Enter to Win the Rhodia 2010 Weekly Planner Giveaway!

Journaling Arts is giving away a Rhodia weekly planner.  Just head over to:  Journaling Arts and post a comment.  You are automatically entered into the giveaway.  While you're there, check out the blog - it's devoted to creative use of the journal.

First marking period grades are in!

The second marking period has begun and the grades for the first marking period are posted!  The next several weeks bring the end of my student teacher's tenure even closer.  I am not looking forward to her leaving - she is so good!  The students are creating wonderful things with Christen and she has great ideas!

I only hope I'll be able to keep up with her...

PAEA Conference 2009 in Malvern!

Well, it has been quite some time since my last post.  Things have been crazy with the start of school and I feel like I am off to the races!  I do have some help-I have a student teacher this fall and she is marvelous.  Christen is a BFA major in Photography from Tyler and I have 3 photo classes and 2 digital design classes and Christen is very adept with Illustrator and Photoshop.  I am so excited about the lessons she is teaching!
Here I am in Malvern, Pa. at the annual PAEA Conference!  Today was a laid back day.  Tomorrow the sessions begin in earnest and I have the first of a 2 day Journaling workhop.  Saturday, Jamie Kasper and I will be welcoming new and pre-service teachers to the profession.  I am looking forward to both workshops - meeting new art teachers, networking, and learning.  It will be excitng to return to school recharged and renewed with new ideas and techniques.

I hope to post each day as a quick update...

Summer at last!

The heat, humidity and sun are here! The raspberries are just about done and the blackberries are starting to ripen! Worked in the yard and took some pictures of the flower beds..

Second day of Digital Media Camp

Well, let's see; new HD Flip video cameras to play with, iMovie and create a movie from our clips with music, cement my Terminal/Performance Objective and the Supporting/Enabling Objectives, update my page and events at http://digitalmediacamp.ning.com/ and add content to my Ning I built yesterday - http://nhsdigitalwetlab.ning.com/ ! Two very busy and action packed days! Chris Tully is fun, energetic, passionate and tireless! We are getting an amazing amount of work done in a very short period of time and having a blast doing it! And what a great group of people in this camp! Woo-hoo!

First day of Digital Media Camp and home page art

WOW! What a great start to Digital Media Camp. Chris Tully put cameras in our hands and told us to take pictures to tell a story! I worked with another teacher who just got a new truck. He thought it might be kind of funny to tell the story of how to check your oil - well, it was funny! We opened the manual and found little about changing oil or finding the dip stick and then looked under the hood - what an engine! WE both decided we're glad we're teachers and that somebody else would find their way around an engine (we were kind of lost)! We also created a Ning to use with our classes once schools resumes in the fall.

One of the spreads from an altered book I'm working on made the home page of ABAltered Books - a Yahoo group...

An easy day...

I took a day to do some serious cleaning in the basement as we prepare for our daughter to move home from Georgia. As the basement gets cleaned, I'm making room for the stuff that has found its way into the bedroom Lis will return too. I was converting the room into a studio; guess that plan gets changed! The basement will become the home studio when I can't get to the studio at the Farm. In this weather, it's so nice to just go out on the deck and create there.

Took some time to do yard work - water the plants, pick green beans, weed; just be outside! Hung clothes on the line and of course, a wild storm roared through while I ran to the store. The clothes are still on the line and will be all night - tomorrow's another day. Relaxed on the deck with a good book - Two for the Dough, Janet Evanovich.

Back to more painting tomorrow and I'll continue to get some cleaning done. There are still raspberries waiting to be picked!

Latest decorative papers

New decorative papers...

Created a pile of decorative papers! I will probably have to upload pics tomorrow - I'm in the process of uploading pictures from one of our tech sessions during the retreat...

It was very enjoyable to sleep in, do a little shopping and do some artwork! Tomorrow is a day of meetings to work on the Arts and Technology Mini-conference planning! Who says teachers get the summers off?

Home from the PAEA retreat!

Back home and recovering from a very successful PAEA retreat! We learned new things, collaborated and shared techniques and strategies, discussed professional development and the upcoming regional arts and technology mini-conferences and state conference. We visited the Philadephia Museum of Art and had the opportunity to view an discuss pieces in the collection. We also had the opportunity to visit the Teacher Center and those who are not members, are now signed up for Artstor - an amazing resource for art teachers! Several of us also traveled to New Hope for a little bit more of a taste of the area (southeastern pa).

I plan to sleep in tomorrow and then it's back to decorative papers and working on altered book pages - look for some more pictures!

PAEA Leadership Retreat 2009, Arcadia University, Glenside, PA.

Hi All!
I am at Arcadia University in Glenside at the PAEA (Pennsylvania Art Education Association) Leadership Retreat.

Yesterday we spent time developing content to add to the PAEA Ning site that is being developed for the membership. We are addressing Professional Concerns, Membership Issues, actual art production processes, lesson and unit planning, etc. As we develop images and video files, they will be posted to the Ning for the membership of PAEA to access, use and with which to interact.

Today, Saturday, 7/11/09, we are working on our pages on the PAEA.org website and our pages and discussion on the PAEA Ning. We have also launched the sale of PAEA branded merchandise at http://www.btsportswear.net/ . We continue to work on our pages on the PAEA website and the Ning.

Tonight, we are on our own and I'm taking a crew of art teachers to New Hope! Oh yes, there will be good food and fun on the menu tonight!

more papers

Some additional papers...

Decorative papers

I'm working on a number of decorative papers. As I complete them, I'll add them here. The intention is to build a body of papers and develop a number of book structures from those papers. Who knows what I'll end up with! I'm using acrylic inks, dry brush, wet-in-wet and water-base crayons.

Some painting?

I am so busy trying to make room for my daughter's return home that I have little time for anything else! I am going to set myself up on the deck and do some painting today. Just some decorative page for an artist's book. Experimental, fun , quick and spontaneous!

Setting up the studio

I have a few more things to move into the studio! I'll be spending the next several days organzing and hope to actually do some work next week. I'm looking forward to the space, the place and the solitude...

I've finally launched my blog!

Well, here it is the last day of February 2009, and I have finally launched my blog! I'm excited about the possibilities: meeting other art teachers and artists and sharing ideas and experiences. As time goes on and I have things to share, I'll do just that!