Evening For Educators

I just had the best day. I taught three fifth grade classes this morning (I really enjoy fifth grade). Then I went to two art educators workshops which were terrific.


The first workshop was in the afternoon with Mary Wells, a book artist from Ogden. We made two little projects based on the work of Eric Carle (I'm ALMOST Eric Carled out right now, but not quite.) The first project was a cool little scroll book project which I will definitely do with my 5th graders. It's adaptable to any subject, so we'll be able to fit it in anytime. The second was an accordian book. We decorated the covers with all kinds of cool products. I've made lots and lots and lots of accordian books in the past. And one thing I really love about book arts is that everyone can do things in just tiny different ways. Mary's approach to the spine was so basic. I've done things that are way way more complicated, and I found that I like her way better.

We also decorated lots of papers to make the Eric Carle collages. Time ran short so we didn't actually cut them up. That's probably okay with me.In the evening we met again for an Evening For Educators. It was sponsored by the Springville Museum of Art, the Statewide Art Partnership, and ArtsFusion, from the Beverly Taylor Sorensen College of Education and Human Development at SUU.We met in the Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery for a look at the Remington exhibit and a brief but fabulous presentation about his life and work by Karen Gale. Then Mary Wells taught another book binding technique. This time it was a 5 signature sewn book in a hard cover. Once again, I've made books like this many many times before, but it was just wonderful to see Mary's take on it.

These workshops were excellent. They were organized by Carrie Trenholm who taught art for about 20 years and is now coordinating the most wonderful arts education outreach program at SUU. I really enjoyed everything we learned and I also loved talking with the other art teachers. I look forward to more workshops like these.