Reshma Saujani
We’re raising our girls to be perfect, and we’re raising our boys to be brave, says Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code. Saujani has taken up the charge to socialize young girls to take risks and learn to program — two skills they need to move society forward. To truly innovate, we cannot leave behind half of our population, she says. “I need each of you to tell every young woman you know to be comfortable with imperfection.”
Amazing work for 28 years
The Maine Arts Commission Senior Grants Director, Kathy Shaw, is retiring tomorrow after serving the people of Maine for 28 years. She has been a wonderful colleague supporting arts education in multiple ways. She has worked with the Arts Learning grant program and applicants, helped set up the Dance Education and Ticket to Ride grants in the Grants Management System, supported the work of teaching artists in the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative, and has been available to answer my questions and provide advice since I started at the MAC almost 5 years ago.
Kathy has been the kind, patient, and helpful voice on the other end of the phone or email for Maine arts grantees for 28 years — in addition to many other ways she’s served the field during that time, including as Director of Arts Accessibility. Now she hopes to spend more time in her garden — but not before we give her a proper send off! Please attend the Open House we are hosting in Kathy’s honor on Friday, June 29 at 2 pm at the Arts Commission offices at 193 State Street (across from the Blaine House) in Augusta. RSVP here for this free event — and to leave a note for Kathy!
Kathy Ann joined the Maine Arts Commission staff in 1988 to serve as Museum & Visual Arts Associate, moved up to Contemporary Arts Associate, and has held the position of Senior Grants Associate since 2007. She oversees the management of all the agency’s grant programs in coordination with program staff. Additionally, she serves as the agency’s grants liaison with the National Endowment for the Arts. Kathy Ann holds a Bachelor of Arts in Special Studies degree in Aesthetics, Art History and Philosophy from the University of Maine, Orono, and has completed course work for a Masters of Arts degree in Museum Studies from John F. Kennedy Center for Museum Studies in San Francisco. After returning to Maine, she held the position of Assistant Development Director at the Portland Museum of Art. Kathy Ann is on the Board of Directors of the Kennebec Valley Humane Society. She enjoys gardening and studying comparative religion at her home in Augusta where she lives with her husband and two Newfoundland dogs.
Best wishes Kathy Shaw – may all your retirement wishes come true!
Folk Art Studio at Fiber & Vine
Be an Illustrator for a Day! workshop for students with Rochelle Draper. Being held on Tuesday, August 14, Folk Art Studio at Fiber & Vine, Norway. Learn more below and at Fiberandvine.com classes. 
Proficiency-Based Diploma
Last week the Maine Legislature reconvened and worked on LD 1666: “An Act To Ensure the Successful Implementation of Proficiency-based Diplomas by Extending the Timeline for Phasing in Their Implementation”. As a result the Maine State Senate voted in favor of the House’s amendment. Next step: the Governor, for support or veto. If the amendment is signed, school districts would have a choice to offer a proficiency-based diploma or return to the credit-based diploma.
To learn more please CLICK HERE.
Waterville
In a collaboration between FoodCorps and the Hall School art program, fifth graders (and a few fourth) created almost 64 square feet of “mini masterpieces”, assembled into a colorful and impactful collage.
Students learned the importance of “eating the rainbow” to get a variety of fruits, vegetables, vitamins, and minerals for a healthy body and mind. They applied the color theory they learned in art class with art teacher Lisa Wheeler and what they learned in the school garden with Emily Dufford, the FoodCorps Service Member who is serving the Hall School in year three of a five year program.
Students created over 400 monochromatic resists using crayons and watercolor paint of colorful fruits and vegetables. They saw how individual pieces of art can be combined to make a whole; alone they have little impact but together . . . WOW!
Fifth graders also learned the value in creating art to leave their mark on the Hall School as they depart soon for middle school.
Thank you Lisa Wheeler for providing this information.
Sweet Tree Arts – Hope
Interested in art and yoga? If so, Sweet Tree Arts Center in Hope is offering a class Art and Yoga Summer Adventure with Nina Devenney for children ages 6-12, July and August. For more info or to register CLICK HERE.
Summer Opportunities
The Farnsworth Art Museum, located in Rockland, has a full schedule of opportunities this summer and into September.
On May 20 over 585 visitors attended the opening event of the yearlong Stories of the Land and Its People 2018 exhibition. Attending the event included students, families, educators, artists, and community members. The event kicked off at the Strand Theatre in Rockland with a red carpet entrance and three original performances by 4th grade students at Lincolvnille Central School, Appleton Village School, and Rockland’s South School. Everyone enjoyed poetry readings, films, puppet shows, and collaborative projects by over 165 midcoast students. Eighteen educators and artists were honored at the stage. The exhibition is on view until September 9 with a special tour on July 11, 1:30.
Stories of the Land and Its People program includes 4th and 7th grade students who used the art experience to study a variety of subjects including Maine studies, science, environment, poetry, geography, and more! The exhibit includes interactive stations, digital work and touchable items created for visitors to enjoy. The museum provides this arts in education program free of charge to Mid-coast Maine schools. Funding is provided by several organizations including the Maine Arts Commission.
Teaching artist Scot Cannon leading students in performance. Photo credit: Michael O’Neil
Enhancing learning and teaching
Sydney Chaffee, the 2017 National Teacher of the Year, went to the capital city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last year and provided workshops on theater education, interdisciplinary learning, and student-centered learning. Students, teachers, and members of the general public came to the workshops. She keeps a personal blog and shared her experiences. Instead of being the “expert” she spent time listening and began to consider ways to collaborate.
Photo by Lindsay Pinchbeck
In 2016 I traveled to Malawi with Lindsay Pinchbeck, founder and director of Sweet Tree Arts Center and Sweetland School in Hope, Me. We provided a 13 workshop for teachers in arts integration. You can read about our experience at the Go! Malawi site. Go! Malawi is a program that one of my former students established. Their mission is to collaborate with rural Malawian communities to develop sustainable programs in education, health care, commerce, and conservation. If you’re interested in traveling to Malawi in the future please email me at argy.nestor@maine.gov to learn more.
Both of these are just two examples of traveling – learning and teaching. This summer consider taking time to research ideas on ways to learn other than in a classroom. There are plenty of opportunities just waiting for you!
Maine is fortunate to have such marvelous educators!
We know that what a teacher offers can have an enormous impact on student development day to day AND over their lifetime. As educators retire at the close of another school year, 2017-18, I know that you join me in THANKING them for their years of service and dedication to students across the state.
I certainly appreciate your commitment and I wish each of you a healthy retirement and many, many years of laughter and love!
A wonderful note from Ann MacEachern on her retirement from Sanford Junior High School after 40 years:
“I’ll miss the chance to interact with kids as they discover talents they didn’t know they had. The outliers, the experimenters and the endearingly quirky denizens of the art room have made most days a joy.
Retirement will give me a chance to reorder my priorities: more family time (I have 5 grandchildren), my OWN art projects need attention, traveling adventures, live music venues, environmental concerns, sorting years of accumulation to make space for new blessings… the list goes on.
To ARTS teachers everywhere: Keep pushing for expansion ARTS time in school schedules, physical space in school buildings and fewer students per art teacher. The world needs creative problem solving now more than ever!”
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