View of Mt. Hood from the gardens of Pittock Mansion in Portland, OR
Roni Rohr (left) and Mary Olson (right) with me (center) outside Santa Fe’s Meow Wolf installation
This post is long overdue! The summer has been full of adventures—trips to Oregon and New Mexico to visit my children, and the third TAB Summer Teacher Institute in Boston, with 60 incredible educators from all over the US and beyond! This is a hybrid online/low residency graduate course, with a week spent in Boston during July. We are fortunate to have distinguished TAB faculty, including Nan Hathaway, from Vermont; Julie Toole, from Illinois; and Ian Sands, from North Carolina.
PreK-12 students’ artwork from TAB programs on display in the brand-new Doran Gallery, which also served as our meeting space
Our terrific hosts at Massachusetts College of Art & Design provided us with state-of-the-art facilities in the brand-new Design Media Center, including a beautiful gallery space where we exhibited student artwork from participants in the course. Our keynote speaker, Nathalie Miebach, shared her artworks and background to a rapt audience.
Nathalie Miebach’s presentation on her scientific data-inspired sculptures
This year we changed the format a bit. Instead of dividing the group into experienced and new-to-TAB teachers, we designed cohorts by level. Ian worked with middle and high school teachers, Nan with middle school, and Julie with elementary. Kathy Douglas and I filled in here and there and kept everything running smoothly, along with the help of our assistant, Christine Phillips.
MK Monley shares her students’ work with circuits and construction
Unfortunately, Clyde Gaw was unable to join us due to a last-minute injury and Annie Banning kindly stepped in to run the TAB studio. We certainly had many veteran teachers in the mix, who generously shared their expertise in choice-based teaching and learning. Hot topics included artistic behaviors, quality work, curriculum planning, assessment, SLOs, studio habits, and exhibition. Plans for 2017’s TAB Summer Teacher Institute are in the works, so stay tuned!
The Teaching for Artistic Behavior Summer Teacher Institute Class of 2016!
Now we are nearing the end of September and I am enjoying retirement from K-12 teaching, and a transition to higher education. I am thrilled to be working with future art educators at Massachusetts College of Art & Design! As an instructor in the Department of Art Education, I will be co-teaching Prepracticum2 with Laura Reeder. Our intelligent, creative, and enthusiastic students are about to embark on (for many) their first experiences as teachers. They bring knowledge and compassion to the studio settings where they will teach grades 3-12 students in studio classes through MassArt’s traditional Saturday Studios program. This program is 75 years old and a cornerstone of the Art Education Department. In fact, I was a student teacher in this program over 25 years ago and remember the feelings of anticipation and excitement each Saturday when children arrived in the studios. I know this fall’s participants will have a super studio experience at Saturday Studios!
Self-Directed Art 
WOW Diane! I learned more in this short concise post than in hours of discussion with you about where you have been and where you are going. You are amazing. What you have accomplished is no less than spectacular and it is truly exciting to see you create your new future.
By: Kathleen Volp on September 29, 2016
at 12:16 am
Thanks, Kathleen! It has been a very busy but fun couple of months. Looking forward to more time hanging out with you in your studio!
By: dbjaquith on September 29, 2016
at 3:52 am