2018 TAEA Award Winners

One of the great privileges of serving on the board of the Tennessee Art Education Association is the opportunity to hear from our members to recognize outstanding art educators from all across the state.  This year, we got a fantastic slate of nominees in seventeen categories.  The executive committee of the board reviewed all of the nominations – carefully considering each nominee’s qualifications – to undertake the task of selecting which teachers to recognize.  Each nominee brought so much experience and passion for teaching; the hard part was choosing one educator per category to recognize!  This year’s award winners truly exemplify the qualities and standards of what it means to be a great art educator, going above-and-beyond for their students and their fellow teachers.  Congratulations to our 2018 award winners!

-Kathy Dumlao, President Elect

Tennessee Art Educator of the Year

Tina Atkinson

East Region Art Educator of the Year

Mary Katherine Chin

Middle Region Art Educator of the Year

Ted Edinger

West Region Art Educator of the Year

Amanda Tutor

Elementary Art Educator of the Year

Rebekah Laurenzi

Middle Level Art Educator of the Year

Eliza “Beth” Perthel

Secondary Art Educator of the Year

Carol Vinson

Higher Education Art Educator of the Year

Joy Bertling

Administration Educator of the Year

Heather Casteel

Museum Art Educator of the Year

Brooke Griffith

First Year Educator of the Year

Ericak Ryba

Pre-Service Art Educator of the Year

Gracie Knestrick

Emeritus Art Educator of the Year

Flowerree McDonough

Higher Education Student Achievement Award

Heather Eades

Distinguished Service within the Profession

Brad Foust

National Art Honor Society Sponsor of the Year

Cindy Bennett

Friend of TAEA

Dr. Richard Ranta

Watkins College of Art, Design, and Film

Workshop Spotlight: Painting with Oil Sticks

Ask anyone about their experience with Paul deMarrais' workshop and you'll hear glowing reviews! His oil sticks are the best quality and his instruction is stellar. Participants always leave with some amazing works of art. 

This workshop will get you started in a brand new kind of painting experience. Five years ago, Paul began learning how to make oil sticks and created his own user-friendly brand. Oil sticks are oil paint in a stick form made of walnut oil, natural waxes and dry pigments. It's a great way to paint. You won't need smelly solvents and the mountain of gear associated with traditional brush painting. Paul will show you how to do both a traditional painting and also techniques that lend themselves to more experimental approaches. In the classroom, Paul believes oil sticks are an excellent way to introduce students to color theory, color mixing and many other key concepts of painting. We all share a common 'crayon' experience from our childhood and these sticks are the ultimate crayon experience but with rich color, creamy handling and the exciting possibilities of oil painting. He will demonstrate and show how to create textures and effects with an inexpensive embossing heat gun. Paul will supply each artist teacher with a starter kit of oil stick colors and with ample supply of boards on hand. Come join me and you will be amazed at what you can create with these oil sticks! You’ll find more information at www.pauldemarrais.com . 

Workshop Spotlight: Inner Workings of Monotype

Messy artists beware! Printmaking is one art form that requires a little patience and cleanliness. You might be messy but your work won't be!  

This two-day workshop will cover the basics of monotype and its transfer processes. We will learn about ink and the grease content as well as modification and treatment of the oil base ink. On day one we will be focusing on treatment of paper and transparency and on the second day, we will be working with high contrast and opaque color printing. All materials will be supplied

Koichi Yamamoto is an artist who merges traditional and contemporary techniques so as to develop unique and innovative approaches to the language of printmaking. His prints explore issues of the sublime, memory, and atmosphere. Koichi has worked at many scales, from small and meticulously engraved copper plates to large monotypes.

Koichi has exhibited internationally. He has taught at Utah State University and the University of Delaware. Currently, he is an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. His most recent sabbatical research has been working with bamboo from Kauai Island in Hawaii and making numerous kites at Joshua Tree National Park as an Artist in Residency. He lately produced a set of prints at an artist residency in Barcelona, Spain. 

Workshop Spotlight: Fibers

What could be more relaxing than spending an afternoon weaving with good company? The only thing missing is some tea! There are only a few spots left for this workshop; be sure to sign up soon before it's sold out!

Participants will each make a simple loom (to keep) and learn to weave on it. Looms may be long for a scarf, or rectangular for a bag. Fiber project ideas suitable for classrooms and suggestions for tying fibers in with many enduring ideas will be discussed. Instruction sheets and help will also be available for finger knitting, Kumihimo braiding, rope twisting, paper basket making and many other fiber techniques that only require inexpensive and easily available materials.

Materials: Participants should each bring at least two balls of yarn. One choice should be a relatively strong yarn that is not too hairy (for warp.) The other (for weft) can be any type at all, or even a medley of various yarns. Please bring extra odds and ends of yarn to trade and share with everyone. Grace will provide loom-making necessities.

Grace Eckert teaches Weaving and Fibers in the Visual and Theatre Arts Department of the University of Tennessee at Martin and is the Art Gallery Coordinator. She earned a bachelor degree in Fine Art from Illinois State University in 1977. Grace has exhibited worldwide and been awarded numerous artist residencies and public commissions. She lived in England for ten years and her works are in many private and public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Grace has designed, made and sold over a thousand fiber art pieces. She maintains a private studio in Paris, TN where she creates tufted rugs, woven tapestries, and one-of-a-kind knitted and loom woven pieces. 

Workshop Spotlight: Steampunk Bugs

Look at that adorable little bug! Isn't he the sweetest?! How can you resist those giant cog-eyes?! 

In this Steampunk Workshop, participants will make bugs and other assemblages using metal gears, coils, clock parts, keys, trinkets, gems, hardware and junk drawer finds in Steampunk/Neo-Victorian Style. Steampunk lessons are highly engaging to students and flow easily across the curriculum while enhancing design-thinking and problem-solving strategies.

Melody Weintraub has worked as a professional artist for over 30 years. Her painting has been characterized as representational, evoking a narrative quality. Currently she is exploring mixed media and assemblage. She has conducted teaching workshops both regionally and abroad. She produced a watercolor video series, “Watercolor Painting Made Easy,” and is the author/illustrator of a children’s book, “The Little Bluebird,” published in 2001. She has been published in four issues of School Arts Magazine; “Art Rocks in Memphis” (Summer 2017), “Romare Bearden and Me” (Feb 2017), “Art After Hours” (October, 2016), “The Indispensable Art Teacher” (May/June, 2011), “How to Become a Highly Effective Art Teacher” (August/September 2011) and has five articles pending. Her article on, “Steampunk Bugs” is scheduled for the March 2018 issue of SchoolArts. She writes a weekly blog, “Art Teacher Tips” and has produced several instructional videos on her own YouTube Channel.

Melody Weintraub is an award-winning middle school art teacher at Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis, having presented both regionally through the Tennessee Art Education Association and nationally through the National Art Education Association (NAEA) Conferences. She is a member of The NAEA, The Memphis Germantown Art League and The Portrait Society of America. In 2014 she was named, “Tennessee Middle School Art Educator of the Year,” by the Tennessee Art Education Association (TAEA). She serves on the Executive Board of the TAEA as West Tennessee Regional Chair. She has taught K-3 through graduate level art education classes having served at The University of Memphis both as an adjunct and full-time instructor. 

Other than teaching and painting, Weintraub loves spending time with her family at the lake house and she also enjoys acting as a second profession. She can be seen in several television commercials and also appeared as the history teacher in the movie, “The Blind Side.” 

Workshop Spotlight: A Taste of Blacksmithing

It's hot and sweaty and definitely hard work. Get your mind out of the gutter! I'm talking about blacksmithing. This workshop is not for the faint of heart; it requires a lot of work and the conditions will be hot... duh! Speaking from experience, its easily one of the most fun I've ever had! Plus, how often do you get to say, "I know blacksmithing?" 

The blacksmithing workshop is an introduction to the fundamental techniques and tooling for forging, joining, and finishing steel into utilitarian forms such as hardware, cutlery, furniture, utensils, and architectural objects.  

Safety Equipment Required:

• personal safety glasses - I recommend a decent pair that fit comfortably, as you will be required to wear them the entire time while working in the studio. 
• a pair of good-fitting leather gloves - The need not be heavy welding gloves; garden style leather gloves will suffice. 
• wear a full-leather shoe - no need for heavy boots. Leather tennis shoes or hiking boots will work just fine. 

We have earplugs available and all tools and metal will be supplied. 

Bill Price is a working artist/blacksmith, and full-time assistant professor of Metal Arts and Sculpture at Memphis College of Art. In 2006 he earned a master’s degree in Blacksmithing from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and has a BFA from Memphis College of Art. Bill maintains a studio and blacksmith shop, making both functional and sculptural pieces for private and corporate collections. He has shown work extensively, in both juried and invitational exhibitions, throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Bill has been nominated for the 2013 Emmett O’Ryan Award for Artistic Inspiration and two Niche Awards. His work has recently been added to the permanent collections of the Arkansas Art Center in Little Rock and the Kamm Teapot Foundation in Sparta, NC. Most recently, Bill was the recipient of the 2016 NICHE Award in the enameled metals category.

Workshop Preview: Sketchbooks

We all have them lying around. Some of us carry one wherever we go. Or if you're like me, you buy lots of them but never quite finish one! Every artist worth their paint knows that your sketchbook is the creative home. And every home can get a little cluttered or disorganized now and then. 

At the TAEA Fall Conference in Memphis this year, join Joseph B. Christy as he explores sketchbook practices that enhance your studio practices. Looking at a variety of artists and how they work, workshop participants will play with media exploration and philosophies of making, using a sketchbook as the basis for this style of playful research and discovery. Sketchbooks are where brainstorms sprout masterpieces. Many styles of working will be explored in this two-day energetic workshop. 

Joseph B. Christy is a Native Tennessean, who currently lives in the Nashville area. In addition to a degree in art from Lipscomb University, Joseph also obtained masters Degrees in Education and Painting, from Georgetown College and Marshall University, respectively. Joseph currently teaches at Woodland Middle School in Brentwood, TN., as well as private and community classes and workshops. 

The maximum number of participants is 15 people. This has already been very popular, so be sure to sign up before its gone! 

How Does Art Build Community?

by: Angie McCarter

Anne Rhodes, a community liaison for the “Extension Reconsidered” initiative asks, “Why are the arts possibly the best tool for the community-building work we want to do in the 21st century? Every problem we face will be easier to solve if we have inter-connected, engaged, resilient, creative communities. Cultivating civic engagement, a sense of agency and legitimacy of leadership, empowerment, and skills for communicating and working together are important tools for building our communities. Why not use the arts to meet these goals? The arts give people a creative voice, a path to leadership, a way to express shared values, and to create a shared experience working together toward meaningful outcomes. There is consensus among social scientists, historians, educators, and activists that it is exactly these kinds of experiences that helps to build community. “ She goes on to talk about how everyone in a community benefits from the arts because art can “connect people to each other, strengthen and heal communities, restore a sense of belonging, and empower people to take on the issues they care about.”

This really got me thinking about the power of art to help build community. I believe that we as art educators have the power to make a remarkable impact on our students, and thus affect our communities in profound ways. What if we as educators could impart on
students and their families the power that art has to heal, inspire, and change a community in a positive way? Let’s make this a topic of discussion in our classrooms! Let’s talk about how “creativity and beauty are powerful agents for change.” Let’s ask our students how art can give everyone a voice, honor different perspectives, and can be used to solve community problems.

I challenge you to bring this up for discussion in your classroom and give students the opportunity to express their thoughts on this topic through their art. This year’s theme for the Youth Art Month flag contest in TN is “Building Community through Art.” Please support Youth Art Month and TAEA by participating in this year’s flag contest with your students. You can find more information about Youth Art Month on our website under Advocacy. 

Youth Art Month is a nationally observed celebration of the visual arts and is observed each year during the month of March. Its goal is to emphasize the value of visual art education for all children and to encourage support for quality school art programs.

Flag entries will be divided into four different grade levels: Primary, Intermediate, Middle, and High. Each teacher can submit up to 10 of your best entries (please no more than 10). A winner will be chosen for each level. The winning student flag designers and their teachers will receive prizes courtesy of Sargent Art. From these four winners, an overall Grand Prize winner will be selected. The Grand Prize winner’s design will be made into the Tennessee YAM flag, which will represent Tennessee at the National Art Education Conference this year. In addition, the Grand Prize winner will win $1000 cash and the winning student’s teacher will win $1500 worth of art supplies from Sargent Art. Entry forms are available on the TAEA website, along with directions on how to submit your entries. More information can also be found on the TN Youth Art Month Facebook page. The deadline to submit is February 9th.