NAEA Conference

I was so excited to go to the NAEA conference that I planned a four and half day trip, allowing myself time to leisurely attend the entire conference. I ended up attending 3 to 5 full workshops a day plus a few that I only attended for part of the time. It was interesting to gain insight into current research, art teacher best practices and the differences and similarities within field of art education across the country.

Getting to know some of my classmates and professors a little better was fun, including being able to see our professors in a different context and to see them present their accomplishments. Senior teachers who presented their successes were inspiring; particularly Adrienne Hunter who spoke about her successes in special needs contexts. The number of workshops on new/digital media surprised me. I understand that teachers are interested in gaining digital skills and it’s relevant to our time, but there seemed to be very few workshops focusing on traditional media such as painting and sculpture. There were, however, multiple workshops on photography, Manga and digital technology. I was happy to learn about simple ways to create stop-motion animation and clay-mation videos.

The thread of social justice was interesting, including the art that was highlighted, such as Luba Lukova’s graphic design posters and the work of Mexican printmakers who voiced opinions of social issues through their work. Current trends in education leaning towards social justice and digital media arts engage me. I think it's important for teachers to raise awareness in students about current global issues that the majority of the world is trying to address, such as poverty, racism, classism and environmental issues[1]. Traditional media is important, such as painting and sculpture, but so are more contemporary mediums of visual communication and expression. Due to visual literacy, digital media/commercial arts and the deep communal connection naturally embedded in the arts, I believe that visual art class is a great platform for addressing social issues and incorporating technology. There are plenty of artists in the world who provide art teachers with great examples/resources. I look forward to fine tuning my craft to incorporate all of these things into a curriculum in a successful way.

Overall, it was a good experience and I look forward to going to the conference again after a few years have past. I would like to go as a teacher, when I have a more specific focus on the information I’d like to gather, and benefit from a deeper exchange and networking experience.
[1] I really enjoyed one environmental issues workshop that discussed environmental/outsider art that is created to assist people in poverty, such as architectural structures for shelter and bamboo bicycles for transportation.