Call for Entries for the International Interdependence Hexagon Project

The International Interdependence Hexagon Project VI is an opportunity for teachers of students ages 10-18 to have their students participate in an international effort to promote interdependence, social justice, collaboration, women's and children's rights, ecology and the environment, poverty, civil society and democracy.

Encourage your students to think inside, outside and around the hexagon, a metaphor for human interconnectedness, by participating. Your students can create in any media inside a downloadable hexagon template, along with other materials. The deadline for entries is June 30, 2012.

The exhibit will open Friday, September 7, 2011 in Scranton, PA at The Vintage Theatre and virtually on-line. A student Recognition Event on Sunday, September 16.

The Hexagon Project has been featured twice in SchoolArts Magazine and in the InSEA Newsletter.  

In keeping with the concept of Interdependence – understanding and practicing skills that lead to solutions, statements, understanding and outcomes that are greater than any one individual can produce, the Hexagon Project challenges students and teachers to think of ways they might approach the project with an element of collaboration, teamwork, group interaction, and/or problem-solving.

Recognition will be given to students who demonstrate outstanding responses to the themes of interdependence in a variety of media. Questions? Please feel free to contact Beth Burkhauser, Hexagon Project Chair, at bburkhauser@msn.com.  

Look for the Hexagon Project at NAEA in NYC!

SchoolArts in the News

If you have an article or student artwork published in SchoolArts, be sure to share it with everyone you know, from your district superintendent to your principal, parents, fellow teachers, and students. This week I've had several nice emails from teachers detailing the results of being published!

Star News, Elk River, MN
Art featured nationally for Rogers students

Paige Welle has been recognized for being published in a national magazine for the second time. Welle was first recognized this past October. Her published work was part of a first-grade Cow’s Jumping Over the Moon weaving project in School Arts, a national art education magazine committed to promoting excellence, advocacy and professional support for educators in the visual arts since 1901.

She was also featured in a full article, along with Kalvin Larson, in the January 2012 School Arts Magazine. Their art teacher, Nichole Hahn, said, “These young students know that they do not have to be a ‘grown-up’ to be recognized as an artist. They know their art is valuable and in turn so are they.”

Just Be KAWS

This past week my husband and I spent a day in Fort Worth, visiting the three world-class art museums there within walking distance of each other. (NAEA 2013 conference attendees will get to see them when they come for the national conference in Fort Worth next year.)

I especially wanted to see the KAWS exhibit at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, since it wouldn't be on display much longer. KAWS is the name used by artist Brian Connelly, born in 1974.

I first learned about him through a feature on CBS Sunday Morning. Like Keith Haring, KAWS first was known as a graffiti artist but he also studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Like Andy Warhol, he has drawn subject matter from pop culture icons such as Sponge Bob Square Pants, Snoopy, and the Simpsons. He also makes art in all kinds of media - vinyl toy-like figures, sculptures, and paintings.

The figure seen here in the exhibition brochure is an eight-foot-tall, grayscale character based on Mickey Mouse, showing KAWS' signature Xs and skull-like head. The x-ray side reminds me of similar plastic see-through figures found in Japanese capsule toys. Not surprisingly, KAWS work is very popular in Japan.

I'm going to share this artist with my students this semester, as I think KAWS' work is very accessible for both elementary and secondary students and offers many possibilities for discussion of contemporary issues such as appropriation, visual culture, and aesthetics. Check out his entertaining blog for more about the artist.

Messages

I believe in Michelangelo, Velásquez, and Rembrandt; in the might of design, the mystery of color, the redemption of all things by Beauty everlasting, and the message of Art that has made these hands blessed.

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw’s words are somewhat extravagant, but I think you must share his passion to be an effective art teacher. I was reminded of this most recently at the Colorado Art Education Association (CAEA) conference where I was a keynote speaker, along with Olivia Gude, art educator extraordinaire from the University of Illinois at Chicago.


The message I received from the many teachers attending was how dedicated, positive, fully engaged, and eager to learn they were. I had always heard good things about the Colorado conference, but it was great to experience it firsthand. All of the teachers I met had the qualities I want my university students to develop to become successful art teachers.


I also want my university students to consider the messages—both verbal and unspoken—they will convey as they become teachers. From their reports on their classroom observations, it is evident that their mentor teachers, for the most part, have much freedom to develop their own lessons, as long as they are based on objectives and concepts determined by their districts.


A concern I have with this approach is that some teachers may teach only artists, art, and media that personally appeal to them. I would like my university students to adopt a broader approach as they become teachers by including more contemporary art and a wider variety of media. Contemporary art reflects the times in which we live, and the PBS series Art:21 offers readily available online resources for teach- ing about it, including videos and lesson plans (www.pbs.org/art21). Providing experiences in many media allows students more opportunities to find media with which they feel comfortable and successful.

But perhaps the most important message an art teacher can impart is that the artroom is a welcoming and encouraging place for students to feel free to express themselves, experiment, explore, and take risks in art making. We all know too well how a negative or thoughtless comment can remain with someone forever. This is a message I definitely want to communicate to my university students.


As Stephanie Jones, one of my students wrote in her teaching philosophy, “Being an art teacher is more than just discovering my place in soci- ety or choosing a career, it is a fulfilling way for me to give back to my community. Investing in something other than myself allows me to impact my students, their parents, and the com- munity stakeholders around me. It is important that my classroom is a safe place for my students and that it is an environment that encourages the exploration of artistic concepts and individual growth.” Can there be a better message? 


Photo: Nancy and CAEA president Joyce Centofanti at the Techno Night Costume Bash at the Colorado Art Education Association Conference in Breckenridge, Colorado.