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Friends at Mardi Gras World National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk
National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk Dean Johns - NAEA convention coordinator National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk




I was one of approximately 3,600 (and counting) who attended the National Art Education Association Conference which was held in New Orleans, Louisiana, March 26 - 30. I presented 2 sessions; one on art integration professional development and the other on early childhood literacy/parent education strategies through the arts. Most importantly, I learned a lot and made connections with art educators all over the world. Check back for presentation reflections, images, and ideas I will share from this event!

03/28/08 Where do I begin? The NAEA conference surpassed my expectations. I feel at home with this diverse group of art educators who inspire me to think differently about teaching and learning, engage in new processes, and create in diverse ways. I am overwhelmed with new ideas. As I reflect and synthesize over the next few days, I will add the ideas and wealth of resources which got my attention at the numerous sessions I attended.

National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk
The first "attention-getter"... As I stood in line to catch a bus to the Crayola Reception at Mardi Gras World, I (and others) couldn't help but notice the man wearing a jacket covered with pins from past NAEA conferences. As we talked, we discover his jacket was embellished by his high school students and he added pins from his years of NAEA attendance. Later, as I read the convention program, I discover on the first page he is Dean Johns, the 2008 Convention Coordinator. Dean is an art supervisor in North Carolina and definitely exhibits the NAEA SPIRIT!


NAEA 2008 SUPER SESSIONS I Attended...

As always, I am interested in what Dr. Elliot Eisner has to say. Dr. Eisner spoke Wednesday afternoon along with Read Diket, David Burton, Arthur Efland, and MacArthur Goodwin in the SUPER SESSION entitled Connections Between Mental Functions and Artistic Performance. Contemporary findings in cognitive psychology/neuroscience related to student learning in the arts was presented. (READ Eisner's 10 Lessons the Arts Teach)
Eisner's words of wisdom......National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk
  • brains are biological...minds are cultural
  • education promotes the growth of minds
  • education changes the way people think and do
  • in the hierarchy of subjects, arts are at the bottom
  • we must promote the intellectual and aesthetic growth of student culture
  • we NEED a school culture which makes artful projects important
  • there is an art in math, law, social science, etc...
  • aesthetics are intrinsically motivating and should be pursued in all content
  • to know how smart someone is, determine what they are able to DO

exhibiting student art
It was great communicating with Dr. David Burton via e-mail after the conference. David is at Virginia Commonwealth University and provided me with his presentation references on the connections between mental functions and artistic performance as well as examples of visual illusions and constancies.
Additionally, I purchased Dr. Burton's book Exhibiting Student Art: The Essential Guide for Teachers. I am anxious to read Burton's suggestions for involving students in the exhibition process and gaining new ideas to share with the teachers I work with.


National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk
On Thursday, the well-known artist/illustrator/author FAITH RINGGOLD spoke on Choosing the Artistic Path. Faith Ringgold is known for her quilts and award-winning children's book TAR BEACH. She shared images of her works of art and spoke candidly about her own life, struggles, successes, and racial issues. Her address was inpirational and thought-provoking.


NAEA GENERAL SESSIONS attended...
Bonnie Rushlow (Professor, Department of Art, Middle Tennessee State University) delivered her presidential address at the first general session, challenging us to re-imagine our important role as art educators; to teach, learn, and lead. She expressed her optimism about the times, emphasizing what the advances in technology allow us to do; for example, you are reading this wiki and will be able to share my paint jam experience through the you tube I embed. Dr. Rushlow's "special guest" was the PAINT JAM MAN Dan Dunn. The pictures and video below do not do justice to the excitement of his improvisational performance. His words and personal story were just as inspiring as his performance. He created 3 works of art during his performance...

Paige's DIGITAL PHOTOS from NAEA 2008 New Orleans:
National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk
National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk


Paint Jam Dan Dunn
YOU MUST SEE THIS!
According to Dan Dunn at his 2008 NAEA performance, he was an at risk student, failing most subjects. After weeks of psychological testing, his parents were told to "put him in art school and get off his back." They listened.

Dan's work was put up on You Tube by one of his 5 children years ago and the rest is history. Dan told us he has paid off his mortgage, paid cash for his new car, and travels the world inspiring people with his talent and story. He doesn't speak"speak NCLB...He'sNCLB"...He's Gotta have ART! Where would heDan Dunn be today without his art teachers? The YouTube is great, but doesn't do the live performance justice!


Dr. Lynell Burmark
The second general session I attended was presented by Dr. Lynell Burmark.
Not only did she make remarks which were meaningful and informative, she was Cover Imagean excellent speaker...entertaining, humorous, and engaging. She practiced what she preached about visual literacy. Dr. Burmark earned her Ph.D. from Stanford, taught in the classroom and was an administrator. As a consultant and author (Visual Literacy: Learn to See, See to Learn) she offers free downloads at www.educatebetter.org

I took more notes during her session than any others attended. I'll share the highlights:
  • Visual Literacy: Reading (consume, interpret) & Writing (produce) Images
  • We live in a visual world; advertising includes compelling images
  • On billboards, text is even visual....
  • Color and Image are FIRST
  • visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text
  • words are sequential...images are simultaneous
  • words only recall images we have already seen
  • "traditional US education: totally a waste of time"
  • quote from a young child: I didn't think purple and orange went together until i SAW the sunset
  • "we don't see things as they are ...we see things as WE are
  • abstraction comes after the concrete
  • when people laugh, stress decreases...creativity increases...
  • RESOURCES for images:
    • childrens artwork
    • photos
    • internet
    • Web museum
    • Flickr
  • The immune system is boosted by looking at images like Van Goghs sunflowers...share images of HOPE...positive images

I am just beginning to explore the resources Dr. Burmark provided. I spoke with her personally after the session and she gave me a CD of her work I will share when I review it.

Thursday afternoon, Dr. Craig Roland presented Tips and Technologies for Teaching Art in a Digital Age. Craig teaches graduate and undergraduate art education classes at the University of Florida. Among the good ideas, he shared a list of
20 Useful Web 2.0 Tools and Websites for Art Teachers:Craig Roland
  1. Art Education 2.0- arted20.ning.com- Social network for art educators.
  2. Artsonia.com- Share students' artwork with others in the world's largest online kid's art museum.
  3. Blogger.com- set up a personal or group blog in minutes.
  4. Commoncraft.com- Short videos on Web 2.0 tools and practices.
  5. Del.icio.us- Social bookmarking site used to organize and share links to Web resources.
  6. Digication.com- Create e-portfolios and online learning communities.
  7. Edublogs.org- Set up a free education blog in minutes.
  8. Ed.Voicethread.com- Upload pictures and create an audio narrative to go along with them.
  9. Flickr.com- Popular photo-sharing site.
  10. Google Docs (www.google.com)- Collaborative writing tool.
  11. Google Reader (www.google.com) - collect and read RSS feeds from your favorite blogs and news sources much like you read your email.
  12. JumpCut.com- Online video-editing tool.
  13. One-Page Guides (timdavies.org.uk/tags/onepage)- Introductory guides to Web 2.0 tools and practices.
  14. TeacherTube.com- Educational video-sharing site.
  15. PBWiki.com- Collaborative writing tool.
  16. Sketchcast.com- Record a sketch with or without voiceover.
  17. SlideShare (www.slideshare.net)- Host and share your presentations.
  18. Tabblo.com- Photo-sharing site.
  19. Wikispaces.com- Collaborative writing tool.
  20. Twitter.com- Instant messaging, social networking and blogging tool.

Thanks Craig!

National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk
National Art Education Association 2008 - Art Talk
More to come...