GAEA Conference Fall 2024

In "Fostering Artistic Autonomy: Choice-Based Learning in the Classroom," educators will embark on a journey to transform their art classrooms into dynamic hubs of creativity and self-expression. Through guided self-paced modules, students will explore new materials and techniques while learning essential studio habits of mind, such as proper cleanup and responsible use. These modules will provide a framework for students to take ownership of their artistic process, engaging with new ideas and finding the resources they need to bring their visions to life. The workshop will also showcase diverse mediums, collaborative challenges, and common writing prompts, fostering a collaborative and inclusive environment where every student's voice is valued. Educators will leave equipped with practical strategies and resources to cultivate choice-based learning environments that inspire creativity and empower students to unleash their full artistic potential.

How does working alongside students during studio time build relationships and foster a community within the studio? For art educators Morgan Clifton and Victoria Goeckel, their job as art educators is to nurture connection and collaboration with and amongst students by working alongside them as artists and mentors, beyond the traditional interpretation of “teaching”. When students step into their classrooms, they are transported to a space that serves as a shared studio for the teacher-artist and the student artists. For Morgan and Victoria, this practice shapes up differently within their respective high school and elementary spaces. For Morgan, this practice has evolved into a treasured tradition after a student jokingly asked her if they could be her for the day, igniting a revolution in collaborative studio making. Each Friday, a student has the opportunity to take on the mantle of teacher for the day, visit peers one-on-one, check in, talk about ideas, offer feedback and suggestions, while Morgan creates alongside the other students. For Victoria, this practice is best embodied in the annual school mural that is created with the year’s fifth grade students. Each year the fifth grade students spend months planning, drafting, and voting on a new school mural, followed by priming, sketching, and painting the mural before revealing it to the school community each May. Students participate in each step alongside Victoria, learning the practical skills of a working artist and finding permanent ownership and legacy of a space in the school. Intentional communal art education experiences such as these, when students and teachers share their workspace and artistic practice, encourages conversation and exploration of the artmaking process between peers and teachers alike as artists working collaboratively. This workshop will explore these practices and help other educators seek out these opportunities within their own classrooms.

We will be drawing an easy but realistic looking eye and a spider web-like pattern that will connect our inner and our outer world. By visually connecting these two elements, we aim to explore how they interact and influence each other in our daily lives. Understanding and being aware of both our inner and outer worlds can help us gain insights into our motivations for positive and negative choices and the overall reactions to our experience and thought patterns.

Dive into the world of visual literacy, discovering innovative methods to blend it into art education and beyond. This session highlights the crucial role of visual literacy in today's image-centric society, offering practical strategies and activities suitable for art classrooms and various educational contexts. Explore how to make visual literacy a seamless part of learning experiences.

Are you considering pursuing a graduate degree but unsure of how you will do it? In this session, a panel of former and current graduate students from the Art Education program at the University of Georgia (UGA) will share their strategies for completing an in-person graduate degree, whether part-time or full-time. UGA faculty will be present to answer questions about the Master’s, Specialist, and Doctoral degree programs!

Let's talk MONEY... let's talk FUNDING FOR ART and ART EDUCATION! The two co-presenters will host a Q & A. If you have questions about funding, this presentation is for you! If you have experience/answers about funding, this presentation is for you. Participants will receive resource handouts. Looking forward to a lively exchange!

Be Present! Come get ready for a mind & body wellness and creative experience. In this workshop. I invite you to Chair Yoga - Movement for Presence workshop. All Yoga experience levels are welcomed and everyone can doddle. Expect to start with a few beath awareness exercises to help settle in and ease into Chair Yoga, as we set our intention to be present for oursleves, in a mindful drawing practice. Be prepared for a 20 minute Chair Yoga practice A breath-awareness for relaxation and mindful mark making to be present and ending with restorative poses, reflection and share. Participants will be provided with drawing materials and paper. Plan to dress in comfortable loose clothing.

Puppets are used around the world! We use puppets to tell stories. Puppets can represent ourselves or be a character and allow us to act out a story, work out problems, and express ourselves. You can do it solo or with others. Puppet characters, props, and sets can be made from simple materials, much of which is cheap or free: wood, paper, metal, leather, cardboard, cardstock,, fabric, chopsticks, rods, dowels, cotton batting, string, pipe cleaners, wires.

As the world continuously evolves at a rapid pace, we’re asked to look at traditional mediums in new and innovative ways. How can we develop an exchange among these disciplines traditionally overlooked and/or over generalized within discourse to provide a deeper understanding of their relevance, flexibility, nuances, and intimacy in today’s commercialized, digital culture in tandem with younger audiences through practice. All will be revealed in a short talk detailing research that addresses these fundamental questions, followed by a workshop where participants create their very own print through a fusion of digital and traditional printmaking processes to produce various results!

Ever wondered how to truly ignite creativity in art education? The choice-based art approach is the answer. By empowering students to control their artistic journey, they develop problem-solving skills and confidence in their creativity. But how do we balance student-led and teacher-guided learning? Join us to explore the choice-based art program and discover how to foster creativity and self-expression effectively in your art room!

Local Artist, Leah Kellaway, shares about her work. Leah Kellaway (she/her) is an art educator and award-winning illustrator based in Atlanta, GA who blends illustration, fine art, and design to create expressive work that focuses on themes of character and portraiture, everyday magic and adventure, and inspiration and empowerment. After a decade of working independently and collaboratively to solve a multitude of visual problems, she founded Kellaway Creative Collaborative in 2023 to provide vibrant, bold, unique visual storytelling to businesses and individuals of all sizes and kinds. Kellaway holds a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from the University of Georgia (‘16) and a Master of Fine Arts in Illustration from the University of Hartford (‘23).

With hundreds of free instructional resources available through GaDOE Inspire, find out how to customize current GaDOE lessons and to create your own lessons within the Inspire platform. You will learn how to curate your own content collection and how to create Velocity activities. Velocity is a free digital learning tool available to all GA educators within Inspire. Bring your laptop and find out about the free resources that are available to you.

In this workshop, you will create a variety of sample book making techniques that can be incorporated into your classroom or for personal use. From quick and easy 1 page folded books to multi-page stitched bindings all levels can find something to take away and use.

Join us to learn about contemporary ceramic artists and explore the fascinating world of nudibranch sea slug vases. This workshop will be led by two experienced ceramic artist-educators, who have worked at both primary and secondary levels. During the workshop, you will have the opportunity to create a hand-built piece and take it back to your classroom, along with a comprehensive lesson plan. This is an excellent chance to enhance your skills and knowledge of ceramics in a fun and interactive way.

We will be creating bullseye, spiral, and Millefore Canes and turn them into Jewelry.

See a bunch of fun and simple ceramics projects that can be completed in a 45-minute class period, such as snowmen, monsters, gingerbread people ornaments, birds, pumpkins, fossil impression bowls, and more! Watch the techniques and leave with the confidence you need to teach ceramics to your students.

This session will combine visual presentations, lesson samples with handouts, show and tell displays with favorite materials/tools, interactive conversations, and group discussions in order to share ideas and provide participants with helpful information. The Fulton County Adaptive Art Program has thrived for 28 years under the support and guidance of many amazing Fine Arts Coordinators and Educators. There are currently 16 teachers on our fantastic Adaptive Art team. We serve hundreds of students at the ES, MS, and HS levels with varying artistic abilities and would love to share our knowledge with fellow teachers. There will be several Fulton County Adaptive Art teachers facilitating this casual workshop session to allow for individual questions and conversations.

In this hand's on workshop, participants will discuss portraits and how to bring a fun spin by using animals as the main subject. We will discuss animal portraits and look at hand drawn, digital, and photo collaged examples. **Please bring any preferred supplies you like. (some supplies will be provided)**

Get ready to trick your mind with this new way to teach about space, distance, and perspective! Reverse-Perspective is a contemporary art concept that was popularized by artist Patrick Hughes using one and two point perspective and sculpture as a way to trick the mind. In this workshop, I'll show how I teach the concept of one point perspective AND the optical illusion of reverse perspective to my elementary age students. Partcipants will walk away with not only two ways to teach this concept (one and two point perspective), but also their own reverse perspective sculpture! This lesson reaches out to our students in the most interesting way!

Maintaining a studio practice while being an art educator can be quite challenging. However, finding a balance between teaching and creativity is essential to our personal growth. This hands-on workshop will explore various sketchbook and journal prompts to help you jumpstart or revive your own art practice. Hear from a practicing artist educator about effective strategies to maintain an art practice at the end of a long workday.

This workshop is all about creating the Art in STEAM. We will create 5 exciting math, erosion, science and engineering projects. All materials are provided so come have some fun learning about STEAM and how to incorporate it into your curriculum.

Based on my capstone from Piedmont, in this workshop, I will be going over the research I used to help older elementary students want to create art. Students who were part of this research were more excited to make art. We used pop culture-based lessons and more engaging projects for older students.

We will look at several recycled material sculpture projects that are possible in your elementary art room. We'll focus most of our time on creating an art nouveau inspired lamp sculpture using recycled paper towel rolls. You’ll walk away with your own beautiful lamp, and a toolbox of sculpture lessons that your students are sure to love! Nothing keeps kids engaged like keeping their hands busy and messy. P.S. these lessons are sure to be show stoppers at your next art show! All supplies will be provided for you.

"Cute" is part of today’s visual language. The kawaii aesthetic, with roots in Japanese culture, has influenced emojis, pop media, fashion, and contemporary artists such as Takashi Murakami. Imagine and create a soft-textured 3-D creature in this playful Blick Art Materials workshop. Realism and cuteness are optional.

Explore the transformative power of art in facilitating conversations around challenging subjects in K-12 education. This session delves into some of the no-cost resources and strategies from GPB Education for utilizing the arts to engage students in processing difficult topics. Discover media collections and activities from our PBS partners that help foster emotional resilience, empathy, and critical thinking through artistic expression. Model techniques for creating a safe and supportive environment where students can explore complex issues through various artistic mediums. Join GPB to harness the potential of art as a tool for facilitating meaningful dialogue and empowering students to navigate challenging realities with creativity and resilience.

Have you always wanted to learn how to crochet? This class will begin with the absolute basics of chaining, simple stitches, and making rows. Hooks and yarn provided. It's a great skill to learn for yourself or teach students. All ages can learn!

Making a digital gallery is a great advocacy tool. Canva makes it easy. Learn how to use a spreadsheet and data merge within Canva to easily create a digital gallery that can be displayed online. **Make sure you bring your laptop and some digital images of artwork to make your own gallery. **