GAEA Conference Fall 2024

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.

In this workshop we will be making a basic pinhole camera constructed out of an Altoid Mint tin. After painting, drilling holes, and sanding your camera, black and white darkroom photography paper will be placed inside of the camera. The cameras are then left to expose from anywhere between two days and 365 days! The longer the exposure, the more light trails from the sun you will record. Due to this extremely long exposure, moving objects such as cars and people become obsolete and water becomes very still and flattens out. Mysterious colors including reds, greens, blues, etc., appear from the black and white photo paper. Your image on the photo paper will be a “negative”, so you will need to invert it to make it a positive image. During the session, we will discuss how to keep the camera stationary for the duration of the exposure and show examples of successful exposures.

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)**

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!

This is a technique I use for every grade that I teach. I do a different symmetrical drawing for each of my grade levels. I would love to be able to show examples and go over the directions of how to draw bugs, owls, and dragons and have the teachers choose which of the three that they wish to try. Even though they will leave with only one drawing they will have a new technique and several ideas to use with symmetry. I have had great success with this project with all levels of students and the kids always leave with a project that they are proud of. They will use simple shapes to do a sketch on half of the paper. After the pencil sketch is complete they will trace all lines with sharpie and go to a window with pencil. They will flip the image over and the light at the window will serve as a light table to trace a perfectly symmetrical image on the other side. (Most classes do not have funding for more that one or two light tables so this gives access to a light source for all students.) They will trace the other side with sharpie and have an amazing symmetrical drawing completed in a single class period. I have pictures to show this process in use and tons of student examples of successful and beautiful drawings.