Art Connects Us

Explore the fundamentals of paper making and make your own handmade paper in this hands-on workshop in the Art Lab @ Boston Children's Museum. Turn old paper into new by making your own recycled paper!

Join BCM Sr. Art Educator, Sage Brousseau, in celebrating creative reuse and mindfulness and make your own handcrafted paper. Learn about the process of making paper from recycled materials as well as the basics of papermaking tools and create a sampling of your own handmade paper! Maximum of 16 participants. All materials provided, but participants are welcome to bring additional recycled papers from their stash to experiment with. Save some time to explore Boston Children's Museum after the workshop!

Street parking is free on Sundays, other parking options nearby; accessible via Red Line and Commuter Rail.

Dr. Melissa Leaym-Fernandez is an artist, educator, and researcher. Entangling her lived experiences into her professional practices she works to illustrate the power held in the wordlessness of artworks, the superpowers held by not only students, but their educators and she examines how art education, pop culture, and intersectionalities of race, class, and gender support and/or harm in contemporary learning spaces. 
Her current body of art is a two-part series, Ode to Minjung Kim, celebrating the art of the South Korean artist. Part One holds 117 new pieces of art and Part Two is ongoing. As an educator she has taught in Flint, Michigan during the height of the ongoing water-crisis, in metro Detroit, rural Michigan, and with the leprosy effected in India. Service learning—engagement with the community is a big part of her praxis and she has worked with several community organization around the globe. Her research interests include Art education as a tool to overcome the outcomes of ACEs (adverse childhood experiences), malevolent creativity, gender representations in East and South Asian media (meaning she has read and watched over 300 full series of television dramas, movies, music videos and comics from China, India, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand), and community-based art education learning through performance art and theater elements.
Born into poverty in a single parent home, facing the ugly cousins of poverty—food insecurity and home insecurity—she learned at age eleven the disposability and worthlessness of her own body. Enduring a brutal sexual assault by a white man, the neighborhood pal, she has overcome much. Shunned by her Sri Lanka father and his family she has navigated her in-between biracial identity alone with art education as her constant in life. She is a first-generation college graduate and accomplished her first degree before folks understood the resources needed by first gen students to succeed. She now holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting, a Bachelor of Science in art education with her teaching certificate, a Master’s in art education, a Master’s in arts administration and the Doctorate in art education and women’s’, gender and sexuality studies. She is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor of Art Education at the University of Massachusetts—Dartmouth and owns and operates her studio, www.mleaym-fernandez.com.

In Fashion, Design, and the Circular Economy, I taught students to position themselves as changemakers and pioneers. The underlying course theme was the power of hope in creativity and change.

This workshop will introduce engaging ways to introduce animation into your classroom. The hands-on session will explore three different analog animation toys and discuss how these activities can be used as a springboard for digital animations.

Engage with a city building unit where Gen Ed students and students with disabilities worked together to bring an inclusive city to life. See student growth through our 3D Printing design process. Leave with inspiring creative tools and techniques for your own classrooms.

This presentation explores DEI principles in classroom management and lesson content selection, focusing on rendering human skin tone and self-portraiture.

Learn how to incorporate student-centered active learning approaches while teaching art history to provide greater engagement and deeper learning in the art and art history classroom along with the museum.

When we approach our classes as a collective cohort, we unlock the potential for vibrant and authentic learning environments. Tackle essentials like building trust, asset inventories, and constructive critique.

Where do/did foundational skills come from? What could/should they look like for our 21st century student-artists? How are they different from when we were in art school/starting our teaching careers? What are some strategies in keeping them evolving and relevant?

The EDI Committee of the MAEA is offering this interactive circle session using the circle model of restorative justice. We will then get feedback from folks on how they would like to see a monthly online EDI circle look like. 

Discover ways to incorporate screen printing into your classroom by learning several techniques that are easily adaptable for any age, timing, and budget in this hands-on workshop. Students are drawn to the “magic” and wearability of this process.

Please note: This session includes an additional fee of $10. Please be sure to purchase that add on ticket on Eventbrite, even if you've already purchased your conference registration ticket. 
Once you purchase your add-on ticket, this session will be added to your schedule. 

In this “Make it Take it” style Workshop, participants will be introduced to a variety of puppet possibilities and be given the time and supplies to bring some of their own characters to life!

This presentation outlines the significance of self-portraits as a pedagogical tool for building strong student-teacher relationships and fostering comprehensive assessment across all grade levels.

Visual Thinking Strategies was developed more than 30 years ago and is used in classrooms and museums around the world. It is a facilitation method that is inclusive, encourages dialogue, and has the power to change the way we relate to art and each other.
Experience a VTS session and hear more about the history of VTS, while learning about upcoming events and opportunities!

Siobhan McDonald completed the VTS Beginner and Advanced Practicums and has a published article in their trade journal, Site-Specific.

This session covers the successful program at Falmouth High where guest artists' taught workshops and ceramics students made artwork inspired by the workshops. The session will discuss the benefits, show student work, and how to find funding to pay the for workshops.

This practical approach to teaching Visual Culture asks us to examine the imagery we interact with daily. In turn asking students to explore the images and media they are viewing. This method creates awareness about who is saying what and why.

Explore art history and lore, natural science, and Indigenous knowledge and participate in a hands-on art activity as part of an ongoing community art installation project. Discuss best practices for interdisciplinary collaboration and celebrate collective creativity.

Martine Malengret-Bardosh was Awarded the 2023 MAEA Museum Educator of the Year! This is a great opportunity to extend your conference experience.