Aprendiendo del Arte-Learning from Art at Kansas State University

In 2014 Aprendiendo del Arte-Learning from Art was birthed. With the help of my good friend and fellow art teacher, Barbara Martinez at the American School in Monterrey, Mexico, the name was formed. The goal of Aprendiendo was to bring artists from other countries to Kansas State University, once a year, in an art and culture exchange, where learning was paramount, by both the artists and our college faculty and students.  We just completed our third annual Aprendiendo del Arte, bringing artists from South America in 2015, 2016, and 2017.  The first year Cilau Valadez and Agustine Prudencio Cruz were our guests, both from Mexico.  Cilau is a Huichol yarn painter and Augustine is a Oaxacan wood carver. Last year Victor Guitierrez was our guest. He is a retablista from Peru. And this past April, Zoila Guaman Quizhpe and Zoila Alejandra Chalan Lozano were our guests. They are from Ecuador and part of La Mega women's cooperative in the Saraguro region and do the amazing and intricate beading the Saraguroan women are known for.  These experiences have been so pleasant, rich, and meaningful for all of us. Art brings people together and we learn more about ourselves as we interact and learn about others.  Victor went back to Peru and got chairs for his studio so we could come visit him and he has become a good friend.  Cilau and Agustine have become good friends and we cross paths occasionally.  We'd love to go see Zoila and Zoila and tour their school, where Zoila Quizhpe is a teacher. I hope to stay in touch with all of them.  I'm not sure who we will bring to KSU next April, but we will venture out to find other artists.

Kansas is known as the "breadbasket" of America....or at least it was when I was growing up on a Kansas farm.  We are right in the middle of the United States. As I walked across campus with my Quechua women friends in their traditional clothing and with Cilau in his beautiful Huichol embroidered clothing, I found myself wondering if it might have been the first time Quechua women walked across KSU wearing their black and white hats from the Saraguro region....and I wondered if it might have been the first time a macho Huichol man walked across campus in his traditional and gorgeous floral embroidered clothing....I really don't know....but these artists inspire me more than I can express here. Their skill, talent, vision, creativity, and determination are amazing. But more so, their love of life and their ability to express such kindness and love to people they have only just met and most likely will never meet again is what touched me the most.

Indigenous art is very important. As globalization changes things for people in the nooks and crannies of the world, it's important that we preserve and protect the beautiful, colorful, highly skilled work known as folk art and the talent of these indigenous artists. Kansas State University art education program, in the College of Education, is making an effort to support these artists in their creative journeys.  In the process, our own faculty and students are growing in their world lens and I am certain their future classrooms will be much more global because of this...and probably a lot more colorful!

A message Cilau wrote to me on the back of a piece of Huichol yarn painting I purchased. 

Cilau at Kansas State University in 2015 explaining his work to a multi-cultural course.

Cilau and Agustin speaking to art education students. 

Augustine explaining how he carves wood and forms it into various shapes. 

Victor working on a retablo.

Zoila and Zoila with myself, our interpreter from KSU, and art educator, Courtney Smith, at Courtney's school where we spoke to the 5th grade. 

eARThshaking in O'Keeffe country!

Georgia O'Keeffe's name is synonomous with southwestern art. This Ohio farm girl, who moved to New York City, and then found her way to the beautiful, rugged, mountainous area north of Santa Fe, left her mark on art. One of her paintings sold for $44.4 million in 2014; the highest saleing female painting of all times. It's easy to see why she fell in love with New Mexico, and the area up around Ghost Ranch where she lived, north of Abiquiu. After spending her days in a highrise in NYC living in the wide, open spaces of Ghost Ranch was a feast for her senses and serenity-inducing.

My daughter and I spent 23 days in Santa Fe this past summer for a vacation, to attend the International Folk Art Market where I volunteered as a Block Captain, and to attend a SchoolArts Magazine Workshop and also a workshop with a well known children's book illustrator who lives in Santa Fe. More about that later. On Sunday afternoon we decided to go on a road trip up north of Santa Fe, north of Espanola, north of Abiquiu, to the area of Ghost Ranch. The month prior to our Santa Fe trip had been pretty stressful. Sometimes we just have to acknowledge it and deal with it. There had been a lot of people going thru some pretty tough times that had needed me and I had felt pulled in a lot of directions. I had noticed that in a physiologically sort of way, I had been noticeable stressed; a different sort of phenomenon for me. So, Chloe and I got a Starbucks for the planned drive, and headed off on our afternoon road trip. She fell and sprained both ankles about a week before our trip, was in two medical boots, and we used a wheelchair a bit too, so her vacation wasn't very easy. We both noticed a weight come off of us as we began our drive north. Soon we were smiling, laughing, and the further we drove north and the more beauty around us, the more I noticed our spirits had really lightened. I didn't really say much about it to Chloe, but we both remarked over and over how fun this road trip was. But, inside while I drove and we talked, I kept finding myself thinking how can a drive help destress? You see, I think I gained a glimpse of what Georgia felt. She had lived in the concrete jungle of NYC and had lived a life in the spotlight, especially after her photographer husband did a show with some revealing pictures he had taken of her. Her life became much more complicated after that. And so I think coming out here inspired her as a painter, yes, but I think it also helped her find peace like she couldn't find in New York City. She blossomed, so to speak, as a painter surrounded by the beauty of the southwest and Ghost Ranch. I think in some regards Georgia, Chloe, and I were kindred spirits on that drive. I felt the blues and greens and terra cottas of the landscape...the bright yellows, hot pinks, and reds of the wild flowers and cactus, singing to my soul. It was the most soothing thing I have done in a very long time. I often remind myself to soothe my soul. Maybe it's the artist in me. I don't know. But it's important for all of us. Believe it or not I took these pictures with my iPhone:

"When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not."  

                                                                                              -Georgia O'Keeffe, American Artist

Life Changing, World Changing...Mentoring

      

I enjoyed spending the weekend with five KSU seniors in art education as attendees
at the KAEA Fall Conference held at Pittsburg State University.

    Although I continue to teach art education in a variety of K-12 settings including at community art events and community programs, in private school settings, and as a guest art teacher in local elementary public schools, as well as at various children’s programs in museums (most recently to Title 1 elementary students in New Mexico), I find myself really honored to be teaching future teachers at Kansas State University. One cannot raise the bar any higher. Five times a week I pour my teaching stories, experiences, and expertise into young people. I know the sharing of my life experiences are impacting them in meaningful and beneficial ways; ways they may not even realize until they are in their own classroom. This is not a job that I take lightly. Our world needs gifted, caring, committed teachers. It thrills me to know that my words, both written and spoken, may change thousands of lives I will never know.

Marjorie Schick, a Kansas artist whose iconic jewelry is in the Smithsonian Institution
and has graced the cover of Vogue magazine, mentored a ballroom full of
current and future art educators. She spoke at the KAEA Fall Conference and
took time afterwards to visit with KSU seniors.

      Through my involvement in the National Art Education Association, a vibrant professional organization for art educators in the U.S., and through the Kansas and Texas chapters, I have had opportunity through many presentations, speeches, and workshops to teach thousands of practicing teachers. I implore them to teach globally inspired art as our world is changing; I teach them how to find ways to teach in other nations as our world is changing; I teach them how to use 21^st century learning to Skype with teachers and classrooms all over the globe as our world is changing; I show them how to integrate the arts into their generalist classrooms as project-based learning is vital and our world is changing; and I teach them how to gain grants and fellowships such as the one I went on to Istanbul as our world is changing. After only one year teaching at KSU, I was selected as the KAEA Higher Education Art Educator of the Year-this is not being said with vanity, but with a stoic resolution that art in our schools can serve a much broader purpose than it traditionally has. When art is relegated to holiday bulletin board décor and school decorations we aren’t fully grasping its ability to create higher level thinking. Being nominated for the award by one of my first year teachers was so nice and hearing her presentation speech is something I will never forget. I particularly liked it when she said that I believed in her even when she didn’t believe in herself. That’s what teachers do. That is what teachers should do.

     Last spring I brought two artists from Mexico to KSU, a Oaxacan wood carver and painter and a Huichol yarn Painter. For four days we led lectures, demonstrations, and workshops. More than 2000 people attended these events. These young men learned their trade from generations of their families and they are changing the villages where they live. They have added to their family tradition the use of social media, travel, public relations to spread their talent far and wide, actually all over the globe, furthering the income of their community and family, and teaching others about their culture. Art educators and teachers from all over were invited, as well as my own students and all of our KSU students. Nancy Walkup of NAEA and SchoolArts Magazine said it was the most organized art education event she had ever attended and wanted to know if we could take the show on the road. I think that would be marvelous…and extremely educational. The point is that global mentoring occurred. Only about ten of my KSU students that semester, about 130, said they had been out of the United States. By bringing the world to them, their sense of self in their greater place grew.

     Art has a unique ability to help mankind understand mankind. When art educators mentor others, when they share with others, we increase the impact and advocacy of the overall education exponentially. Bronfenbrenner would have said the microsphere radiates out into the macrosphere.  A professor I work with refers to it as the networking theory. I know that art can be life changing and world changing. I know this to be true. I see this every day in my courses and art classes. It is my goal to make sure other teachers, other art educators, know this as well.

Teachers, Doers, and Goers

 "We are now at a point where we 

must educate our children 

in what no one knew yesterday,

 and prepare our schools 

for what no one knows yet."

-Margaret Mead (1901-1978, American Cultural Anthropologist)

     Global awareness is imperative. This awareness is my personal testimony, my life story, and the emphasis I put on this focus each and every day is paramount in my own life, but also important to the young educators I teach. It is clear to me as a school teacher in the United States, but also a school teacher who has trekked to developing countries, to difficult places with poor facilities which lacked running water or electricity, to places that were dangerous, often walking alone or with a translator down red dirt roads to go visit homes of students, to offer hope and change in HIV/AIDS infected areas or areas where witchcraft and religion or ancient ways of doing things was stifling children’s opportunities to learn or girls abilities to read and write, where I had to ride a bus up the dangerous dirt road on the side of an Ecuadorian cliff over and over again to get to the school at 12,000 feet in the Andes Mountains twice a day, where I myself got parasites over and over again, where I stood in a neighborhood that required girls to cover themselves and not be educated….that education is the BEST tool we have to make this world a better place for all of us.

     You see, I believe radicalism, terrorism, and poverty have always existed since the dawn of time. Humans do the most terrible things to each other in the name of religion, ethnic cleansing, and power. Slavery has existed going as far back as recorded human narrative. It’s about power. One people group exerting their strength over another. But, as Nelson Mandala said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” I know this. This makes so much sense. Education is what changes our homes, schools, communities, countries, and cultures for the better. This world is housing more people than ever before in its history and somehow we have all got to find a way to live in peace together.  With over 320 million people living in the United States and the world’s population soaring to 7.2 billion in 2015, that is a lot of people who need to find some common ground, literally and figuratively. The atrocities being committed against people right now are deplorable and children most definitely deserve a much better, safer, healthier life. However, as a seasoned teacher who won’t even ride a roller coaster because it scares me, but one who will navigate paths in dangerous places around the world armed with books and education, I know that that education isn’t going to happen without teachers. Education might be the vehicle; teachers are the drivers. And, so, in my 53rd year of life, I find myself preparing to go to refugee camps within the next year or so to do some of my preliminary doctoral research on how art can change lives in these camps. I won’t ride the roller coaster at the State Fair this year, but I’ll pack up and go to a refugee camp. If we want to have a better world, we need teachers to go and do; not sit and type. And, then we need teachers to bring back these stories to their classrooms and create more teachers, more “doers,” and more “goers.” Then, as Mandala put it, the weapon of education will far exceed the weapon of steel and lead and plutonium. Margaret Mead (1901-1978, American Cultural Anthropologist) said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” Perhaps some art educators need to pack their bags and become world changers.

             -Trina Harlow, Kansas State University College of Education, Art Education, Oct. 18, 2015

National Art Education Association 
Western Region Leadership Conference
June 18-21, 2015

 The leaders of the Western Region of NAEA convened in Santa Fe, New Mexico June 18-21st to discuss art education in their states and the state of art education. The conference was outstanding, and thank you to Elizabeth Willit of Texas and Phyllis Roybal of New Mexico for all of their hard work planning these enjoyable work days. I am left with a few thoughts. 1) Art educators are amazing! 2) As a society we place so much emphasis on "decor" and making things look nice....in our work buildings and places, in our homes, in our public spaces and places, in all forms of media......yet art education which is where all of this stems from is often the one genre or discipline in the educational realm to get overlooked the most in strategic planning at the local level or cut....or targeted by governors and state legislatures, especially Republican governors. I've been a Republican my whole life but I am really concerned why education, and especially art education, is always their target. There is waste in every level of government and all departments need to be held accountable. The stories of what Republican governors are doing to the arts and art education was so disheartening. 3) Good (or great) art educators ADD SOOOO much to the local school and community and state! 4) Doesn't even have to be said but research shows schools with the arts do better on standardized testing, have lower dropout rates, and higher attendance rates. The arts seamlessly integrate with all other subjects. Plus, these schools (and communities) are happier places where the soulful, spiritual side of being a human can thrive well! 5) And there was more. 

In art education we always have to advocate. There are many theories for this, but one of the more common reason is man of our K-12 administrators worked their way up through the coaching ranks and some value arts education and some just aren't focused on it at all. Support the arts in your communities....visual arts, drama, dance, music. Let your school admin know how much you value the arts. Support local art teachers with your resources and time. Good arts teachers should be a valued contributor in your community. Call them to serve on local committees, speak at local functions, and participate in local events. They and their students can enhance so much in your community. I grew up in a western Kansas community (Yay Scott City!!) where the arts and sports were both outstanding and prominent in the community and still are! I remember the quarterback (Hi Galen!) coming out to march with us in the marching band at halftime of football games! 

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTS. This even seems more relevant to me as I spend a lot of time driving these days from Texas to Kansas and Texas to New Mexico. Many of our small towns are losing their vibrancy.....probably in part because of Internet commerce. The arts can bring vibrancy to your community!! As I ponder the many comments made by representatives from 16 states at the conference, advocating for the arts is something I need to do more often and something that I know can bring life and vitality to your schools and communities. I have seen and experienced it in my own life. It's called community building. 

Thanks Nancy!

Sometimes life takes an unexpected turn. Sometimes those turns are serious or difficult. Sometimes they are exhilarating and memorable. But, these unexpected turns are usually life altering. I had the distinct honor of crossing paths with Nancy Walkup several years ago in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was an unexpected turn that means so much to me....in a great way! I attended the Folk Art Extravaganza Workshop she was leading as the editor of SchoolArts Magazine and partnering with Stevie Mack of Crizmac.  It's hard to explain it in concrete terms....but I know that professionally crossing paths with Nancy changed my career and my professional life entirely. I've helped her at New York, Ft. Worth, and San Diego NAEA. I've gone on her professional development workshops to New Mexico a couple of times! Rode back and forth with her to Ft. Worth a few times. Enjoyed some meals after long days at NAEA together. Called her a time or two when I needed advice. And.....thoroughly enjoyed having her come to KSU for Aprendiendo del Arte. Nancy is a gifted educator who does so much for others! She is a blessing to me! This is a short blog, but I just wanted to be sure to thank her for all she has done for me! We have so much in common that Facebook usually tags pictures of me, on my Facebook posts, as Nancy! (I'm not joking!) I guess it's the blonde hair and glasses! Anyway, she came walking across the lobby today at the convention and said hi! I don't know how she has time to do all she does! Looking forward to dinner with her tomorrow evening!

Aprendiendo del Arte-Learning from Art

Aprendiendo del Arte-Learning from Art!
And, that is exactly what we did!

Agustin, Nancy, Dr. Taylor, and Cilau with
Dr. Taylor's Foundations of Education Course Members

I don't really even know where to start. I could write for days and days about this wonderful event. February 17th & 18th the Art Education Program at Kansas State University hosted three guests for two days of workshops, lectures, demonstrations, and exhibitions. Our focus was Huichol Yarn Painting and tradition, Oaxacan wood carving and tradition, and Dr. Elliot Eisner's Ten Lessons the Arts Teach. Our guests were Cilau Valadez, a Huichol yarn painter from an area near Puerto Vallerta, Mexico; Agustin Prudencio Cruz, a Oaxacan wood carver, from Oaxaca, Mexico; and Nancy Walkup, a giant in art education and the editor of School Arts Magazine, as well as a national board member with NAEA for quite some time. She has many other titles, too! Since this isn't my official KSU blog, but a personal art blog I maintain, I'm going to write from more of a personal viewpoint.

Nancy Walkup speaking in the Foundations course.

Nancy flew into Manhattan, we unloaded her things at my house, and the two of us headed off to Kansas City to pick up the guys. I picked Cilau up at Kansas City, Missouri on a snowy February day. He's seen snow before, but we laughed with him because he was wearing no socks and it was pretty cold. We waited quite awhile for Agustin's flight to come in; it was late. That gave Cilau, Nancy, and I time to sit around and visit....and visit....and visit! His plane eventually arrived and we drove two hours back to Manhattan after getting Agustin, who was VERY excited to see the snow, a delicious Jack-in-the-Box meal about 10:00pm.  We got the guys settled at the hotel, Nancy and I headed back to my house, and the art adventure began.

Cilau with KSU College of Education faculty
at welcome reception.

On Tuesday, Feb. 17 we began the day by speaking in a colleagues class about teaching with diversity and teaching to diversity. Then, the college hosted a reception to welcome the guests with a Q & A session. After a quick bite of lunch we did two two-hour workshops, back to back, to a packed room of KSU students, area high school students, area art educators, and various residents of the area. the workshops gave attendees a chance to make up to 8 different projects and see Agustin and Cilau demonstrate their yarn painting and wood carving and painting. Attendees at the workshop made:
1) Retablos (or memory boxes)
2) Embossed Tin Ornaments
3) Yarn Paintings
4) Papel People
5) Papel Picado
6) Ojo de Dios (God's Eyes)
7) Dio de los Muertos Skulls
8) Oaxacan wood painting

Cilau welcoming workshop attendees and explaining
Huichol yarn painting.

Agustin, with a translator, tells Workshop attendees about
Oaxacan wood carving. 

Two art teachers from Kansas City
 watch a yarn painting demonstration.

Workshop attendees at Aprendiendo del Arte!

One reason I know the event was very successful was because of the Reflections my students wrote after the event. The learning and meaning that happened at this workshop was just what I was hoping for. I'll share some of the reflections in another post.

After the workshops we had a bit of time to get refreshed for dinner and we met a wonderful group of friends and colleagues at a nice restaurant in town for dinner. Aside from me slipping on a small wet spot on the concrete tile floor and flying thru the air, feet up high, landing on the ground like I was making a snow angel, the evening was wonderful. It was good to sit around the table, visit, share a culinary experience, and socialize in a way that I sometimes think is being forgotten in this day and age. It was a great evening.

Huichol Yarn Painting and also Huichol Beading

Agustin's Oaxacan Wood Carving and Painting

The following day was very busy, too. We began with a lecture in Bluemont Hall, where I work. Then we did two lectures at the Beach Museum of Art on KSU campus. The Beach Museum told us they had never had a lecture with that high of attendance, and twice! Students and faculty came from all over the University. After the lectures, we rushed to the Strecker-Nelson Art Gallery for a reception and exhibition. And, then we headed across the street to end two wonderful days, which had been immersed in art and culture, with a relaxing meal with a couple of my good friends on our faculty. We laughed, we smiled, we were all so happy with how the two days had gone. They could not have gone better. It was as if all of us did not want it to end. I know this to be a normal phenomenon when art people gather. I think that many of us are social creatures, who enjoy the human connection, and we know innately that the world can never have enough beauty....I guess that's why we work so hard to create it.

Above and below: Cilau at the first lecture. 

Agustin speaking at the first lecture with Cilau translating.

Nancy speaking at the first lecture.

The lecture at KSU Beach Museum of Art.

Next four images:
 Jay and Barbara Nelson
of the Strecker-Nelson Gallery
with Cilau and Agustin. Also, Nancy
and myself with Cilau and Agustin. 

We estimated about 650 people or even a bit more attended the events in two days. When you are planning events such as this one you fret and worry a bit about attendance....but every room we hosted an event in was packed. It was such a good feeling! It was an even greater feeling to bring a quality, art education event to Kansas State University's College of Education. I was really blessed when I got this job. Generally, if I am awake I am thinking about it.....about how to build a quality program.....about how to best teach so that I am growing outstanding teachers.....about how to convey my love of art to others.

Joseph Addison said, "What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable." I think this quote best sums it up.....when we plan professional enrichment type of events our goal is to provide a quality cognitive experience for those who attend....but always in the back of my mind.....is let's smile and have a little fun, too.......life is made for that. Aprendiendo del Arte was something I will never forget and something I was honored to get to experience myself. Cilau, Agustin, and Nancy are amazing artists and educators. Gosh, I'm thankful for this experience!

Presenting at NAEA on Fund For Teachers Fellowship to Istanbul last summer.

My goodness, the last 10 months have been busy! Last June I saw on a beach in Florida writing my first college syllabus for the first ever college course I would teach.  10 months later I sit here in New Orleans at the NAEA Convention thinking about how much I have been stretched, how much I have been able to dream, and how much I have been able to make an impact on future generations of teachers. In just barely two semesters I think we are well on our way to building a wonderful art education program at Kansas State University. I'm so proud of my students....of the journey we have gone on....over hills.....down valleys....around curves.....and here I sit with four of my seniors with me, running around the NAEA Convention so excited to be teachers! Hopefully they will have their own classroom in just a few short months. Tomorrow morning, here at NAEA, at 8am I'm presenting on my Fund For Teachers Fellowship to Istanbul last summer. Here's a link to their website.  It is a wonderful organization! I should know! They gave me $5000 last summer to go to Istanbul! If you are a teacher or if you know anyone who is a teacher......tell them about this wonderful organization! I'm looking forward to sharing about this organization with those who attend!

FUND FOR TEACHERS:  http://www.fundforteachers.org

Hello everyone! Ok, I must admit that I am a social media crazy person....but this blog is one of the ways I communicate on the Web that has just been sitting on the back burner. The Worldwide Color Wheel Project, however, is not. Schools all over the world have been doing the project. I took a new job this past fall as a university professor and this project had to go on hold for awhile. I am presenting at NAEA in New Orleans again on the project and am hopeful we will start getting some more wonderful images from art teachers all over to share with you here! In the meantime......if you are interested in joining the project email trinaharlow@yahoo.com and I will send you a Drop Box link to all the project forms, videos, lesson plans, slide shows, etc.  Let's keep coloring our world! We all surely know this world needs some more beauty right now!

Purple Power! eARThshaking to KSU!

Sometimes life takes a twist and a turn that we would never expect. This earthshakingartteacher has had just that very thing happen. It's a long story.....but let's just say Facebook had something to do with it! After 24 years of teaching K-12 fine arts, in some way....shape....or form, I have moved to Kansas State University to teach art education. It's a journey full of excitement, challenge, and an opportunity to promote art education in our K-12 schools...AND....to shape future generations of teachers. I haven't been blogging much since I got back from Istanbul this summer. As soon as I returned home my mind turned to writing curriculum for two separate courses at KSU, packing, moving, unpacking, massaging sore muscles, and then writing and organizing the semester. It's been a whirlwind like no other. It's been rather...eARThshaking. Thanks for staying around and staying tuned to this blog. I think my feet are back under me, the semester at KSU is up and running, and I cannot wait to blog about all the exciting, eARThshaking art ed going on at this wonderful university where I got my Bachelor's degree many years ago. This is just a short post to remind that I haven't forgotten this blog. It just had to patiently wait for me to get myself organized at KSU. While the learning curve will be a bit high this year, the art ed is second nature for me. And, I can think of nothing better to do professionally than to shape future years of teachers and make a difference in the lives of so many students and generations of students to come. My 112 students are inspiring me in so many ways. I'm also sponsoring the Education Council and those student leaders are proof that the future of education is bright. I'll be blogging a lot more these days! Stay tuned. And....EMAW. (Every man a wildcat!)

The Present Will Eventually Become History: A Mosaic of Meaning in Istanbul

     As part of my Fund for Teachers Fellowship I have come to Istanbul, Turkey to learn about ancient mosaic making and the art of mosaic. Istanbul is where the east and the west literally meet; where Europe and Asia join borders. Part of Istanbul sits in Europe, part in Asia. It is also a city with a long and complicated, yet culturally colorful history.  While Istanbul is known for many things including Turkish tea, Turkish coffee, baklava, kebobs, kilim rugs, the evil eye, the hand of Fatima, beautiful ceramics, the Bosphorus Strait, and being the home of the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires, it is also the home of what may be the worlds most famous mosaics.  As an educator, it is the perfect place for this professional development journey I am on this summer.

Above: This is our 2014 Sonia King Intensive Mosaic Workshop group at the Caferaga Medresesi,
which is a cultural arts school. Our mosaic workshop is being held in a studio at the school.

Above: Workshop in session in the 16th century studio. 

     We are now three days into the 2014 Istanbul Intensive Mosaic Workshop led by Sonia King.  Mosaicists have come from all over the world and their skill and talent is not only inspiring to me, but truly a completely new art experience for me. These women from Australia, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, and the United States are not only completely serious about mosaics, but their hands are some of the most skilled I have ever sat in one room with. I am often used to being one of the most skilled artists in the room and working with most artistic media comes easily for me. Being creative is second nature. Yet in this room of incredible mosaicists I am gaining not only a great understanding of the word "intensive," but I am clearly the "newbie" in the room and have much to learn. I went through a temporary phase of inner frustration the first morning as I felt all thumbs, even  though I had made mosaics before. Any mosaic I have made, however, is not even in the same league with the quality of mosaics being done by workshop attendees who are mosaic professionals and enthusiasts from around the world. Once I settled into a rhythm and relied on my own design skills, plus figured out how to use the grouty, sandy adhesive which is unlike the adhesives I had used for mosaic work, I began to feel that creative energy I am used to resurfacing. Additionally, I reminded myself that I am here to learn. If I were already a skilled mosaicist it wouldn't be necessary for me to travel halfway across the world to sit in this class. Yet just as good teachers are always learning, good mosaicists are always learning too.

Top photo:  Working on my mosaic.
Above: This is my mosaic after a couple of days of work.
It still needs a lot of work, but it's beginning to take shape.  

     The workshop is combining several aspects of mosaic technique and knowledge. We are learning technique from Sonia King, who is a lively, spirited mosaic genius. We are learning from other workshops attendees as we work side by side with each other. Interspersed with our own mosaic work and technique we are meeting before class begins or going at lunch or after class to view the historical mosaics that make Istanbul the perfect home for this workshop:
1)  The Great Palace Mosaic Museum is an incredible home to Roman mosaics, attributed to the possible reign of Justinian I from 527-565 A.D.. The mosaics were uncovered by Turkish archaeologists from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland during extensive excavations at the Arasta Bazaar in Sultan Ahmet Square beginning in 1934.
2)  The Hagia Sophia Museum (originally a church) is home to masterful Byzantine mosaics that have survived changes in religion and earthquakes, being plastered over and then uncovered, and the true test of time.  I first studied these mosaics at Kansas State University in 1980 in an art history course and seeing them in person was monumental to me, especially when you know their artistic and historic story.The art world might consider these the most famous mosaics on the planet earth. The Emperor Alexander, Empress Zoe, Comnenus, Virgin and Child, and Deesis mosaics are goldenly breathtaking. They are in fact, made from gold. Gold leaf in differing shades was placed under tiny glass tiles of differing shades to make the tiny tesserae. The fact that they have survived countless man-made tragedies and natural disasters is a credit to the artisans who made them.
3) The Church of the Holy Savior in Chora (a neighborhood of Istanbul) is considered one of the most beautiful surviving Byzantine churches. Again, it is filled with stunning mosaics from the the 11th century.

Above: This is a 4th century Roman mosaic from the
Great Palace Mosaic Museum. There are
many mosaics positioned on the floor in their original
location and sectioned off as part of the museum.
 Some panels have been mounted on the walls as this one has been. 

Above: This is a picture I took in Hagia Sophia today. 

Above: In this photo I am looking at the
Hagia Sophia Deesis mosaic.
Below: A close up of Jesus' face
 in the Deesis mosaic. Read more
about the Hagia Sophia mosaics at
www.hagiasophia.com. 

     Pushing ourselves artistically, technically, and cognitively as we work on our mosaics, like artisans have done for thousands of years is rewarding. Those moments of life when we feel "all thumbs" as I did on the first morning of the mosaic workshop are the moments that we learn from. When we are challenged as human beings we learn.  While I am the only school teacher at this intensive mosaic workshop, I know that when I challenge myself as a teacher my pedagogy grows in ways I never thought possible. Complacency has no place in the classroom. I say often that when my classroom is an inventive learning lab of discovery, rather than an assembly line of production that my students lives will be changed. I know that this week in Istanbul is changing my life. I'm not exactly sure how it is changing yet and what exactly I will do with this new knowledge, but I'm certain it is. It will be changing my own students' lives and those students who may do class projects associated with the curriculum I will be writing based on the experience. The curriculum will be available through Skype in the Classroom and elsewhere. I'll wait to see how else this knowledge will be used and what it will grow into. This is education. We help guide our students through their education. They learn new things. They learn to think logically and sequentially, each thing building on the next. And then, somewhere along the way, something sparks in them that leads to another choice, another interest of study, a career, and their life taking shape.

Above: Surrounded by thousands
of tesserae, I'm deep in thought
 as I lay each tessera onto my mosaic. 

     When we explore the world, when we leave our own microsystems in pursuit of the macrosystem (Bronfenbrenner), or the globalsystem (me) we open our eyes as students and teachers, our world becomes smaller, and we become more of a human family. Just as myself and the others in the intensive mosaic workshop are piecing together small stones and tiles and other embellishments, when we piece together our lives as an intersection where differing ideas and ideals meet such as here in Istanbul where people of many ideals and beliefs live peacefully together, the mosaic of meaning will resemble the magnificence of the Hagia Sophia or Chora mosaics...more than my 9"x12" experiment in learning. We all know, however, that like us, one day, a very long time ago ancient artists were learning how to use adhesive and tiles to make mosaics and their talent grew to be that of the artists whose work is still seen on the magnificent walls of these Istanbul historical monuments. We don't know anything about the artists. Perhaps they were monks from a Constantinople monastery.  Maybe they were workers from an atelier in the city that was associated with the imperial court. Possibly they were artists that the patriarch brought from provincial cities in a distant part of the Empire. I think they never imagined that thousands of people a day would line up for hours and pay admission to see their glass tiles and gold leaf efforts nearly a thousand years after they were made. Life and education are, indeed, a mosaic of meaning where the present will eventually become history.