This weekend, I was a very lucky girl. Not only did I have the chance to spend time with my very favorite art teacherin' friends, Ginger, Laura and Jennifer, but I also had the opportunity to work alongside them and share our passion: making the teaching of art good ole messy fun! We were super fortunate that so many art teachers decided to join us on this journey for the first ever...
That's right, Art Scouts! On the beautiful campus of Bowling Green State University in Ohio, we met and grew to love some of the nicest, brightest and just plain hilarious art teachers in the world. And I really do mean the whole world as we had friends traveling as far away as Seoul, South Korea, Canada and all corners of the U.S. to grace us with their awesome presence.
Now we'd warned our Scouts ahead of time that earning those badges wasn't going to be easy (and, yes, in case you are wondering, they did receive super cute badges!). But each and every one of them rose to the challenge...although I do believe Jennifer made mention that "there is no crying in Art Scouts!" once or thrice.
Speaking of Jennifer, she and I spent two days together sharing just about as much fiber arts and printmaking practices that we could. In preparation, we decked out the tables with all of the goodies our artist friends were to use in their art makerin'. Our fabulous sponsors, listed below, provided some of the supplies our Scouts used to create.
Because we'll be hosting another Scouts in less than a month in beautiful downtown Franklin, Tennessee, you won't find too many spoilers as to what skills the Scouts mastered. Sorry, friends! Badges were earned with blood (like, literally, right Lee Darter?!), sweat (woven sweat bands are on their horizon, y'all) and tears. Oh, wait! Jen said no crying in Art Scouts! Scratch that last one.
What I will say is that we were elbows deep in good ole messy art making fun. As it should be at a professional development, say we Scouts. While working with Jennifer, our Scouts had the opportunity to meet one of the most kind-hearted and loving art teachers. When Jen speaks about her students, you can hear the love she has for them. She reminded us all what precious gifts they are and how fortunate we are to create with them each and every day. She has a true gift of bringing out the most colorful and creative works of art in her students. Her secrets, tips and tricks were shared with the Scouts.
We were so fortunate to work with some of our favorite brands and companies. This allowed us to share the supplies that we use with our students in our own art rooms.
During our two day session, our Scouts hung with Jen and I before flipping to hang out with Ginger and Laura for their clay and painting badges. We all had so much to share with our Scouts that it was crunch time the whole time.
Case in point: the "Working Lunch" written on our schedule. We left that "optional" but all of our Scouts were game to keep on Scoutin'! Don't worry, none of them earned the Starving Artist badge as we were feed very well with catered Mediterranean and gourmet lunches. Oh, and cookies. Warm, fresh outta the oven cookies, y'all.
The amount of projects our Scouts accomplished will easily carry them through the middle of their school year, at the very least. Because our Scouts teach such a wide age range of students, adaptations were provided to either enhance or scale back lessons.
Y'all know fibers is my jam, I could talk about that for days!
Just next door, the Scouts were hanging with Ginger and Laura earning their clay and painting badges. We knew they were having a blast because of the wild eruptions of laughter coming from their room. Ginger is our resident Zen mama with her calm, cool and reflective approach to teaching and creating art. On the flip side, Laura is a wild card who keeps us on our toes and rolling in laughs. A good mix, just as troop leaders should be!
Their tables were set with their clay and painting tools of mass creation.
Not only do our scouts have a wide age range but we all come from different situations: cart or classroom; no budget or big budget (wait, WHO HAS THAT?!). Working with clay can be tricky in certain situations but Ginger made sure to provide ceramic clay alternatives.
If you follow her blog, then you know she also creates beautiful murals with her students. The goPro videos of her students working on those murals are truly amazing! Our Scouts had the opportunity to paint a mural that was later used as our Photo Booth backdrop under her guidance.
Laura Lohmann is the Painted Paper Queen! Long before I knew her personally, I'd followed her blog and tried to emulate her painted paper techniques. But, I gotta tell ya, there is NOTHING like learning from the master. She shared her tips and tricks with our Scouts and the projects they created were out of this world.
But catching her in a rare moment of seriousness is like snapping a photo of Loch Ness, a near impossibility!
Now, just like any good camp, there were shenanigans aplenty! My Instagram, Twitter and Facebook feed were flooded with some of the funniest and most colorful characters I've seen.
Our Scouts truly are the best art teacherin' folks!
I mean, who else would take time out of their summer (or school year, some of them still have WEEKS to go!) to attend a professional development? The dedicated, awesome and fabulous teachers you see here.
Okay, just a coupla spoilers from social media land...
I truly miss all of our Scouts already! It was like going away to camp.
At the end of our last day, we snapped a ton of photos, shared a lot of hugs and stories.
We gave away door prizes that were generously donated to our Scouts.
Said our Art Scout Oath, lead by Troop Leader Lohmann.
And maybe shed a couple of good bye tears. So, yes, in the end, there was crying in Art Scouts...but they were happy tears.
Special thanks to ALL OF OUR SCOUTS for making our weekend such a wonderful one! We loved having each and every one of you and can't wait to see you again!
BIG THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS! Here is a list of who provided some of our supplies that helped make our creating possible. We'd also like to give a virtual high five to Artome for providing everyone with a frame and snacks; the Art of Ed for fabulous swag, door prizes and snacks as well as Square One Art. We have been so fortunate for the Scouts to have such support.
And, of course, last but definitely not least, we would like to thank BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY and (from left to right) Barb, Jordan, Beth, Sara and Tina for being so very fabulous! They made us feel warm and welcome, catered to our every need (as well as our Scouts) and were just the hostesses with the mostesses. We appreciate your hospitality and dedication to the field of art education!
And that's a wrap on Art Scouts at the Ohio Camp, 2016. We are so excited for our Tennessee Camp coming up soon! To keep up with all Art Scouts happenings, follow Scouts on Facebook and Instagram. Until then, happy creating!
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