“The conference is a valuable tool to educators looking to learn
more about trending topics in art education and new artmaking activities,” said
Teri
Giobbia, assistant professor of art education and visual arts therapy at
WVU. “From hands-on artmaking workshops to lectures, teachers will be provided
with useful skills and concepts they can use to better their curriculum."
More than 40 art workshops will be presented throughout the two-day conference held at WVU’s Creative Arts Center and Art Museum on the Evansdale Campus.
“Well-attended workshops from last year that we are bringing back include encaustic painting, iron pours and pot-throwing demonstrations,” Giobbia said. “New workshops will look at the use of untraditional media such as found objects and recycled materials.”
This year’s conference theme will focus on art education in a digital, visual culture era. The keynote speaker for the conference, Dr. Kerry Freedman, researches the relationship of curriculum to art, culture and technology. She is the author of the book Teaching Visual Culture and co-authored the books Postmodern Art Education: An Approach to Curriculum and Transforming Computer Technology.
As part of the conference, art educators are also invited to attend a costume dinner and awards ceremony honoring celebrated art educators from around the state.
According to Giobbia, WVU is the ideal location for WVAEA’s annual conference.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to promote WVU’s programs and faculty to art educators throughout the state of West Virginia as well as within the region,” Giobbia said. “Art educators who come from neighboring states enjoy attending our conference thanks to Morgantown’s convenient location for them."
Interested art educators can sign up for the conference at the WVAEA registration website. For questions regarding the conference, please email Giobbia at TEGiobbia@mail.wvu.edu