my students. They loved learning the stories that inspired the artwork that we looked at together and telling their own stories. I learned so much about my students!
At the conference, I will share a crash course version of the unit. I will give an overview of the basic tenets of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism as we look at paintings, calligraphy, stained glass, mosaics, mandalas, and contemporary comics. I will also share the prompts I gave my students and show examples of their work. It will be a lot to pack into 50 minutes, but participants will also receive materials to make a prayer flag with their own good “wishes for the world.”
D5 Creation