Art Educator Retreat

I know. It's not a jewelry post. There is creativity involved, though.

Last weekend I was at Emma Lake at the Kenderdine Campus of the U. of S. for the SSEA art educator's retreat. For those who don't know, I am a middle years visual arts teacher as well as a jewelry designer.

What did we learn at the retreat you ask?

Well... I'm happy to show you!

Our instructor, Terri, led us through the making of altered books. Here is mine:

You might think it only has an ocean theme, but it's actually about my growing up into real adulthood...

I picked a book that I enjoyed in my teenage years - Secrets in the Attic. I like the idea of starting with my teenage years and "growing up" through the pages to the front of the book. It is also a secret theme that most wouldn't get, which suits the title.

The moss and tree branch are from Emma Lake. I have a connection there - I grew up in P.A. and friends had a cabin there that I frequented throughout my high school and university years...

Water has always meant a lot to me. At first, being a prairie girl, it was the lake and later as I traveled, it became the ocean. The different blues and greens represent the different kinds of water.

The papers used to make the water on the inside areas are made up of the insides of envelopes with postage from all over the world to reflect a travel theme.

The corals show growth. The antique starfish drawing attached on the front is a shout out to Sunshine INdustries.

There are even pieces in the book to reflect my jewelry habit - some copper wire forming waves and corals.

Finally, a silver ring with a lock on it hangs from a branch, signifying my maturity level at its highest - meeting my future husband and feeling ready to marry after a year of travel and growing.

It was a lot of fun and quite cathartic to create this altered book. Students will love this project.

We also learned about creating animation. Annie, (my drawing partner), and I took turns drawing with charcoal and taking photos as we changed the drawing. Here is the result:

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This video was created all in about 3 hours time - an hour-and-a-half of drawing and taking photos, and about the same amount of time using iMovie to change the photos into the movie format & adding music. Don't you think middle years students will eat this up?

I promise that the next blog entry will be about jewelry. I just couldn't resist sharing some of my other creative endeavors...

Dawn

Happiness creates sunshine whenever you go.

Sunshine INdustries
http://www.sunshineindustries.ca
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