MAEA CONNECT: Art That Heals

Teachers, counselors, mentors and pupil personnel workers are invited to join us as we explore the many ways the visual arts can promote healing as well as learning for young people. Three presenters, two hands-on workshops and a day of connecting with colleagues will empower you with strategies for implementing positive, meaningful visual arts experiences.

Keynote Presentation & Hands-On Workshop:

Creating The Comfort Zone

Strategies for Engaging Different Learners through
Creativity and the Arts

While it is not difficult to create arts activities that will excite both student and teacher, educators need to model the creative behavior that is expected from our students. The presenter, an arts integration specialist, will guide participants in developing a creative/artistic toolkit that will allow educators in any domain to identify opportunities for success for students who may otherwise be labeled behavior problems or a non-participants. In this interactive course, participants will use various entry points into creating art and engage with feedback protocols drawn from the arts.

Rob Levit, an acclaimed musician and educator, has created award-winning innovative "Life-Skills Through The Arts" programs for hundreds of at-risk youth and adults. He is currently Executive Director of Creating Communities and was the first Artist-In-Residence at Hospice of the Chesapeake, where he created and infused healing activities for the well-being of staff, families and patients. Rob is a 2013 Innovator of the Year from the Maryland Daily Record, 2012 Mentor of the Year for Anne Arundel County and 2011 recipient of the Martin Luther King Peacemaker Award.

Lightning Talk & Service Learning Opportunity:

Youth Art For Healing

Making Students Stakeholders in Healing

What does research say about the impact of the Visual Arts on healing and the healthcare system? How can we empower young people to become leaders in their communities, using their artworks as a vehicle to promote the health and well-being of patients in their own communities? Youth Art For Healing is the connection between healthcare organizations interested in displaying youth art and local schools whose students create works of art for healing that will be installed in the healthcare organizations’ facilities. Tune in at lunch-time to learn more about this powerful service learning opportunity.

Jan Papirmeister is a registered nurse who believes in the importance of caring for the whole person, an artist who deeply understands the power of art to inspire, comfort and heal…and is passionate about bringing works of art created by youth into healthcare environments. Jan has worked in a variety of nursing specialties – pediatrics, hospice, home health, school health and cancer care navigation. While working as a pediatric nurse, Jan would sit and draw with her patients when time allowed. As a school nurse, Jan had art supplies available for students to create drawings that decorated the walls of the health office. In a recent position, while supporting people living with cancer and their loved ones, Jan was inspired to bring art for comfort and healing into the oncology unit. She was awarded a Society for the Arts in Healthcare consultancy grant to bring art carts to patients and their families, and staff on the oncology unit. As Executive Director of Youth Art For Healing, Jan is dedicated to working collaboratively with schools, hospitals and other healthcare organizations in order to bring works of art created by youth to patients, their loved ones, and healthcare professionals so they too may feel comfort, inspiration and healing during very challenging times.

Focus Lesson & Hands-On Workshop:

The Mask:

Empowering Students Explore and Express Their Authentic Selves

Who are we behind our “masks”—the face we present to the world and/or how the world views us? How do we help our students consider and express who they are behind their “masks”?

How do we create classroom and studio environments that allow students to "dig deep" and explore personally meaningful topics?

How do we craft instructional sequences that build students' expressive proficency, increase self-esteem and promote honest, positive self reflection?

Participants will leave this workshop with their own mask artwork and a ready-to-teach lesson sequence to help students explore the topic of “Identity”, to tell their personal stories and express their many-faceted authentic selves.

Raven Bishop is a National Board Certified Visual Arts educator, artist, community art consultant, and mentor.. She is the Artistic Director for Creating Communities' Arts Mentorship Academy and the Middle Level Division Director for the Maryland Art Education Association. In the classroom, Raven is a dynamic and passionate instructor and National Junior Art Honor Society sponsor who coaches her students to engage in their communities through the visual arts. A voracious advocate for Art Education, Raven is a frequent presenter at conferences and professional development workshops as well as a frequent contributor to the MAEA Gazette. Her practical, realistic approach to presenting instructional strategies makes the Arts accessible and empowers educators of all disciplines to incorporate creativity into their classrooms.