Welcome back! An Art Teacher News Roundup for a New Academic Year

Mr. Kotter Figure from the Children's Museum, Indianapolis. Image via flickr The Kozy Shack.

Welcome back to school, art teachers! Labor Day has come and gone, and here in New York City it really feels like fall. All around these United States art teachers are improving lives simply by doing their jobs; some are lucky enough to be recognized for their work in local media. So to kick off the 2011 academic year I am rounding up some of this art teacher news from around the web. Read on to have your heart warmed and maybe to find some inspiration for the upcoming school year! (Plus: a bonus retro-riffic video.)

• Art students in Iowa City, Iowa have become certified public artists, thanks to a city-funded initiative and the direction of local art teacher Jill Harper. The students’ work is now on view in the city’s Pheasant Hill Park, an formerly underused green space sure to get some attention due to the whimsical mosaic plinths that now inhabit the park. (You can imagine how much I love this project, and it brings to mind my post from last week. Love that student public art!)
• In Brentwood, MO, a high school art club brings artwork to victims of the devastating tornado in Joplin last May. The Art Works club teamed up with art teacher Tim Remple to create art to adorn the bland, modular trailers where many students attend school while local schools rebuild.
• Also in Missouri, Lee’s Summit art teacher Sarah Poff gets the Q&A treatment in her local newspaper. In the interview Poff discusses how teaching has influenced her style of folk art and her own artistic evolution—including childhood forays into sculpture using cheese wax. (Confession—the Art Advocado had grand illusions of creating sculpture from BabyBel cheese wax as well...but alas, she was born an advocate, not an artist).
• The Houston Chronicle published an art teacher profile of The Woodlands, TX teacher Laurie Stone Adams. Adams, who was recently awarded The Woodlands Waterway Art Teacher of the Year, told the Chronicle she knew she would be an art teacher by the time she was in eighth grade. Adams also discusses incorporating art history into her classes, which appealed to this big art history nerd.
• In higher ed news, a joint exhibition at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts and the Salt Lake Art Center celebrates the artistic legacy of artist and art teacher Doug Snow, who passed away in 2009. Snow, whose own work synthesized landscape with abstract expressionism, taught at the University of Utah for 35 years. KCPW has a lovely interview with the curator of the exhibition who details Snow’s artistic style and his devotion to teaching.
• Out of Mission, TX, a lovely story about art students to the rescue. After a week of teaching art classes at Mission’s Dali Art Studio, artist Luciana Flores was to have an exhibition of her own artwork at the Studio—but customs put the kibosh on the exhibit when her artwork could not make it across the border from Mexico. So Flores’ students completed their own paintings from her workshop, saving the day and paying tribute to their teacher. Heartwarming! (The article includes a slideshow of the terrific paintings on view in the exhibition.)

Did you win an award, make the local paper, or have a remarkable story to share? Let the Art Advocado know about it for a future art teacher roundup! Comment on the blog, tweet me @DavisPub, find Davis Publications on Facebook, or email me at alisondwade@gmail.com.

(I can't resist closing with this one)