maea - Home

Autumn Salutations to Art Teachers and Art Makers under the big sky!

The first quarter of this school year is coming to a close, and I am grateful once again for this organization and you all. Teaching in a small rural school makes knowing you and learning about what you do, inside your classrooms and in your studios, all the sweeter for me.

MAEA continues to have a dedicated core membership of thirty-something – but that figure doesn’t tell the whole story. With an e-mail group pushing 100 members, it is obvious that the art teachers in Montana are an enthusiastic, caring, and activist group of makers and shakers.

The MEA-MFT Conference in Belgrade was a great success. We enjoyed a variety of sectionals for k-12 teachers, input from the MSU Fine Arts Department, the crowning our new Art Teacher of the Year: Teresa Heil in the Fine Arts Gallery, lunch and a business meeting led by our outstanding president Marvin Pauls, a pre-conference get-together before a roaring yet absolutely fake fire, a small & quite lovely silent auction, dinner at the TOY banquet, and forays into Bozeman’s after-hours delights made for an inspiring couple of days. Warm thanks are extended to Mike Kujawa for organizing the conference, Jeff Brown for leading the auction, and all who presented and attended: you make the conference! It’s a creative act from which we all benefit.

New officers are Frankie Kelly of Superior, secretary; elementary rep Marie Shirley Jones; middle school rep April Fox; high school rep River Newman, and membership rep Amy York, who is also our vice-president. Adriane Becker continues on as our treasurer. Thank you all for volunteering!

Our Winter Retreat will be March 8 & 9 at the Lubrecht Center just southeast of Missoula.

What do you want to take a class in? Whom do you want to teach it? We need your suggestions ASAP. Peggy Leverton and I are asking for ideas for the workshop and names of artists YOU want to take a class with. Remember, you can take this workshop for 1 semester credit through UM/WMC or OPI renewal units.

There are opportunities to serve students in the arts that I encourage you to consider. If you want to help organize and plan the Winter retreat, e mail me at sbehrschendel@gmail.com. Also, Signatures from Big Sky needs art board members. Please contact Caitlin Chiller at editor@signaturesfrombigsky.net if interested. If you are attending NAEA this spring, would you be willing to go to the Delegates Assembly as a MAEA rep? And, you could bring your high school students to MAI in April. MAEA offers travel grants to help schools pay for travel costs.

There were lots of high energy conversations about identifying problems and creating solutions at the conference. Judge Vaughn and Dean Adams, MSU faculty, encourage you to visit the Facebook page for Create Montana; it’s a group dedicated to supporting the arts that is transitioning in new directions. And here’s my advice, for what it’s worth, if you have a desire to improve arts education in our state. Do the following: form a group (NAEA has groups for Issues in Social Justice, Design, elementary arts issues, etc. MAEA could form groups with a focus on issues as well); create a project/plan; invite fellow art teachers to join: take action.

Maybe anthropologist Margaret Mead said it best: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” (Brainy Quote)

I hope you all have a beautiful year. See you at Lubrecht!

Sally