Teaching Artists Residencies During Covid

Possible and yes, happening!

In December 2020 Martha Piscuskas, director of Arts Education at the Maine Arts Commission (MAC), moderated a discussion with teaching artists and a middle schooler called School Arts Residencies During COVID? Yes We Can! Included in the discussion were teaching artists: Bridget Matros, Alicia Phelps, Tim Christensen, and Dana Lagawiec with student Theo Forcier, Mt. Ararat Middle School. They discussed keys to success for remote school artist residencies and what they’re doing during the pandemic to further connections and learning opportunities for Maine learners.

The webinar was recorded and archived on YouTube and can be viewed below. The video opens with Martha sharing a land acknowledgment. Bridget Matros (starts at 4:30) is the Kids & Family Outreach Manager at Waterfall Arts and she is in the middle of a residency in Brunswick provided by the well established Arts Are Elementary program. She shares the set up in how she is teaching multiple learners in more than one space at one time. Alicia Phelps (starts at 12:00) teaches piano and voice and is Director of Community Partnerships and Special Programs at the community music center in Yarmouth, 317 Main. She is a recipient of a MAC grant. Tim is a ceramic artist (starts at 22:00) and became a Teaching Artist Leader with MAC’s Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI) in Phase 6, 2016-17. Dana (starts at 31:15) does creative theater and became a Teaching Artist Leader with MALI Phase 7, 2017-18. The session finishes with circus artist MALI Phase 6, 2016-17 MALI Teaching Artist Brigid Rankowski monitoring questions. During the summer of 2020 MALI transformed into Maine Arts Education Partners in Leadership (MAEPL). Tim, Dana, Bridget, and Brigid are on the Maine Arts Commission Teaching Artist Roster.

RESOURCES FROM THE WEBINAR

• Handout: Tips for Remote Residencies compiled by Bridget Matros, attached and here.
• Land Acknowledgement: USDAC, the United States Department of Arts and Culture (no connection to the US government), has a great guide  https://usdac.us/nativeland.
• 317 Main Soundcloud –https://soundcloud.com/user-83776051-760585697.
• Wizard of Oz Promo for the remote school play at Bowdoinham Community School:  https://youtu.be/fTGEpcjY1c8.
• Tim Christensen website https://www.timchristensenporcelain.com/
•  Arts Are Elementary website https://www.artsareelementary.org/
• Compiled Resource List: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oh9o22SOECy-1Y1PV2XHU_McFK_6rcD2h_GSeIHrpI4/edit#gid=0

MAC has the following education specific grants available with a deadline of April 1, 2021. Learn more by clicking on the grant title. Arts Learning, Creative Aging, Dance Education. If you have any questions please contact Martha at Martha.Piscuskas@maine.gov.

Artists’ Residencies

FREE Webinar

School Arts Residencies During COVID?  Yes We Can! 

Monday, December 14 @ 4 pm.  

As you know all too well, school visual and performing arts teachers are experiencing diminished programming options; many music rooms have been repurposed for regular instruction due to their size and height, offering more room for social distancing; and some VPA teachers have even been re-assigned. Many schools are completely remote now. So how can residencies possibly occur?? The Maine Arts Commission presents a panel of Maine teaching artists who will share tips for successful school residencies happening right now, and some of the obstacles they’ve addressed. Bring questions and if time allows, we’ll hold small group brainstorm sessions on personal next steps. 

Panelists 

• Tim Christensen, Clay Artist, Roque Bluffs bio
• Dana Legawiec, Theater Artist, Bowdoinham bio
• Bridget Matros,  Visual and Performing Artist, Belfast bio
• Alicia Phelps, Piano and Voice Artist, Director of Community Partnerships and Special Programs, 317 Main.  bio

REGISTER HERE for the free webinar.

You will then be sent the link to attend the webinar.  

MICA Arts Ed Sessions

Three amazing sessions

This is the third blog post that provides information about the learning opportunities being happening in September from the Maine Arts Commission – the Pre-MICA At the HEART of Education, Thursday, September 27 at USM, Portland campus, Abromson Center. And, yesterday’s post with the overall details for the Maine International Conference on the Arts being held, same place, on Friday, September 28. This post includes the details on the ARTS EDUCATION track with 3 sessions for your interest. Below you will find the details.

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION

Kaitlin Young

Kaitlin Young is one of five speakers that will start off the day presenting in the Maine Artists Idea Lab. It is a fast-paced and engaging peach kulcha-style format that will knock your socks off with the newest innovations.  an Idea Lab.

Kaitlin Young is the 2018 Maine Teacher of the Year and Music Educator from Sedomocha School in Dover-Foxcroft. The room will be filled with Maine’s arts community members including educators. Very exciting opportunity for her to represent arts education among arts supporters.

ARTS EDUCATION SESSIONS

• 11:00 – 12:00 How do teaching, learning and assessment work together in a positive, productive standards-based Visual and Performing Arts classroom? 

Description

The use of “standards” and “assessments” in visual and performing arts (VPA) education have been discussed, planned for, and developed over many years. A panel of educators will share the work they have underway. Participants are invited to join the conversation – bring your thoughts, questions, and curiosity on why standards and assessments are used in the arts.

Facilitator

Jeff Beaudry

Panel

Jen Etter, Kelly Hrenko, Michelle Kaschub, Holly Leighton, John Morris

Bios

Jeffrey S. Beaudry, Ph.D., Professor, Educational Leadership, University of Southern Maine

Jeff Beaudry

Dr. Beaudry is focused on high impact, classroom and leadership strategies, and how they relate to assessment literacy, assessment for learning (formative assessment), evidence-based practices, and STEAMSS (STEM and arts and service learning). Dr. Stewart MCafferty and Dr. Beaudry just co-authored a book, Teaching Strategies to Create Assessment-literate Learners and Educators, which Corwin Press released in May, 2018. The book provides the research base and multiple examples of practices of high impact strategies of assessment for learning. He also wrote a textbook, Research Literacy: A Primer for Understanding Research, and a book of teaching case study about concept mapping and critical thinking. Jeff passionate about the use of visual thinking in teaching, learning and assessment. He is also very proud of his time as co-director of the Southern Maine Partnership, a regional collaboration of schools and the University of Southern Maine.

Jen Etter

Mrs. Etter is a music teacher at York Middle School in York, ME.  She is currently in her 11th year of teaching chorus, general music and beginning band at YMS.  Within her district, Jen serves on the Leadership Team and played an integral role in helping to transition the York School Department to a proficiency based, student centered model of instruction and assessment.  She has presented on proficiency education at the regional and state level and is passionate about spreading the story of how this has transformed her classroom. Jen has been a teacher leader with the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative since 2013 and in 2014 was selected to featured in the Initiative’s video series on standards-based, student centered learning.  She is extremely proud of the work of this organization and feels blessed to have had the opportunity to be involved with MALI. It is a privilege to be able to work with such amazing arts educators from around the state of Maine.

Kelly Hrenko, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Art Education, University of Southern Maine

Kelly Hrenko

Dr. Hrenko’s current scholarship is within the field of integrated arts and multimodal creative literacies. She uses her position as a teacher educator in the visual arts as a place where several intersections occur; between art and culture, community and school; and interdisciplinary education. She comes from the Midwest where she worked in public and Native American BIA schools, assisting k-12 teachers as they work to integrate the visual arts and native cultures across curricula. Dr Hrenko’s recent publication, Decolonizing Vacationland (Hrenko & Paul, 2017) in Staikidis and Ballengee-Morris (Eds.) Transforming Our Practices: Indigenous Art, Pedagogies, and Philosophies, shares examples of culture based work from Maine classrooms, in partnership with Maliseet teaching artist Mihku Paul. Additionally, Dr. Hrenko works closely with Side X Side, a local arts education non-profit, to support the integration of creative teaching practices and arts-based curriculum across k-12 subject areas.

Michele Kaschub, Ph.D., Professor of Music, Coordinator of Music Teacher Education, Director-Center for Collaboration and Development, University of Southern Maine

Michele Kaschub

Dr. Kaschub is Professor of Music and Coordinator of Music Teacher Education in the School of Music, as well as Director of the Center for Collaboration and Development at the University of Southern Maine. Prior to teaching at the college level, Dr. Kaschub taught 6-12 general and choral music in Camden, ME, and elementary music in Glencoe, IL. Her research interests include children’s composition, composition pedagogy, choral music education, curriculum design/assessment, and the professional development of teachers at all levels. She is co-author of Minds on Music: Composition for Creative and Critical Thinking (Rowman & Littlefield, 2009) and Experiencing Music Composition in Grades 3-5 (Oxford University Press, 2016), co-editor of Composing Our Future: Preparing Music Educators to Teach Composition (OUP, 2013) and Promising Practices in 21st Century Music Teacher Education (OUP, 2014), and has contributed chapters to several pedagogy texts and articles to multiple professional journals.  Michele is currently the Chair & Academic Editor of Music Educators Journal, the most widely disseminated journal for music practitioners in the world. An active clinician and guest lecturer, she has presented research papers and workshops at conferences throughout the United States and abroad.  

Holly Leighton, B.S., Art Education, K-12 Mattanawcook Academy, RSU 67, Lincoln

Holly Leighton

Ms. Leighton is an art teacher at Mattanawcook Academy, RSU 67, Lincoln, Maine.  Holly began her teaching career in the district 20 years ago at the Ella P. Burr Elementary School by developing and implementing the first art program at the elementary level in RSU 67.  Holly is currently in her 4thyear as the art teacher at the high school. Over the past 4 years Holly has participated in district courses and workshops led Dr. Beaudry and Dr. Stewart MCafferty on assessment literacy which has become an important part of her teaching philosophy.  She has continued working with them by attending USM Literacy Conferences and co-presenting at workshops. Holly believes in creating a classroom environment of trust and respect where formative assessments are welcome and occur continuously between teacher and students and between students themselves.   Holly is proud to have become a MALI Teacher Leader and a Teacher Leader at Mattanawcook Academy.

John Morris

Mr. Morris is a dance educator and teaching artist based in Bridgton, Maine. Born and raised in Maine, John performed and taught dance for many years in New York City, before living in the United Kingdom for four years with his wife and stepdaughter. John promotes creative exploration and expression in his teaching, specializing in improvisation and inter-disciplinary collaboration. His writing on creativity and dance has been published in “Creativity Across Domains: Faces of the muse,” edited by James C. Kaufman and John Baer. In addition, he has created a resource for the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative Resource Bank on creativity and dance. He also has a background in large-scale arts assessment, as a consultant for the NAEP arts assessment and the A.P. Studio Art assessment. John is a member of the MALI design team, and is on the Maine Teaching Artists Roster.

• 2:00 – 3:00 When Teaching Artists and Arts Teachers Connect, Students Win  Description: During the past 4 years, teaching artists and arts educators in the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative have collaborated to provide meaningful, purposeful and authentic learning opportunities for students. Educator collaborations provide opportunities for learners that can surpass what a teacher, working alone, can offer. Hear the stories from these collaborators, bring your questions, share your experiences and imagine the possibilities in more Maine schools and communities.

Description

During the past 4 years, teaching artists and arts educators in the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative have collaborated to provide meaningful, purposeful and authentic learning opportunities for students. Educator collaborations provide opportunities for learners that can surpass what a teacher, working alone, can offer. Hear the stories from these collaborators, bring your questions, share your experiences and imagine the possibilities in more Maine schools and communities.

Facilitator

Kate Smith

Panel

Brian Evans-Jones, Kris Bisson, Tim Christensen, Lori Spruce, John Morris, Carmel Collins

Bios

Kate Smith

Mrs. Smith is an energetic music teacher currently teaching music to preK-third grade students in South Berwick, Maine. Kate earned her music education degree from USM and a Master’s degree in Technology in Education from Lesley University. Kate was honored as 2014 York County Teacher of the Year for her passion for innovation and creativity. Kate serves as a teacher leader and design team member for the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative, the Parade Coordinator for South Berwick’s annual Lanternfest and a coordinator for Central School’s farm-to-table program. Kate lives in southern Maine with her husband and three children.

Brian Evans-Jones and Kris Bisson

Mrs. Bisson is Director of Choruses and a music educator at Marshwood Middle School in Eliot, Maine. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music Education from the University of Southern Maine and has served as adjudicator and guest conductor for several district choral festivals. She is a teacher leader for the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative, and a member of the National Association for Music Education and the American Choral Directors Association. Her passion for student engagement is reflected in each class she teaches.

Mr. Evans-Jones is a former Poet Laureate of Hampshire, UK, now living in South Berwick, Maine. He studied Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Warwick, UK, and received his MFA in Poetry from UNH in 2016. His poems have appeared in magazines and competitions in America and Britain, and he was the poetry winner of the 2017 Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award from Poets & Writers. Brian has taught creative writing to children and adults since 2005, and has run poetry residencies and workshops in schools, historic houses, prisons, libraries, and other community and educational venues.

Tim Christensen

Mr. Christensen is a well known ceramic artist, and teaching artist, living in the woods of Downeast Maine. In his practice working in sgraffito on porcelain, he seeks to understand and record the complexities of the systems operating, and changing, in our world today.  In his teaching practice, he helps facilitate learning through the use of visual art as a language, supporting students, teachers, and administrators as they unlock the wonders of our world through art and visual literacy. He has worked in clay since 1999, and been teaching since 2003.

Carmel Collins

Ms. Collins is both a visual arts and dance teacher at Lake Region High School, Maine.  She teaches a variety of arts classes that include ceramics, drawing, fundamentals and the latest addition graphic design.  The dance program offers dance showcase (primarily a performance class) and dance academy, as well as supporting a dance outreach program which serves the district schools. She has served on several educational boards and acted as teacher leader for MALI several times, and served as a member of the reviewing committee in the formulation of the NCCAS. In addition to her classroom duties Carmel also serves the district as K-12 fine arts coordinator and serves on the teacher evaluation committee.

John Morris

Mr. Morris is a dance educator and teaching artist based in Bridgton, Maine. Born and raised in Maine, John performed and taught dance for many years in New York City, before living in the United Kingdom for four years with his wife and stepdaughter. John promotes creative exploration and expression in his teaching, specializing in improvisation and inter-disciplinary collaboration. His writing on creativity and dance has been published in “Creativity Across Domains: Faces of the muse,” edited by James C. Kaufman and John Baer. In addition, he has created a resource for the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative Resource Bank on creativity and dance. He also has a background in large-scale arts assessment, as a consultant for the NAEP arts assessment and the A.P. Studio Art assessment. John is a member of the MALI design team, and is on the Maine Teaching Artists Roster.

Lori Spruce

Mrs. Spruce is a visual art educator at Brewer High School in Brewer, Maine. She teaches multiple art classes including Art 1, Painting, Photography, Graphic Design, and Advanced Placement Studio Art.  Lori received her Bachelor’s Degree in Art education and Studio Art from the University of Maine in Orono. She is proud to have been instrumental in creating the digital media arts program that is now offered at her school that includes a traditional black and white photography darkroom as well. She is also the curriculum leader for the visual and performing art department at Brewer. She is a teacher leader for the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative, a member of the Maine Arts Education Association, and Art in the Heart of Maine. Lori lives in Lamoine, Maine, with her husband and son and is a painter in her artist time.

• 3:15 – 4:15 Empowering Your Voice for Arts Education 

Description 

We often underestimate the power of our passion and voice for arts education. Yet, we’ve seen students, educators, artists, arts organizations and community members find their voice, build their stories and messages, back them up with research and evidence, and become leaders and advocates for arts education in powerful ways. In this session, we will explore ways to empower our voices, use helpful resources that are just clicks away, and be on our way to making an impact with our hopes and dreams for the arts in education!

Presenter

Ms. Ring is Executive Director of the New England Institute for Teacher Education and teaches graduate level courses to educators across the state of Maine. She co-founder of the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative and has served on the core leadership team since it was established in 2010. Catherine completed her Education Leadership studies at the University of Vermont and received her Master of Arts from Vermont College of Norwich University. For her thesis, entitled “Education and the Arts, Toward Creative Intelligences,” she researched the role of the arts in learning and has worked closely with classroom teachers, helping them to integrate the arts into their regular curricula. As Principal, Catherine helped to bring to her school district the Kennedy Center’s National Partnership program. She assists school districts throughout Maine with differentiated instruction, arts integration, and gifted and talented programs. Catherine is the 2014 Advocate of the Year by the Maine Art Education Association. Catherine returned to the art classroom in 2016 and is teaching on Isle au Haut. 

Arts Ed Conference and MICA

September 27, 28 – USM, Portland

The 2018 Maine State Teacher of the Year, Kaitlin Young, will provide an engaging keynote at the Arts Education Pre-Conference: At the HEART of Arts Education and provide seeds of inspiration to help you create action steps for your work at the school and/or community level. Attend as individuals or consider bringing a team from your school and/or community. The day will start and conclude with creative art and music making.

The Pre-MICA conference At the HEART of Arts Education will take place at the Abromson Center, USM, Portland on Thursday, September 27, 8:00 – 4:00. Registration is $50  and includes lunch and the opening session of the Maine International Conference on the Arts on Thursday evening in Hannaford Hall.

The Pre-MICA Arts Education conference participants will:

•     learn skills to improve teaching and learning in the arts;
•     collaborate among the arts disciplines: dance, media arts,  music, theater, visual arts and creative writing;
•     network with other educators and reconnect with old friends;
•     make connections between school and community, including arts organizations, artists, and other arts education supporters.

The conference will be a joyous occasion to learn together and celebrate who we are! We are educating the future, the next generation of artists, arts educators, and appreciators of the arts. To do that we need to:

• Instill purpose/passion
• Ensure High Quality Instruction
• Provide relevant and real-world learning experiences
• Empower our students to become the teachers of their generation.

THURSDAY AGENDA

OPENING – Welcome

Story of the South Berwick Lantern Festival

Carol Trimble Award Presentation

MORNING SESSIONS  

ART, MUSIC, and DANCE MAKING Attendees will select between Music/Dance session and Lantern making session.

If you choose the Music Making/Dance session participants will have the opportunity to learn:

• Basic African drumming and singing

• Simplified steps to an African dance

FOLI – The word used for rhythm by the Malinke tribe in West Africa. Foli is not only found in Malinke music, but in all parts of their daily lives.      FOLI: there is no movement without rhythm

If you choose the Visual Art – Lantern session participants will have the opportunity to learn:

• How in some cultures light holds a symbolic meaning and is an integral part of traditions
• Using your imagination and creativity to create a unique lantern.
• Opportunities to learn from each other how to bring these experiences back to your  classroom and or community.

Bon Festival – In Japan this annual festival honors deceased relatives while people spend time with their living family members. At the culmination of the festival families place lanterns on the river to be carried away symbolizing the peaceful return to the afterlife.

Both sessions will culminate in a cross cultural experience and open MICA 2018 with a celebratory processional.

KEYNOTE – The 2018 Maine Teacher of the Year is Kaitlin Young who teaches music at SeDoMoCha School in Dover Foxcroft

LUNCH – Midcoast Music Academy performance

View 15 version of the Ashley Bryan film

AFTERNOON SESSION

Choose Your Own Adventure – participants will be guided through creating a plan to use when they return to their schools and communities. There will an opportunity to share so participants can learn from each other and go back to their individual schools and communities with new ideas.

CLOSING

Participants will lead MICA processional using music/dance and lanterns made earlier in the day to the opening of the Maine International Conference on the Arts reception in Hannford Hall. The opening keynote will follow.

The $50 registration includes the arts ed conference, the opening reception, keynote and performances.

MICA CONFERENCE – FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 8:00 – 5:15

Opening

Maine Artists Idea Lab: Five speakers using the fast-paced and engaging pecha kucha-style format will knock your socks off with their newest innovations. Speakers include:

Lucas Richman, Music Director, Bangor Symphony Orchestra

Rene Johnson, Executive Director, Theater Ensemble of Color

Erin McGee Ferrell, Visual Artist

Kaitlin Young, 2018 Maine Teacher of the Year

Jeremy Frey, Passamaquoddy basketweaver

20 Professional Development Sessions in 5 Tracks Running Concurrently:

LEVERAGING INVESTMENT. Learn to attract and leverage greater investment through corporate sponsorships, development planning, capitalization and more.

BUILDING CAPACITY. All you need to know on strategies for sustainability and increased impact, from an intensive on strategic planning with Julie Richard to a session on The Role of the Arts in Communities in Crisis.

VISIBILITY OF THE ARTS & CULTURAL SECTOR. Discuss ways to increase awareness of creative opportunities, as well as their value to communities and local economies. Participate in a new, two-part workshop by MICA 2016 superstar Matt Lehrman, Opportunity Everywhere, Parts I & II. Or attend a dynamic session hosted by DataArts/The Cultural Data Project on ways to connect your data to stories about your mission and impact, for more effective communications with key stakeholders.

ARTS EDUCATION & LIFELONG LEARNING. Participate in sessions on fostering PK-12 arts education and lifelong learning programs, including Creative Aging and Traditional Arts.

PROMOTING CULTURAL TOURISM. Gather the information you need to enhance experiences and leverage cultural tourism. Hear from organizations on their successes creating experiences outside of traditional venues, or attend a Rural Community Arts Development session facilitated by Maryo Gard Ewell.

Pop-up performances throughout the day.

ARTS EDUCATION SESSIONS

How do teaching, learning and assessment work together in a positive, productive standards-based Visual and Performing Arts classroom?

The use of “standards” and “assessments” in visual and performing arts (VPA) education have been discussed, planned for, and developed over many years. A panel of educators will share the work they have underway. Participants are invited to join the conversation – bring your thoughts, questions, and curiosity on why standards and assessments are used in the arts.

Facilitator – Jeff Beaudry – Associate Professor, Educational Leadership, USM – Overview of Summative and Formative Assessment and Moderator

• Jen Etter – Music, York Middle School
• Kelly Hrenko – Visual Art, USM
• Michele Kaschub – Music, USM
• Holly Leighton – Visual Art, K-12, RSU 67
• John Morris – Dance, Teaching Artist   

Brian Evans-Jones and Kris Bisson

When Teaching Artists and Arts Teachers Connect, Students Win

During the past 4 years, teaching artists and arts educators in the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative have collaborated to provide meaningful, purposeful and authentic learning opportunities for students. Educator collaborations provide opportunities for learners that can surpass what a teacher, working alone, can offer. Hear the stories from these collaborators, bring your questions, share your experiences and imagine the possibilities in more Maine schools and communities.

Facilitator: Kate Smith, Central School, South Berwick Music Educator

• Brian Evans-Jones, Writer Teaching Artist and Kris Bisson, Marshwood Middle School Music Educator 
• Tim Christensen, Ceramic Teaching Artist and Lori Spruce, Brewer High School Visual Art Educator
• John Morris, Dancer Teaching Artist and Carmel Collins, Lake Region High School Dance Educator  

Empowering Your Voice for Arts Education 

We often underestimate the power of our passion and voice for arts education.  Yet, we’ve seen students, educators, artists, arts organizations and community members find their voice, build their stories and messages, back them up with research and evidence, and become leaders and advocates for arts education in powerful ways. In this session, we will explore ways to empower our voices, use helpful resources that are just clicks away, and be on our way to making an impact with our hopes and dreams for the arts in education!

Presenter: Catherine Ring, Visual Art Educator, Arts Education Consultant, Co-Founder of the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative, Maine Art Education Association 2014 Maine Arts Advocate of the Year.

If you have any questions please email Argy Nestor, director of arts education, argy.nestor@maine.gov.

Arts Learning Grant Recipient

Bangor High School

Potter and MALI Teaching Artist Tim Christensen

“Sharks, tarpan migration, stingrays. Canoeing in deeper water while a dolphin gave birth under the boat. No tolerance for being bored. I had something to say. Being a potter let’s me capture information and communicate it in a durable way. In 500 years what do you want someone to know about you, what your life is like in 2018”?

These are some of the stories that teaching artist Tim Christensen shares when he visits classrooms – stories of how he got where he is and how he is living in Maine and working as an artist. He shares why he does what he does and how it came to be. He started out selling text books after majoring in writing in college. But at age 28 after losing his job he took time to consider what he really wanted to do.

Earlier this month I visited Bangor High School while they had Tim working with their students from all three of their art teachers students. The school received a Maine Arts Commission (MAC) Arts Learning grant to provide this opportunity.

Tim makes clay bowls by throwing them on a potter’s wheel and uses the sgraffito process to decorate the pottery. Sgraffito is made by scratching through a surface to reveal the lower layer of contrasting color.

I’ve visited Tim in action in other classrooms and its always interesting to see where he is in his development as an artist and as a teacher. The Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI) is pleased to have Tim as a Teaching Artist Leader and on the Maine Arts Commission Teaching Artist roster. It is clear from the teacher and student responses that Tim did a fabulous job and impacted students and teachers during during his four days at the school.

ART TEACHER EVA WAGNER’S REFLECTIONS

Tim Christensen was such a refreshing presence in our classroom. His knowledge, skills, talent, creativity and energy inspired our students to create truly unique artwork. I learned so much from him in just a few days and I am hoping to get him to come back and work with my classes again.

He is a great story teller and he really took an interest in the students’ artwork. They really responded to him personally.

Working with a professional artist is such a valuable experience to give to our youth. It helps them to see fine art as a viable career and exposes them to a whole new way of working and caliber of work. Often high school teachers, like myself, become a sort of jack of all trades because of the amount of time we spend teaching and preparing different lessons. A professional artist has the luxury to focus which raises their production and craftsmanship –  it is wonderful to be able to expose the students to someone who works in this way.

STUDENT REFLECTIONS

• I enjoyed working with a professional artist because it’s broadening who we learn from. It was cool working with someone who makes and sells art for a living.
• I learned that quality is better than quantity. I would love to work with this artist again.
• I enjoyed that Tim took the time to teach us individually and took interest in our art. I also enjoyed the story he told us about sailing across the Pacific ocean.
• It makes us realize that there are artists out there that make a living from their art. It broadens our outlook on art and gives us perspective of art in the real world.
• It was inspiring to hear someone’s personal story of how they became a professional potter.
• I learned about creating sgraffito that tells a story on pottery. I would love to learn more about throwing with Tim Christensen.
• I liked hearing about Tim’s life story and how he started art. He had many interesting views on art and how he saw the world because of his art. His art itself was incredible, and I had never heard of the techniques he used.
• Having a Teaching Artist in the classroom can further your understanding of a subject to have someone that is specialized in that art. They can inspire students with their story and give hands on advice.
• It helped me to see what it would be like to be a professional artist.
• I enjoyed it because I got to work with a professional on my favorite subject.
• I learned that there were more than just the few art styles that I’ve learned about over the years so far.
• I learned how to do sgraffito and that sometimes you don’t need to work from an immediate drawing, you can just start from nothing and keep going from there.
• It allows you to explore ideas and techniques you might not normally do.  It allows you to learn from them, and hear their stories and get new ideas.  It dispels the idea that artists are unapproachable. It allows you to see other career options beyond lawyer, doctor, teacher, etc.
• Working with a professional artist was really nice and eye opening to see what his type of life is like. He was a really good artist that was super different from any work that we’ve done in school but it was really eye opening. He was really nice and helped me personally open my eyes to doing different work that was outside my comfort zone.
• Tim Christensen taught me to step outside my comfort zone and to realize that when I think I’m done with an art piece, if there is still open space on my work, then I am not done. He helped me make my work better and was overall a good teacher.
• He was an excellent teacher, and had a thoughtful answer to everything we asked.

ART TEACHER ERIC HUTCHINS REFLECTIONS

Many of our students want to become professional artists, but it is a scary thought for them and even their parents to survive as an artist. It is really nice for them to see a Maine artist that is successful at what he does! Tim was able to introduce new and different techniques to many different classes, and offer opportunity for ceramic works to classes that would never get a chance to experience that. Every opportunity students have can open new doors for them.

Tim’s stories about his travels around the world set it apart from other artists that have spoken to our students. His travels and stories connect to the art that he creates, so the students can hear and see the stories at the same time.

We had teachers from other departments visit while he was presenting and even had the opportunity to create their own work with him. They were as engaged as the students.

Students were so impressed with how incredible his work was they were captured by him at the very beginning. It was nice to be “on the outside” and see the students entire conceptual process with the art and see how they react to someone else. It provides you with insight in how students understand and comprehend what is being taught.

PRINCIPAL PAUL BUTLER’S REFLECTIONS

The quality of the contact between Tim and the students was outstanding, and he brought great energy to his visit. Technique sharing is one thing, but interacting with a practicing artist in the way that our students were able to is quite another– and will have a lasting impact on them.

TIM CHRISTENSEN’S REFLECTIONS

I see my value as a teaching artist to be manifold. I create connective tissue in the arts education field by helping people to network, and by connecting art teachers working on the same ideas. I also can bring specialized knowledge into the classroom, whether it be about natural history, technical clay knowledge, or professional and funding opportunities. For the students, I am a fresh face with no baggage, someone who is working in the field of fine art, and is very comfortable sharing all of my professional knowledge. I also provide a platform from which the students can speak and be heard, by stressing the communicative, content bearing parts of any art project.

I very much enjoy teaching the sgraffito technique as a communication tool that transcends culture and/or time. In a way, sgraffito was the original emoji. I urge the students to think about what they would like to say to someone five hundred years hence, and to create artwork that is capable of doing that. I am successful when I have empowered students to speak using their visual voice and to create from a place that is uniquely theirs, confident that they will be heard and that what they have to say matters in the global conversation about our world.

Deep Learning with Pottery and Poetry

YEEHA at Sweetland School

What happens when a collaboration takes place with an arts integrated school and two teaching artists? MAGIC! I had the amazing opportunity to be present while young learners were engaged in connecting their learning through pottery and poetry.

Lindsay Pinchbeck, founder and director of the SweetLand School in Hope invited poet Brian Evans-Jones and potter Tim Christensen to create connected curriculum and learning for the school’s students.

Both Brian and Tim are on the Maine Arts Commission (MAC) Teaching Artists roster and are Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI) Teaching Artist Leaders. Lindsay is a member of the MALI Design Team and started her school three years ago.

This blog post combines the background information with the participants responses, observations, learnings, and feelings.

FROM THE COLLECTIVE VOICES OF THOSE WHO PARTICIPATED

LINDSAY

The Sweetland School recently had the good fortune of a residency with ceramist Tim and poet Brian. Both artists wove together a program sharing passion and skill in poetry and clay with the children. They created work that knocked all our socks off. Magic was the word tumbling off our tongues this week. For the teachers of Sweetland it was a wonderful opportunity to see the children with fresh eyes.

Brian shared a style of poetry called the Anaphora, with repeated lines. He pushed the children to apply real and imaginary content into their poems. He helped the children generate ideas and then edit and refine their poetry. His goal was to support each child to make a 5 line poem, they all generated much more work. I observed writing, reading, sharing, helping one another, public speaking, laughter and pure joy as the children created and shared their work. 

Tim worked in the studio over 4 days with the children to create 5 or so place settings – cups, plates, bowls, even forks and spoons were created.  The children took their lines of poetry and added the words from the poetry workshop along with images to each piece. Stories of travel and adventure, wove through their clay making experiences as Tim led the children forward in their pottery explorations.  

Children’s conversations:

• “I know what you find in the magical misty woods!” “A smiling carrot.” 
• “What do you do when you don’t know what to draw?” Tim “I make a mark and see where it takes me.” 
• “You know what I have to say about this – It’s really hard but incredibly fun.”  

This week I observed a community of learners drive their learning forward. They advocated for what they needed, supported one another, weren’t afraid to ask questions and were giving and thoughtful hosts with our visiting artists. We saw the children at their best, staying focused for long 2 hours sessions in detailed work and generating work they were proud of. The power of visiting artists to inspire cannot be underestimated. In this safe environment where the children have learned to be themselves and own their ideas they were able to fly with the support of professionals who are passionate about sharing the magic of the process and their craft.  We as a staff learned alongside the children and were a community of learners together. 

To say thank you at the end of their visit the children encircled Brian on Tuesday and Tim on Thursday and sang to both visiting artists. This has officially been termed “Sweetlanded,” by Tim and it’s a pretty magical experience. When all the pieces have been fired we plan to have a special celebration of the work  at the Hope Library. Thank you Brian and Tim! and a note of thanks to Argy Nestor and the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative where this collaborative residency was hatched. It was a magical experience. 

BRIAN

At the close of my two days teaching at Sweetland Arts School, the 12 children with whom I’d been working asked me to sit in the center of a rug. Standing around me, they joined hands and began to sing. The song was new to them, so there were a few stops and starts, but they got there in the end. This is what they sang to me, twice:

In this circle deep peace

In this circle no fear

In this circle Great Happiness

In this circle safety.

This moment felt completely, beautifully appropriate for my experience on the residency. It wasn’t just that the song used anaphora (repeated phrases) to create its structure, which was the technique I had helped them learn for the poems they wrote with me. It was that, through their song and their spontaneous desire to give it to me, they were teaching me something, as they and their school had done all residency.

During the previous two days, I had sometimes felt the opposite of deep peace, great happiness, and safety: I had feared that my whole work at the school was going awry. I am not now sure why I felt this way, except that panic and a feeling of ineluctable disaster are often a part of a creative process. But by the students’ continued steady efforts, and I suppose mine too, things had turned out right in the end. Their poems collectively were funny, tender, deeply personal, wildly inventive, and above all wonderful to hear all read out one after another, as they had just done.

When I sat in the middle of their voices, I knew that they had given me this moment to teach me that I need not have feared: if you keep working, wisely and with good heart, your projects will succeed.

So what I will take away from this residency is a feeling of gratitude, not for what I taught, but for what I learned. I learned that a vision, to create a school where the arts are not peripheral but central, can be made to happen, by Lindsay and her husband Chris. I learned that children who are skillfully supported to trust their own decision-making and imaginations can invent the most marvelous things, such as the spontaneous class play involving sheep and blades of grass that was scripted and performed by the grade 1-3 group, to illustrate concepts of division and remainders, based on a poem they’d made about the number 17. I learned that there is more scope in my own teaching to allow students to make their own choices about how they grow their writing. And I learned a little, just a little, about what can be achieved if we step back, let go of control, and trust the kids, the process, and the art.

NINA

Watching the children with these visiting artists has been both inspiring and illuminating. They brought their best selves to the work each day, and churned out pieces that are jaw-drop-worthy. One word comes to mind in particular when thinking about their manner throughout this residency: absorbed. Their attention never seemed to wander, their focus remained strong, and their process was steady. The visiting artists were strong guides that brought their wealth of experience effortlessly to the children, openly sharing and encouraging progress and process along the way. The response from the children was eager and positive; the energy of creativity filled the room and excitement and pride about their work bubbled up. It was tangible.

Watching the children thank the artists at the end, was perhaps, my favorite part. They circled around each artist, holding hands and sang them a song we sing here at Sweet Tree to celebrate birthdays. A song about creating safety, deep peace and great happiness. This was both instigated and carried out by the students as an offering of gratitude, creating moments that were as beautiful as the work they made this week.

TIM

For four days, I had the great pleasure to work at Sweetland School. The students wrote poems, working for two days with Brian, an award winning poet from South Berwick. They then created 5 functional pieces of pottery, on which they etched, using the sgraffito technique. Starting with individual lines of their poems, the young artists translated verbal language into visual language, creating a place setting which could be rearranged in different settings, making mix and match pottery poems. This exercise challenged the artists to formulate imagery that was as specific as their words: no mean feat! 

For the younger artists, some in the 7 year old range, making the leap from verbal to visual was a struggle, though they were able to write their poems on the pieces, and had a ton of fun creating useful, functional pieces. For the older artists, in the 10-12 year old range, the concept came easily, and their illustrations highlighted specific points in their poetry lines, illuminating their intent, adding focus and emphasis. All of the poems, read aloud during a sharing period at the end of Brian’s time at Sweetland, were insightful and important, the young poets finding their voice easily, conveying thought and emotion beautifully.

I was struck by the powerful way that the younger students looked up to the older cohort, striving to match them in the quality of their products. I was also struck by the kindness of the students, the emphasis on community, collaboration, sharing, and creative expression at Sweetland. Real learning and growing was evident at every step!

OLIVIA

I could see the children’s minds work as they sat molding the clay and thinking about how to visually describe the words of their poems. It was incredibly inspiring and exciting to watch how naturally art meshed with all learning.

LINDSAY LAST WORDS

Thanks for sharing your very open and wonderful impressions. They are feelings I feel often and hope that others can experience too. That piece about being in the creative process and not know the road ahead or how we’ll get there is something that is so much a part of creative thinking and so scary for adults. It can be explored safely with the help of the children and I believe at the very heart of deep learning.

When we don’t know where we are going I think we are on the right track because doesn’t that mean we are learning something new?

 

Thank you all for trusting the process, believing in the arts and being able to stand back and see the magic the children have to offer, I think standing out of the way is sometimes the hardest thing to do.

Not only did this residency exemplify why bringing outstanding teaching artists into the environment is so important but that every one processed the learning so the value of it became clear.  A great big THANK YOU to Lindsay, Brian, Nina, Tim, Olivia, and the YOUNG LEARNERS for contributing to this blog post and for the great work they do every day as educators!

Teaching Artist Leader

Tim Christensen

Maine Arts Leadership Initiative Teaching Artist Leader Tim Christensen took an amazing journey this summer. The Center for Maine Craft presents 30 Days at Sea, an exhibition of prints, books and clay work by Tim Christensen, October 5-November 19, 2017. The exhibition will feature new works created during, and in response to, the artist’s 2017 journey to Sydney, Australia via container ship.

In Tim’s own words

“In my work, I document the natural systems, as I understand them, that I see in my surroundings here in coastal Maine. This trip is an extension of that, is part of my life as an artist, was possible because of my life as an artist. And as so often happens, there were many rewards from this which I would never have had available: Off the Galápagos Islands, I watched hundreds of dolphins leaping out of the water, joyfully racing toward my ship to play in the bow wake…1000 miles from Pitcairn Island, I saw the ocean and sky, devoid of all life, saw the earth naked, and watched the conversation between sky and water play out over and around me…A day out of Panama, I saw long and thick wind rows of our discarded plastic, sheltering and entangling leatherback sea turtles, Mahi Mahi, sharks, and manta rays…Above a nameless series of seamounts, I saw clouds of flying fish erupting from the water for days on end, hundreds per minute. In the middle of nowhere, I saw a place on earth where I was 1500 miles from the nearest other human. To witness these things was a privilege, to represent them in art an even greater one.”

The exhibit will be at the Center for Maine Craft, off the turnpike toll plaza at West Gardiner. The opening is October 13 to kick off Maine Craft Weekend!

To learn more visit the Maine Crafts Association website.

MALI Summer Institute: Day 2

Wowzer!

Kate Cook Whitt

Day 2 kicked off with an amazing STEAM presentation from Kate Cook-Whitt. The opening was titled This is your Brain on Art: Neuroscience and the Arts  – “Examining the World Through Different Lenses: Art and Science”. Kate is an Assistant Professor of Education at the Center for Innovation in Education (CIE) at Thomas College. Participants agreed that Kate’s presentation was outstanding!

Teacher Leaders participated in several great mini-sessions, some led by teacher leaders and teaching artists leaders themselves including:

• 

  Nancy Frolich, Social Justice mini-lesson

  Social Justice and the Power of the Arts with Nancy Frohlich from Leaps of Imagination

• 7 Strategies of Assessment with Jeff Beaudry from USM and visual art teacher leaders Holly Leighton and Samantha Armstrong

• National Board Certification with visual art teacher leader Danette Kerrigan

• Connecting the STUDIO HABITS of MIND to the NATIONAL STANDARDS in the Visual Arts classroom with visual art teacher leader Jane Snider

• 

  Things Into Poetry session with Brian Evans-Jones

  Things Into Poetry with poet teaching artist leader Brian Evans-Jones

In addition Bronwyn Sale and John Morris provided a session called Teaching for Creativity. The afternoon brought all three strands together (teaching artist leaders, new PK-12 teacher leaders and returning PK-12 teacher leaders) for a session with teaching artist leader and potter Tim Christensen. We engaged with a small medallion of clay using the process Tim is so in tune with: sgraffito.

The rest of the afternoon was spent on leadership, advocacy, and putting it into action on the follow up plans for the next year. Strand 1, the Teaching Artist Leaders met with Jeff Poulin, electronically, from the Americans for the Arts.

Day turned into night and educators gathered around the Thomas College fire pit for drumming and a chance for Tim to fire the clay pieces created earlier in the day in the propane fire pit. This provided a wonderful opportunity to connect with colleagues from across the state. What a great way to end an outstanding day!

Strand 1 with Jeff Poulin, Americans for the Arts. Kate Smith, Design Team member, holds the computer during the question and answer period

Jennie Driscoll, Elise Bothel visual art teacher leaders

Jen Etter, music teacher leader

New teacher leaders David Coffey – music and Amy Donovan-Nucci – visual art

Tim Christensen firing the clay pieces

Fun around the fire pit!

Conservation and Visual Art

Yarmouth High School Artist Residency

Art classes at Yarmouth High School in Maine are channeling their creativity in a new direction.  Students, led by internationally known artist Tim Christensen and Yarmouth High School Art Teacher Holly Houston, are creating clay masterpieces to showcase endangered wildlife from across the globe. The results are stunning and serve as an artistic display of the beauty in nature we strive to protect every day.

Students researched threatened and endangered critters to best convey their subjects through art. The students used clay to create sculptures, pots and tiles and later incorporated food and habitat needs and animal adaptations into their artwork using sgraffito, a carving technique. The contrast of light carvings on the dark surface draws the eye to every detail.

Each student approached the the assignment in a creative way to raise awareness for the species of their choosing. Not only did they develop new techniques for clay, but they learned how to share meaningful conservation messages through art.

Alex’s inspiration was the New England cottontail. “I was concerned with the endangered animals that live near and around me. This animal is found in young forest habitats which are depleted in this area and more habitat is needed to help it recover.”

Kelcie chose the piping plover as her focal species. “I chose the piping plover because it is an animal I am familiar with but did not know it was endangered before I started this project. The piping plover is found along the Atlantic Coast, including Maine. If you’ve been to the beach you have probably seen these birds before. They enjoy nesting on the beach near the dunes and forage for food near the waves. Unfortunately our presence of the beach has disrupted their habitat. In order for them to repopulate we need to give them space to breed and live.”

Daly describes how she planned to convey what she researched about the roseate tern through her work. “The viewer would be able to see where the roseate tern lived and what it ate, as well as their flight patterns. My primary goal with this piece was to convey this animal in the middle of an action, such as fishing or flying. The tern at the top was placed there in order to show how the Tern glided through the air, which would give the viewer clues about what kind of bird it was. The central tern was placed in order to show it capturing its food, something that also provides important information about this animal to the viewer.”

Many students had similar accounts; drawing attention to wildlife that need it most. Their work shows many species that are protected in many different ecosystems across the globe. For many species, work has been done to protect both wildlife and their habitat but much more is needed to ensure their survival. CLICK HERE to learn more about endangered species and how you can help!

The following post is being reprinted from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service blog located at THIS LINK.

Prescott Memorial School

Teaching Artist Residency

When Patty Crawford started her job as the Literacy Coach and Interventionist in RSU 40 this school year she made a suggestion to the staff at Prescott Memorial School in Washington to consider contracting with artist Tim Christensen to provide a learning opportunity for students and staff.

Prescott Panda

Over a two week period Tim worked with the schools students and staff to create a large, approx. 7′ long, wall installation. The installation is in the shape of the school mascot, a panda, and composed of 105 sgraffito tiles. Individual artists used sgraffito to engrave a tile with their interpretation of a characteristic from Prescott’s PBIS goals. Their hope is that the installation will not only be a beautiful piece of art, but that it will also be used on a regular basis for the reinforcement of positive character traits.

Tim is on the Maine Arts Commission Teaching Artist Roster and is a Teaching Artist Leader with the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative. Recently his “story” was posted on this blog. He can be reached at http://www.timchristensenporcelain.com/ if you’d like to get in touch with him directly and learn more.