Art Made Easy

New Year's Resolutions aren't just for January!

As the school year draws to a close, now is the perfect time to reflect on your year, celebrate your achievements, review what you want to improve on and get clear on how you want the 2016-17 year to look and feel.

Reflecting upon your successes, failures (yes, we all had them) and bright spots in your year may feel unnecessary but I PROMISE YOU, it’s the BEST thing you can do for yourself.

Creating a positive space for self-reflection in your life is the fastest way to become happier and more content.

This episode is for everyone who wants to improve their teaching experience by reflecting on what went well and what didn't and by doing so will create a clear action plan on how to make your next school year your best one yet.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:

- What process I used as an art teacher and how I reviewed my year

- How important it is to know why you teach art and what brings you joy

- How art found me (and not the other way around)

- Why you need to discover what’s standing in your way if you didn’t achieve your goal(s)

- Why it's important to celebrate your successes!

- Why helping others is the best way to get something that you want

- What pushed me through the days where I really didn’t want to go in to the school

- Why working too quickly might not be the best way to engage a child

- How the Year End Review Workbook will help showcase where the holes are in your art program

- How your surroundings will affect your creativity as an art teacher

- How making your cleanup strategy more fun and systematic will help you in the following year

- Why experimenting with new things is needed to continually get better

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

Do you want to make 2017-18 your BEST school year ever? Believe it or not, this is the time to make it happen.

Download the workbook, find a quiet place to sit for a couple of hours and start reflecting on your amazing year.

SHOW NOTES: 

Evernote

Pinterest

Teachers Pay Teachers

I'm excited for you to meet art  teacher and anointed Pinterest Art Queen, Donna Staten. Donna is an art teacher from Austin, Texas who is known for her HUGE following on Pinterest. And because of her Pinterest efforts, Donna has been invited to be a part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Teacher Advisory Council.

Pretty impressive, right?

This episode is perfect for anyone who wants to learn how Donna grew her Pinterest following to over 100K followers. (Hint: it takes some time! ) She also outlines her top ten best practices for growing a following and ways that Pinterest can be used in the art room.

IN THIS SHOW YOU'LL LEARN:

- How Donna discovered Pinterest and why the platform initially appealed to her

- Who she builds her Pinterest boards for and if a blog is really necessary

- How Donna organizes her boards and what she would do different if she was only using Pinterest for herself

- What are “Secret Boards” and how they can be used in the classroom

- What three major upgrades did Pinterest make to help art teachers

- Donna’s 10 basic tips for teachers using Pinterest

- What you shouldn’t pin on your boards and her advice regarding privacy and professionalism

- Proper Pinterest etiquette

- How much time it takes Donna to “pin” (she has over 120,000 of them to date)!

- How various opportunities have come Donna’s way all because of her activity on Pinterest

LISTEN TO THE SHOW:

Donna's Top Ten Pinterest Tips:

1. Keep each board specific

2. Always preview images and videos

3. Don't pin anything that is not kid-friendly

4. Be careful about joining group boards-you have no control over the content

5. Don't pin anything that has questionable copyright issues

6. Give credit when possible and try to link from the original source

7. Use secret boards to hide content from your students as they are likely to find your boards on Pinterest

8. Keep comment professional. Just commenting "cute" clutters up the boards

9. Don't just rein. Try to pin your own content.

10. Follow Pinterest Etiquette and report spammers

SHOW NOTES: 

Donna’s Pinterest Page

Donna’s LinkedIn

Donna’s Twitter

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Consortium for School Networking (CoSN)

TeachingPartners

Art Teacher Professional Learning Network (PLN)

Art teacher and blogger, Ginger Bowerman-Pacer of Paintbrush Rocket shares how she pushed past the barriers that were holding her back from creating a platform for her teaching resources.

In an honest and vulnerable conversation about the joys and struggles of teaching art, Ginger confronts the stories she told herself that prevented her from starting a blog and sharing her talents with others to being partners in an exciting new art adventure.

If you love conversations about change, following your gut, taking a leap of faith, pushing away blocks, then you will love listening to Ginger.

PS In the introduction of this show, I share updates on where I am now with Deep Space Sparkle and my journey towards publishing my first book.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN:

- Where I am now in my journey as an entrepreneur ( I talk about my road publication, why I joined a Mastermind and why I am starting a membership platform)

- How taking a leap of faith can reap big rewards

- How Ginger's mom influenced Ginger's teaching style

- How being a lifelong learner opens unexpected doors

- What Ginger's initial fears were about becoming a blogger and her best advice for new bloggers

- How school district policies can limit your online presence and how Ginger navigated through this

- Why advocating the arts can be done successfully through social media and blogging

- How blogging impacts our global teaching community

- Why creating a blogging community is essential as a blogger

- How to navigate the murky waters of competition among art teachers

- Why competition is good- and essential- for doing your best work

- How Ginger builds her student's creative confidence

- How working towards a personal goal as a visual arts instructor impacts not only the students but a school community

LISTEN TO THE SHOW: 

SHOW  NOTES:- Amy Porterfield's podcast, Online Marketing Made Easy episode 071- Cassie Stephens Blog- Laura Lohmann and Painted Paper Art- Art Made Easy Mindset episode 016- Ginger's time-lapse video of her Laurel Burch-inspired  mural painting- Jessica Balsey and The Art of Education- A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink

MEET GINGER:Visit Paintbrush RocketConnect with Ginger through Facebook and Instagram

THE BEST ART PRODUCTS TO USE WITH KIDS: AME 020

Ready to order your first shipment of art supplies and don’t know what to order?

Curious why some art supplies are better than others?

Today’s episode of Art Made Easy helps identify why some paints, paper and brushes deserve a place on your art supply shelf.  Don't forget to download an art supply ordering checklist and buying guide to help you get started on creating the best art projects.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN:

- What my favorite supplies are

- Products to stay away from and why

- Why different mediums require different supplies

- Why more expensive supplies are not always better for your projects

- Examples of how to use different supplies for new ways of teaching lessons

- Alternative uses for supplies already in stock in your art room/class room

- Pros and Cons of certain brands of supplies

- A list of fun but non-essential supplies

- What types of effective supplies you can get for free

- Some tips to keep children engaged in art-making

LISTEN TO THE SHOW: 

DOWNLOAD THIS FREE GUIDE

WANT  TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ART SUPPLIES?

3 Techniques to Try with Tempera Paint

Using Markers in the Art Room

To Spray or Not to Spray? Tips for Using Chalk Pastels

Do you hit the google search button whenever you need to introduce a famous artist before an art lesson? I know I’ve filled the white board with a few boring facts a few times. What if I told you you didn’t have to research a thing about a famous artist?

Today’s guest, Cindy Ingram from The Art Curator for Kids website, shares her philosophy of how she talks to kids about art and ways that you can too. And you don’t have to know a thing about art!

IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN:

-  How Cindy's childhood dreams translated into her success as an art curator

- Cindy's best tips to help children compare and contrast art

- How letting children discover art and answer the questions about art by analyzing it themselves

- Bonus tip: How to introduce Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Edvard Munch to your students!

- Why Cindy loves teaching Baroque art

- The best artists to introduce to children at an elementary school level

- How to utilize your classroom time to its full potential

- Ways to partner with a classroom teacher to help introduce an artist with a broader scope

- How to use Bloom's Taxonomy to analyze art

- Whether you should show nudity pieces in the classroom

- How to balance art history and creating art in limited amounts of time

-Why character analysis help children with critical thinking

- The tips and tricks for parents taking children to museums and how to engage the children through questions

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

SHOW NOTES:

Cindy's Top Tips for Looking at Art

Art Curator for Kids

Visual Thinking Strategies

Bloom's Taxonomy

Laurence Anhalt's Artists Series Books

Life Doesn't Frighten Me by Maya Angelou (with art by Basquiat)

Don Massey's blog, Shine Bright Zamarano (Check out Don's blog for amazing tech art projects and art projects featuring local artists)

CONNECT WITH CINDY

You can connect with Cindy on Facebook  and Pinterest

Do peers ever ask you to share your teaching secrets?  Do you specialize in an area of art-making? Does generating extra income sound appealing?

If there is a yes in there somewhere, this episode is for you.

In this episode, I unpack how I developed and executed my successful Art Workshop. I break down the process from the idea to how to book a facility to structuring the projects plus much more. This process may sound scary or unrealistic to some of you. You maybe asking why anyone would attend your workshop, let alone pay for one. But they will. You can put on a small event with 10 teachers or a large one with 50!

This show is for anyone who has a desire to share their art experience through a workshop and earn extra income in the process.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW:

HOW TO HOST YOUR OWN ART WORKSHOP

Here are some common questions you may ask yourself as you think about whether you should host your own workshop:

How many people should I have and where will I host it?

Workshops can be as small as just a few people or as large as a couple of hundred—or more.

- Less than 10 people allows you to host the workshop in your home.

-10-25 means you’ll need a larger room like a neighborhood club house or classroom at school

- 25-75 means you’ll need to rent a space in a school, community center, etc.

- Larger than that and you’ll need to look for facilities that specialize in events for larger groups. Popular choices are hotels and colleges and universities.

What qualifications do I need to have?

You may wonder what qualifications you need to host your own workshop especially if you are charging a fee. As far as I am concerned, you don't need any special qualification to teach what you know. Other than being good at what you do, people will either pay you for your skills or not.

What should I teach?

This is entirely up to you. Sometimes you don't know what you are really good at until someone points it out. I never considered myself a great art teacher until my art teacher friends started asking me more and more questions. They wanted to know how I did things. And they were willing to pay for my expertise.

That gave me the confidence to run a business.

To help determine what to teach, write down a list of questions or statements people often ask you. If you have a blog, look through your comments to see what questions pop up the most. Or what style of art projects get commented on more than others. These are good indications where people resonate with you.

How do people to register?

It goes without saying that if you do not already have a following, it might be hard to get 200 people to a workshop, but 10-25 is very doable. You can send emails to teachers in your areas. You can ask your friends to spread the word.

You can use social media like Facebook to announce your workshop and invite people to email you for more information.

What should I charge?

As teachers we often expect our peers to share for free. That's a fact. In fact, it wasn't long ago that teachers chastised other teachers for trying to earn extra money on Teachers Pay Teachers. The truth is, I love to share. And I love when others share, but there are some efforts that are valuable to others and payment is necessary.

In the case of a workshop, there will be fees involved. You must cover these fees plus pay yourself for not just your effort, but you expertise. Charging between $25 and $150 a day for a session is normal.

Do you teach art from a cart?

Or travel from school to school with your car packed with art supplies and resources?

Today’s guest Heidi O’Hanley has spent most of her career traveling from school to school and teaching from a cart. It sounds impossible and maybe even a bit scary, but Heidi is here to help you.

Heidi shares what art projects are best, what art supplies to use and ways to make teaching art with little storage or space to work for you.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN:

- What to do when your classroom has no water source, and how your students can play an active role in the solution

- Why communication is crucial when teaching art from a cart

- How using Google Drive, Share Point and Pinterest can help with lesson planning

- Helpful tips for when you’re teaching at multiple schools

- What Heidi’s current blog is all about and how she came up with the name and concept

- How using removable bins to hold supplies, how-to-draw books, resources & lessons plans makes traveling easier

- The top questions Heidi gets asked by others about this type of art teaching

- How to make clay project prep work when you are teaching art from a cart

- The best part about teaching art from a cart

- Why you should be proactive and set parameters before even starting a project

- Easy cart projects to do, as well as the ones that you’ll find more challenging due to limitations

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

DOWNLOAD THIS FREE GUIDE

I created this guide for you to act as a checklist for things to consider when teaching from a cart, what supplies are great for cart use and what type of projects work really well.

Just click the yellow box below, enter your name and email and I will send you the free download to your email.

SHOW NOTES:

Deep Space Sparkle's tips for teaching art from a cart

Vincent Van Gogh's Cat

Camille and the Sunflowers

You Are My Work of Art

Why Is Blue Dog Blue?

Tar Beach

Tales from the Traveling Art Teacher

Monthly Mentor from NAEA  https://www.arteducators.org

Heidi’s favorite brands of air dry clay: Amaco

Patty’s favorite air dry clay: Laguna air dry clay

Acrylic: Tricolor, Blick and Liquitex

NAEA

Donna Staten’s Pinterest Boards

Ezra Keats Books

CONNECT WITH HEIDI

You can reach out to Heidi on Facebook

Why do things always seem to work out for some people and not for others?Do you have goals in your life that just don't seem attainable? I'm a firm believer that you can achieve anything you want--happiness in your job, great relationship with your spouse, joy-filled hobbies--but there are some age-old philosophies that make it possible.This episode is a bit of a stretch for me. I don't often talk about how I feel about ego or intuition and living a life with intention. But tapping into these two things has allowed me to know what path to take, what opportunities to say yes to and what to say no to.If you are searching to change things up a bit, I believe that there is a great deal of power in changing your mindset.

 LISTEN TO THE SHOW:

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:

- What might be holding you back and how to eliminate it.

- How saying NO can change your life

- How collaboration can open up possibilities in your life

- Why it's important to start giving without the expectation of receiving.

- Understand how your ego and intuitions affect each other and how to recognize how egos can rule your thoughts.

- How finding purpose and joy in just one thing a day can be transformational

INTERVIEW LINKS:

The Lively Show with Jess Lively

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose  by Eckhart Tolle

Drawing with kids is probably the best job in the world which is exactly what Rob Jensen does with his three kids 5 days a week. After starting Art Hub for Kids in 2012, Rob shares his love of art with his kids by committing to a 5-day a week art show in YouTube.

His success has been exponential. He shares his YouTube secrets of how to get subscribers, staying engaged with you audience and how to record your own art videos.

IN THIS SHOW YOU'LL LEARN:

- The top three things you should look for in a camera

- Learning about camera set up (including shooting from overhead)

- How lighting affects your videos

- The three things to look for when selecting a camera for shooting

- Which editing programs are user friendly

- Tips and tricks for editing and templates

- Rob's tips for growing your YouTube channel

- Why it is important to build an email list and focus on your blog

- How Rob uses social media

LISTEN TO THE SHOW:

SHOW NOTES:

Rob's website: Art Hub for Kids

Rob's YouTube channel

The video Camera Rob uses: Canon vixia 320

Manfrotto 143A Magic Arm with Camera Bracket

Canon VIXIA HF R700 Camcorder (Black)  (the 320 model Rob uses is out of stock)

Harry Potter Paperback Box Set (Books 1-7)

Note: Rob's Drawing Guide offer has expired.

Jeanette Nyberg, author of the popular art blog Craftwhack and former professional artist, traded in her paintbrushes for a keyboard after the birth of her kids. Discovering that her love of kid’s art was just as passionate as her former painting days, Jeanette started a blog that changed, transformed and ultimately lead her to her first book deal.

In this episode, Jeanette shares her struggles with blogging and how she reigned in her focus that resulted in the publication of her first art book for kids and adults.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:

How doing art projects for kids rekindled Jeanette’s passion for art

That blogging is a “fine balance”

Why you should do what resonates with YOU!

Why people that teach art to children often make the best instructors for adults

Jeanette’s process for writing her first book

Collaborating with others can make a project more enjoyable

Her best drawing tips!

INTERVIEW LINKS:

 SITS Girls (The Secret is in the Sauce Blog)

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast & website

Zentangles Website

THE BOOK....

Take a look at Tangle Art and Drawing Games for Kids: A Silly Book for Creative and Visual Thinking

You can connect with Jeanette through her blog, Facebook and Instagram.

Now it's YOUR turn...

I'd love to hear from you. In the comment section below, tell me what YOUR biggest struggle has been--in the classroom or in your blog--I'd love to hear what you struggle with.