This week was jam packed, every minute, pushing for productivity! I cut a good deal of paper (even on my holiday), began publicizing my show, and tried to prepare for a presentation at the Utah Art Education Association (UAEA) Conference amidst a myriad of other “to-dos”.
Thursday evening, I crammed myself with 12 other people in a van to journey down to St. George where the state conference for art education was held. Though my stomach was clenched with dread and my brain wracked with worry at the thought of presenting my limited amount of experience and research in front of very intelligent and qualified teachers who I admire, at least the beautiful desert landscape brought me a fraction of relief. I always forget how beautiful the desert and open sky can be.
Anyway, I stressed way too much about presenting. Even when I’m aware I’m stressing too much, I can’t stop. It’s this horrid personality trait of mine.
If you’re curious, I shared a bit about my research I conducted in Germany this past summer in attempting to study this coming-of-age ritual called Jugendweihe and how this experience informed my artwork concerned with finding self, which lead me to seek greater understanding of adolescent identity formation, specifically as it pertains to the art classroom and what I found is that by granting greater autonomy, students are more likely to create meaningful artwork and be aided in forming healthy, stable identities themselves and also that I am really, really good at writing a terribly, long run on sentences!
The best part of this weekend:
1. 60+ degree weather and sunshine that soothed my soul.
2. Getting to know and respect a professor more.
3. Feeling a sense of community from my art education program and the Utah teachers in general. It’s just so nice to be surrounded by people who are passionate about some of the most important things in my life: art + teaching.
