Art Teacherin' Extravaganza!

Hey, y'all! If you follow me on Instagram or you have signed up for my email newsletter, then you've heard the big news: I'm throwing an Art Teacherin' Extravaganza! I'll be sharing more details here but if you just wanna jump on board and reserve your spot, go ahead and do so here!

 I've been working on putting together this experience for the last couple of months although, to be honest, it's been on my mind for years! So often there are not professional development opportunities for art teachers or when we do have them, they don't offer what it is we really need and want: hands-on creating! Here's a little more:

But, really and truly, the real reason I created this extravaganza is that I want to see you. I want to spend time with you. I know in my bones...IN.MY.BONES...how lonely teaching art can be. I spent the first ten years of my teaching career carrying around that shadow of loneliness. I know I've chatted about it at length on my podcast which you can hear here:



Knowing of my experience with loneliness, I wanted to carve out a time for you and me this summer to spend time together, meet other like-minded folks, make new friends and, best of all, create! Here's where the extravaganza will be held:

Montgomery Bell State Park has so much to offer! There's canoeing, fishing, hiking, swimming, horseback riding and much more. This might just be a great little vacation for you and your family this summer. While you are hanging with me, they could explore the park and all that is has to offer. Not to mention that Nashville is just 45 minutes away and is a buzz with stuff to do! For those attending, I'll be creating a list of my favorite things to share with you soon so you can plan your trip!

The Inn at the park has a very limited amount of rooms set aside for attendees. However, there are a ton of hotels just five miles down the road in the town of Dickson. I included a list of those hotels here. I'd recommend getting in on Thursday night so you are ready for everything on Friday morning. I'm working on creating a Facebook group for attendees to chat with friends and meet potential roomies to lower the accommodation costs.

 

I tried my best to think of every question you may have but I am sure I've forgotten something. So feel free to drop me a line! You can email me at artteacherin101@gmail.com. Love to hear from you and, hopefully, see you real soon!

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Art Scouts, Final Countdown!

Well, this is it: the final countdown to Art Scouts! The months, weeks and days of pondering, planning and preparing is finally here. And, I have to tell you, we really could not be more excited. Art teachers are our favorite friends...especially ones who believe in making big messes with little people, like we do! We have so many returning Scouts that we are excited to see and newbies we are thrilled to meet. So, someone light the campfire, bust out the marshmallows, pop the tent and get ready to create (have no fear, there will be no tent popping with these 90 degree Tennessee summer days...we'll be in the luxury of air conditioning, a direct gift from heaven). 

We still have spots available at both sessions. OUR FIRST SESSION IS SOLD OUT! If you are on the fence, you best hop off and join the fun, y'all! We are down to only openings at the second session. Here's a look at how your 12 PD hours will be earned:

The cost for our full two day camp is $275. That includes all of your supplies, two lunches, a Campfire Craft Night with a sweet treat and a swag bag so big you just might need a U-Haul to get it home. To register, simply hop over here. Be sure to click on the link that says Art Scouts 2017 Important Information as that will lead you to how to book your room at the convention center hotel.

Got questions about Scouts? I might have the answer! I tried to pile them all here. But if I failed to address your thoughts, feel free to join the Art Scouts Facebook page where you can drop us a line. 

And if you'd like to learn more about our beautiful location, check this clip out. We are so excited to spend time with you all...our cheesy grins say it all. See you real soon! 

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In the Art Room: Exciting News!

Tennessee Art Scouts is SOLD OUT!

Ohio Art Scouts still available, go here to register!

Exciting news, all y'all art teacherin' types! Me and fellow art teacherin' troop leaders Laura Lohmann, Ginger Pacer and Jennifer Alvarado are calling YOU to join Art Scouts! Listen here and learn more...

Are you as excited as we are?! Just imagine: two days packed with enough clay projects, painting lessons, printmaking activities and sewing -n- weaving fun to set your art curriculum for the entire school year. All projects will be geared toward those who teach kindergarten through eighth grade art. Our theme for this two day adventure will be nature which will tie perfectly in with science, social studies and math (that's right, y'all. We're gonna get all kinds of STEAM-y!).

So, how do you sign up? Simply contact me and let me know you are interested (and if you have any questions) at cassieart75@gmail.com. Unfortunately, we can only host 50 of y'all  scouts, so lemme know as soon as you can. Now let's chat about those art teacherin' badges you'll earn...

When I was a kid, summers were my time to explore all things fiber-artsy. At church camps, I learned to weave; at my grandma's house, I learned to embroider and at vacation bible school, I stitched the ugliest pillow that I was so stinkin' proud of. Kids simply love fiber arts but it's often a lost art in the art room. Let's bring it back by introducing our young artists to the math, science and social studies behind weaving, stitching, embroidery and more! If you're new to sharing this art with your students, have no fear. With this intense two day camp, you'll definitely earn your fiber artsyin' badge as well as the confidence to share with your students. 

Truth or Dare Time...TRUTH: I once completely melted down a kiln. I remember it like it was yesterday: having never taken a ceramics class in college, it was just expected that I'd know how to operate this super expensive piece of machinery. After a coworker quickly showed me how to turn it on, I left for the day...only to return to find that all the pieces in the kiln had melted. It looked like a kiln full of melted marshmallows! I had never had a panic attack until that day (I immediately lost sight in one eye...and then my lunch). My incident cost the school a pretty penny and made me realize how little we actually know about what it is we are supposed to be experts on.

All THAT to say, twenty art teacherin' years later, me and my troop leaders know plenty-a-thang about teaching all things clay! We'll walk you thru some awesome clay projects that scaffold on student learning. No kiln? No problem! These projects will be centered around both kiln-fired and air-dry clays. Not to mention some unique alternatives to glazing. And, I promise, the only marshmallows you'll see will be the kind you can eat!

Okay, not sure if you know this or not, but Laura Lohmann is thee painting guru in our troop. I have been a huge fan and follower of her blog for years. It wasn't until meeting and getting to know her last summer at a week long arts camp that I discovered what an amazing art educator she is! You'll learn all of her incredible painted paper tips and tricks that can be applied to your art teacherin' lesson plans.

Don't let the image fool you: we're gonna take printmaking beyond the brayer, y'all. Get ready to discover unique and unusual methods of printmaking (marker prints! gelatin printing! collagraphs! foam carving!) and learn how to manage the mess without losing your mind. Printmaking is a magical experience that all of your students will love. 

Now, let's meet those troop leaders!

Laura Lohmann of Painted Paper in the Art Room is an awesome art teacherin' super star. I was a huge fan of hers before even meeting her because her projects always left me shaking my head and waving clenched fists at the sky thinking, "How are her kids creating such magnificent masterpieces?!" Well, y'all are gonna get a front row, badge-earning seat to find out just how she does it. You'll be amazed at how ingenious and easy her teaching technique is!

If you just pop on over to Ginger Pacer's blog Paintbrush Rocket and watch some of the bird's-eye view videos of her kids creating, you'll be sold on what an art teacherin' super star she is. I am always amazed at the creative projects Ginger dreams up from huge murals painted to sweet woven pouches, she covers it all! Not to mention, her mama was an art teacher so she comes from good art teacherin' stock, y'all!

Art teacher and instagram'er Jennifer Alvarado is one of the most warm and happy people I know and it shows in everything she teaches. I am always in awe of the bright and colorful pieces her students create that cover the walls of her school. Jennifer is one of those people who has a genuine love for both her "kiddos" and their art education. You'll be inspired by her energy and enthusiasm...I know I always am!

So! Do you have what it takes to be an Art Scout? Are you ready to earn your art teacherin' badges? Trust me, it's going to be a wild, crazy and amazing two days of creating of mess and memory making. If you're up for the challenge, just shoot me an email to reserve your spot! 

See you real soon, Scouts!

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In the Art Room: Tennessee Arts Academy

Can you believe this gorgeous ceramic pieces? It was created during a class taught by Denise Ertler who is the professional development coordinator for Mayco, my fave glaze company. You can find tons of amazing ceramic lessons here.

 Every summer I'm super lucky in that I get to help out at Tennessee Arts Academy (they call me a "facilitator" because pain-in-the-a## was taken). If you've been hanging with me on this here blog since last summer (for which I thank you and I gotta ask, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!), you might recall this post in which I gushed over the Academy. Well, this post will involve a whole lot more rambling and a peek inside the creation of these marvelous pieces. None of which were created by me except for that just-started piece at the bottom of this post. I have this weird thing where I can't seem to get anything done when I attend the Academy. And by "weird thing" I mean an inability to shut up when I'm around other art teachers. I just love chatting with like-minded weirdos! Part of the reason I spend so much time talking to myself. But whateves, let's talk about the amazing Denise Ertler and her ceramic lessons.

So Mayco makes these things called ceramic canvases which is a bisque fired canvas-esque surface for you to go crazy on. During Denise's lesson, she taught the participants how to glaze a scene onto the surface with Stroke and Coat (not the best name but, seriously, The Best Glaze Ever). Once the painting was complete, the participants sculpted lil whatevers out of low-fire clay. These were then placed onto the ceramic surface and left to dry. Once fired (a low fire of cone 06), the hand built pieces adhere to the canvas and look like the image at the top of the post. Nutz, right? I love it. Even if you couldn't afford the canvas, I'm thinking this same concept could be done on a slab of clay, don't you think?

Mayco also makes these bisque dinner plates. Which makes me totally wanna make my own dinner plates partly because that'd be awesome and the other partly because my paper plates do not wash easily. They make the biggest mess in the dishwasher eve-rrr.

 I really love this project. The above piece is unfired but I thought I'd share it with you so I could better explain the process. The surface was glazed with two coats of brown underglaze. A stencil was then created with fuzzy string, twine, whatever you got on hand. Once the underglaze dried, Stroke and Coat was added in any variety of colors, painting right over the string. Once dry, the string was removed, the piece was covered in clear glaze and fired. I love the layers of color you can see in the finished glazed piece.

Here's another one of those clay canvas thingies. I like the square format of this one, don't you? This was created with a pen called Designer Liner and all I gotta say about this pen is WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I WAS ATTEMPTING THIS, huh?! ANYway, this was done directly on the canvas, color was added and then a coupla coats of clear glaze finished it off.

Do all ya'll art teachers know Peggy Flores? I know I just heard a resounding "YES!" because if you said, "no...?" then you have either been living under a rock (which sounds mighty cramped but I hear the temperatures are nice) or you just didn't know you know Peggy Flores. What in the world am I talking about? (geez, how many times in a day do I get asked that question!) Well, she's the lady behind the art instruction videos created by Crystal Productions. I have this metal tooling video in my collection and love it!

Another one of her lessons is the folded paper project. I wasn't in Peggy's class so I don't know the details of the project but I love the three-dimensional aspect of the piece. It adds a whole new layer to a collage project.

I know Peggy offers a paper mola video. Again, I didn't take this class, so I don't know the details but you better bet my kids will be making one of these when we "travel" to South America.

David Christiana was our awesome instructor for a two-day illustration type class. If you aren't familiar with David's work, go here and be prepared to be amazed. His work is stunning and he was just the nicest guy to have as an instructor. Now the above may look like your typical grid project but what made it different was the fact that it was a lesson on value and mark making. Each pieces was made on clayboard (have you ever worked on this stuff? It's got a smooth as silk surface on masonite) and created with a combination of pen and ink, pencil and charcoal.

The other project created in his class (which my camera ran outta juice before I could snap photos of) was one he titled Castle-ness. I loved this project (even though I failed to produce anything because of my aforementioned blabber-mouth-itus). He had us all brainstorm words that we felt described castles. So we said things like your typical stuff like stone, massive, drawbridge, etc. Then we dug deeper and came up with fortress, safety, power, greed, your mama (not really, just seeing if you were paying attention). After that brainstormin session, we were to come up with a brief description of either ourselves or someone close to us. With those two groups of words in mind, we came up with a drawing called Castle-ness: A castle idea but much more. I think I can use the brainstorming ideas with my wee ones.

I learned so much from Nicole Briscoe about inspiring creativity in young artists. Nicole teaches high school artists but many of the ideas that she shared I could easily see bringing to my elementary art room. The above is a display of projects from both Peggy's class and Nicole's. Oh! And you can also see some of the pen and ink Castle-ness drawings from David's class.

 Here's what I loved about Nicole's class: the drawing prompts. She have us giant sheets of lovely thick paper (I dunno, thick ole drawing paper, maybe? You know, the stuff that's not in my wee elementary budget) and, seriously, 25 prompts. Things like: a contour drawing; write a letter to yourself in 50 years; write your 5 core beliefs; draw a self-portrait; draw a tool (I drew my lipstick because I am a tool); do a value study; draw patterns; movement, etc. You can find a ton of her prompts and other great ideas for inspiring creativity in your art room here.

 So, now dontcha wish youda gone to Tennessee Arts Academy? Anyone can go, not just Tennesseans. All you gotta do is apply (like, in October, it fills up fast). Get your school to chip in on some of the cost and rack up the professional development hours -- 36 hours to be exact. AND, if you go, I'll show you my totally rad food processing blade scar. I KNOW, RIGHT?! Now you GOTTA go. Okay, I'll stop shouting. 

Hope your week's a great one! I hope to be back soon with a freshly finished DIY. Later!

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