Gallery highlights art education community

For the first time since 2009, the National Art Educators Association (NAEA) Conference is returning to Minneapolis, and CSB+SJU preservice art educators will be among those in attendance.

NAEA is a professional organization that aims to “[champion] creative growth and innovation by equitably advancing the tools and resources for a highquality visual arts, design and media arts education throughout diverse populations and communities of practice.”

Members reside in all 50 states and include K-12 art educators, researchers, professionals, students, administrators and more. Affiliated conferences are held yearly on the local, regional and national level, providing art educators the opportunity to network and learn from well-known individuals in the community.

To fundraise for the event, the CSB+SJU Art Club curated a gallery of artwork showcasing the skills and talents of pre-service art educators. CSB junior Liv Henson is the club president and worked extensively to create a space for students to highlight pieces they felt proud of or believed represented community—the overarching theme of the gallery.

“Often, pre-service art educators don’t get the recognition they deserve,” Henson said. “I thought it was important to emphasize the importance of art on campus. While other events throughout the year showcase the projects of all art majors, having a gallery specific to art educators created the opportunity to come together as a community.”

CSB senior Claire Weingartner aided Henson in planning and preparation of the gallery. Like Henson, Weingartner is an art education major and believes art encourages students to view challenges through a different, more comprehensive lens.

“You can learn anything from art. It helps people learn social skills, technical skills, math, experiment, trial-and-error, etc. Art enables people to integrate a variety of different skills into a final product, and that is something really unique,” Weingartner said.

Both Hensen and Weingartner acknowledged the role professor Alicia Peters played throughout the preparation process. Peters graduated from CSB in 1995 with a degree in art before earning her teaching licensure and returning to CSB as a faculty member.

“My goal in returning to CSB+SJU was to create a community where art education students can feel empowered,” Peters said. “The show the students have put together represents the advocacy they will need after graduation. I’m in awe of their ability to put something together and confidently say, ‘I’m a maker. I’m an artist. Here is our show.’”

The exhibition, which will remain in the Benedicta Arts Center’s Fall-Out Gallery through Feb. 17, features the work of nine CSB students: Maggie Barrett, Rachel Eiden, Henson, Molly McGowan, Lauren Reeves, Weingartner, Maddie Albertson, Mirjana Ganley and Rita Ganley. Students were free to submit work in any medium, such as painting, sculpture, mixed media, drawing, graphic design and print making.

CSB Senior Molly McGowan had previously shown her piece entitled “Cry Me A River: A Tribute to Julie London” in a student gallery this past fall and believes that both hosting student galleries and attending conferences, such as NAEA, brings attention to how art educators need a space to connect and share their experiences.

“As much as we are both artists and educators, we are often labeled singularly as art educators. It can be an isolating space,” McGowan said. “Opportunities to showcase our work and learn from others in the field let us know that there is a network of individuals who share similar experiences and have the same passion for both art and education. My love for art makes me no less of an educator, just like my love for teaching makes me no less of an artist. The only thing that makes an artist is their will to create, and I am so happy that overlaps with my desire to share that with others.”

The students received funding from the Senate to cover both the lodging and registration fee for the conference and are currently raising money to cover travel expenses and food for the duration of the event. Individuals interested in supporting the students heading to the conference can contact Alicia Peters at apeters@csbsju.edu.

When Peters took a position at CSB+SJU, she hoped to create a space for preservice art educators to excel and find community. Now, the students appear to be taking initiative and creating that space for themselves.

“The students did this on their own, and I am so proud of them. They are doing all the things that, when I took this job, wanted to see happening with art education—and they’re doing it,” Peters said. “They’re making; they’re setting a standard. This is what art education looks like, and this is what being an art teacher looks like. And it’s empowering. And it’s artist, and it’s teacher and it’s advocate. It’s all those things.”