GAEA Conference Fall 2024

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.