A final note from Texas

My last conference activities included one last visit to the exhibitors hall .... you have to love art teachers.  No matter what time of day you visit the hall they are experimenting with materials, looking for great ideas to improve their classes, or just having a great time together.

My final award event was to attend a reception given by the director of NAEA.  I met some new friends there and some old friends from Massachusetts.  All of the attendees were either award recipients or folks who spend a great deal of time not only teaching but also working to advance art education on the state and national levels.  I took the opportunity to do what I feel my dear friend Mrs. Somma would do and walked right up to the director and had my picture taken with him!  I also thanked him for all the work he has done to help art education throughout the world - the conference had many international attendees.

I look forward to the next phase of my award duties and that is to make a best practice presentation at the 2014 NAEA conference in San Diego, California next year!  At least I have some time to work on the presentation.

Thanks again to all of you for your interest and support!!! And I want to thank every Texan I met. They were all so polite and pleasant.  Always welcoming.  I may now require all of my students to address me as mam and to say "yes, mam" all the time.  Back to WB - my home!

Memories of the assassination of President Kennedy drew me to Dallas today.

Today I took a drive to Dallas to visit a different museum.  It looks like any other brick building, but the Sixth Floor Museum chronicles the fateful visit of President Kennedy to Dallas and allows a visitor to stand in virtually the same location as the shooter who took his life.  Much like the collection of images currently at the Worcester Art Museum in the From Kennedy to Kent State exhibition, the photographs in  the Sixth Floor Museum's document literally seconds of time on November 22, 1963 that forever changed our society in the United States.

Friday was indeed a very full day.

Today I attended some small and "super sessions" at the conference and also visited the exhibition hall where art schools, art supply companies and product vendors create displays for you to visit.

Then I took a break from the conference to visit the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.  I thought of all my students as I saw Calder mobiles, a show focusing on images viewed with night time lighting, and Grant Wood's famous painting of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree - with Washington's adult head on a child's body (I am including a detail).

After seeing some fantastic special photography exhibits I left the museum and went to the historic Stockyard district - had some great pulled pork for lunch and window shopped for cowboy attire before heading back downtown.  More conference sessions, then dinner and the night was topped off with some live country music at Billy Bob's "the world's largest honky tonk."  What a full day!!!

Who knew that Sam Shepard's artwork is in Texas?

Imagine how surprised I was to wander through the National Youth Art Month Exhibit and to find that the first image from Massachusetts I saw was a photograph taken in Mrs. Pelto's Advanced Visual Communications Class by Sam Shepard (top left photo).  The picture was taken on a wonderfully creative photo field trip that Ms. Pelto arranged to the old Kristoff farm.
Wow, great job Ms. P and Sam!!!!  Another winner from West Boylston in Texas!

Wow WB gets a day off from school to celebrate my award - or because of snow!

Today I hope to take the morning to explore the sites in and around the convention site.  Yesterday, for example, I took of photo of the famous flat iron building as I walked to the conference from my hotel.  http://www.fortworthflatiron.com/history.asp

Art and Sunshine in Fort Worth

Imagine over 4,000 art teachers in one place!  All carrying huge fluorescent orange tote bags given to them at registration ... each bag carrying the convention logo on one side and the logo of Worcester's Davis Publication company (they publish art books and magazines) on the other!!

Creative and at times a bit crazy!  I got to three workshops today but most of my day was spent at the awards luncheon and ceremony.  The Eastern Region Director, Karen Kiick presented me with my award after reading a wonderful summary of some of the things that lead the NAEA to feel that I  deserved the award.  She included a quote from Ms. Roberts who originally nominated me for the Mass. Secondary Teacher award last year.  The best part of the presentation was that I didn't have to say anything!!! Thank goodness.

Now that the award ceremony is over, I can relax and just enjoy the workshops, sessions and museums at the conference and around town.  Thank you to all my students, co-workers and administrators present and past who helped to make this all possible. Special thanks to the Ellison Arts Endowment Fund for making it possible for me to travel to Texas to accept the award.

Let the convention begin!

After an easy and uneventful plane flight I landed at the Dallas/Ft. Worth International airport.  While waiting for my airport shuttle I met a woman from Washington State who teaches arts research on the college level.  Once inside the van I spotted a young woman with a handmade felt purse - definitely an art teacher!  She teaches high school in Arizona - a school smaller than ours.  While the school is a public school, it is arts based.  We had a great time comparing notes on our classes and our NAHS activities.

I arrived at my hotel just after 6:30pm and sprinted (well walked fast) to the convention center to register before the conference desk closed at 7pm.  What seemed like and easy walk was a bit less so because of the size of the conference center itself and of course registration was at the opposite end from the entrance I used.  While inside I spotted a two story metal star covered with cowboy hats and thought I would share that with you...ideas for sculpture class?

I walked around downtown Ft. Worth - comfortable cool night - and found a place for dinner where I had fried catfish and hush puppies.  Looking forward to meeting more art teachers tomorrow and to enjoying high temps. of 71 degrees.  Hang tough in the snow y'all.

No Art Homework for Wednesday March 6, 2013.

In celebration of a very special event all art homework is cancelled for Wednesday March 6, 2013!
On March 6 Mrs. Tetler will be traveling to Ft. Worth Texas to attend the National Art Education Association Conference. The following day she will be receiving an award from the NAEA for her service to the National, State and local art education communities. Mrs. Tetler will be designated as the 2013 Eastern Region Secondary Art Educator of the Year. The Eastern Region covers Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Labrador, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Overseas Art Education Association, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia.

Mrs. Tetler hopes to blog from the conference to keep WB apprised of the conference events and her first time visit to Texas!

News from Texas will be coming soon!

Check this blog to share the excitement as Mrs. Tetler travels to the National Art Education Association Conference in Ft. Worth, Texas and updates her blog while she is gone from School March 6 - 10, 2013.

Art Homework for General Art 2 for March

All assignments are to be done from real life - no photographs!

 

DUE by Wednesday March 13, 2013 – OBSERVATIONAL DRAWING

1. Open a cupboard in your kitchen or garage.  Draw what you see inside the cabinet. (shelves with items on them).  Try to shade to show the depth of the shelf and the form of the objects inside.  You may want to shine a light on the subject to make the shading more evident.  Use PENCIL only.

Evaluation     _______   40  Use of media, neatness, value development/shading

                     _______   10  Creativity, originality, difficulty

                     _______   40  Accurate depiction of the subjects        

                     _______   10  Composition and use of the full page

 

DUE by Wednesday March 20, 2013 – OBSERVATIONAL DRAWING

2. Draw one of the following items.  Fill up the entire page with your study.  Shade to show form and color.  Hammer, spatula, ladle, hand can opener, pliers, wrench.

           Use pencil or ink – no color. 

Evaluation      _______   40  Use of media, neatness, value development/shading

                     _______   10  Creativity, originality, difficulty

                     _______   40  Accurate depiction of the subject          

                     _______   10  Composition and use of the full page

 

DUE by Wednesday March 27, 2013 – OBSERVATIONAL DRAWING

3.  Look outside at a tree that has lost its leaves.  Carefully draw the shape of the tree trunk.  Add the branches as accurately as you can.  Think of this as a botanical study.  We should be able to identify the tree from the formation of its branches.Fill the page.  Complete your work with shading in pencil or ink.  Use as many different values as you can.

 

Evaluation      _______   25  Use of media, neatness, value development/shading

                     _______   10  Creativity, originality, difficulty

                     _______   45  Accurate depiction of the subject          

                     _______   20  Composition and use of the full page

 

DUE by Wednesday April 3, 2013

Optional Homework – your choice to do it or not, and if you do it you may select any type of art or craft to do.  Grade based on effort and craftsmanship.