In Today’s News

MAEA exhibit – USM Gorham

Brittany’s Light, acrylic, Pam Ouellette, Lisbon High School visual art teacher

Almost 100 people attended the opening on Saturday afternoon at USM, Gorham campus. President Glenn Cummings greeted the attendees and USMs Director of Exhibitions and Programs Carolyn Eyler and Maine Art Education Association exhibit coordinator Allison Price thanked the artists for their contributions. The show is marvelous – if you have a chance to venture to the USM gallery you won’t be disappointed. “Portals: Work by Maine Art Education Association Members” will be open through March 2.

Read about it in the Keep Me Current publication by CLICKING HERE.

The opening at USM art gallery, Gorham

This exhibition brings together the creative work of art educators from around the state of Maine to celebrate the studio practice and exploration that takes place beyond the classroom.
Artists were invited to create their interpretation of the concept of portal- a gate or entrance that is especially grand or imposing; or, an entryway, door, or threshold.

The artists represented in this show teach, or have taught, in Maine’s public and private schools and universities and are members of the Maine Art Education Association – an arts advocacy organization that promotes the artistic learning of children, encourages innovation and research in art education, and the exchange of ideas and practices among teachers.

Congratulations to the following educators with art on display:

Simon Adams….. Dana Altman….. Kay McKeever Allison….. Mary Ledue-Bell….. Debra Bickford….. Vicki Bové….. Robin Brooks

Carolyn Brown….. Kate Cargile….. Jody Dube….. Erin Landry Fowler….. Suzanne Goulet….. C.K. Higgison….. Cheri Juniewisz

Russell Kahn….. Joe McLaughlin….. Jennifer Merry….. Mathew Meyer….. Nathaniel Meyer….. Colby Myer….. S.C. Myer

Sheri Clark Nadell….. Argy Nestor….. Pam Ouellette….. Mary Pennington….. Allison Price….. Meryl Ruth….. Angel Simoneau

Rachel Somerville….. Suzanne Southworth….. Jodi Thomas….. Alicia Uth…..Michael E. Vermette….. Deloris A. White

Janie K. Young

Visiting Gretchen

Physical Theater

Gretchen Berg has been a teaching artist for 35 years and she is excellent at what she does! I had the opportunity to visit her in Portland at the Riverton School a couple of weeks ago while she was doing a program under Side X Side.

I walked into a classroom of 4th graders who were sitting on the floor with Gretchen sharing ideas on ‘extreme weather’. She asked them: “share something with me that you’ve learned about the weather. Something that if a 3rd grader heard it, they would say: “WOW”! Students were anxious to share and by the time Gretchen was finished she had at least 3 pages of notes and ideas. This was STEAM in action!

Gretchen spent time with the students moving around the room, freezing, and unfreezing, listening and watching each other. The students became more and more careful about moving in the space and were attentive to their classmates. Gretchen spoke softly and I noticed the students were very attentive.

She had them working individually and transferred into working collaboratively. All the while preparing for the next steps. Gretchen will take their ideas and write a script for the students that is not only interesting but age appropriate in every way.

Gretchen meets with each of the three classes of grade 4 students six different times for 60 minutes. The final class meeting is for the quick rehearsal for the final performance. The culminating performance is during an afternoon with parents and family members invited to attend.

While in Portland visiting Gretchen I also had a chance to meet with the folks at Side X Side to learn more about their program. Side X Side is an educational nonprofit with a mission to promote engaged learning, critical thinking, problem solving and exploration while enhancing K-12 content curriculum through innovative, collaborative, creative, multi-disciplinary programming. On December 11, 2016 I included a blog post on the Side X Side program. Please check it out to learn more.