Well, here goes my 1st real attempt at blogging! I've been interested in learning how since 1st reading about it years ago. I took a computer workshop in Jan. which included blogging & setting up this account but then I was so busy with other priorities, I forgot I even started this. That is, until aTi (the Artist/Teacher Institute) gave a lunchtime seminar on it so that those of us winning scholarships would consider using one for our aTi journals. So, I'm starting by thanking aTi for making me do this journal thing that I've longed to get back to doing anyway and I especially thank it for giving me this very easy means which is bringing me a little bit more into the Information Age as well.
I love aTi. I just spent two weeks there for the 2nd summer in a row after initially fighting with myself over the need to save gas money and have more time to earn a 2nd income during my vacation instead. In the end, I convinced myself to go with the argument that through aTi, the arts just might eventually become one of the multiple streams of income I need most. If you're an artist (or would-be -one) and/or a school administrator or teacher of any subject looking for ways to include the arts in your lessons, I can't encourage you enough to check out http://www.artshorizons.org/ where you will discover more about this great opportunity and others.
What a fabulous & challenging 2 weeks it was! I again majored in oil painting (which followed the great breakfasts they provided) but this time, I minored in creative movement.
I thought I'd died & went to heaven while painting same time last year there. Throughout elementary school, I recall drawing pictures & designs all around my class notes whenever I found the chance and I loved my art classes so much, my mother enrolled us in art classes at our local museum which my sister & I looked forward to walking to each weekend. Yet, other than 3 sketches drawn during my freshman year of college, last summer's aTi experience was my 1st time being an active participant in visual art since age 15 while majoring in it at a high school of the arts. The amount of gratification I felt at aTi last summer left me wondering how I'd stayed away from painting (and creative writing) for so long. The only problem left then was how to get funding so I could apply it to the history classes I teach. However, though I still loved painting at aTi this summer, I actually felt tremendous anxiety during my oil painting major this go round. More about that later...
Last summer, I tried my hand at playwriting for the 1st time. It was my minor but though I really enjoyed it too, I not only found myself exhausted after lunch which made it hard to stay focused if I wasn't active, it was actually difficult to take my mind off of painting because I was so into it. By the 2nd week, I could not wait until the end of the day so I could get back to painting after hours and stayed there later and later each time with a couple of others from the class. I loved my products from the playwriting although the poet in me was more exposed than my playrighting self with at least a couple of exercises. I also had a hard time seeing how to apply this particular workshop to my own teaching given the time constraints. But, at least I got to try something else different yet fun!
My aTi minor this year was another rekindling of a long lost old flame; dance. But it was called "creative movement" and I soon found out this was appropiately so...This workshop was nothing short of enchanting!
Posted by djwhitley at 4:34 AM
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