President's Message

Greetings Everyone! I am Riselle Abrams the new President of the Maryland Art Education Association. I am pleased to be in a position to promote and champion the cause of Art Education in the state for both students and teachers alike. I stand on the shoulders of past presidents like Sue Owens, Jaye Ayres, Linda Popp, Mark Coates and many others who have volunteered to raise awareness of the importance of art education for young and old alike. I recently retired from Baltimore County schools after 31 very happy years teaching elem. art and I am now serving on the faculty at Towson University in the Art Education Dept.

     One of the goals of the MAEA is to provide professional development for art teachers, museum educators and artists. We recently held our annual Fall M.A.E.A. conference at Towson University on Oct. 19, 2007 where over 30 workshop presentations were offered. Over 300 attended and many were fortunate to hear our inspiring keynote speaker and painter Connie Hayes relate her stories.  Connie has published a book entitled “ Borrowed Views”  A Passion for Language  in which she explained that nothing would stop her from painting and how she used postcards to persuade people to let her stay in their summer houses in exchange for an original oil painting. In that way, she was able to travel around New England for free and pursue her artistic dream. Connie went on to share that art teachers have made an incredible difference for her and that she was honored to be at the conference. She said that “we as art educators open our minds to what is astounding, we teach tolerance, innovation, beauty, truth, honesty and we give our students the ability to create unique voices through art. That we deal with the harder to measure skills- persistence, critical thinking and making art for a living.”

     Connie shared “I see the world as if it’s already paint” and “Why does the observed world inspire artists?”

      She said that she “likes painting that is not accurate but when an image floats up that is recognizable”. We might call that atmosphere or lighting. Her colors swung from delicate to misty and she found that a game. Sometimes she used pastels on top of watercolors. Her goal of not letting anything stop her painting culminated in 15 borrowed views in eight weeks in the summer of 1990. She has achieved fame where now instead of giving a painting in exchange for her stay, the hosts now get first pick of her landscapes or interiors. Her rich and varied painting style along with her belief in the extreme value of the work we do as artists inspired many of us to pick up a brush right away. Thank you to Connie Hayes. You can find her artwork at (www.ConnieHayes.com)

     Another fantastic speaker we had at the conference was Dan Keplinger of “King Gimp” fame. He, along with Dr. Kay Broadwater, conducted an eye opening workshop on pastel portraits which used color and line to show emotions and feelings. Dan is a student at Towson University who has recently completed his MFA in painting.  Dan was born with cerebral palsy and his unmistakable drive to pursue art is nothing short of inspirational.  Dan has overcome many obstacles along the way, and when he jumped down from his wheelchair to demonstrate for us he brought tears to everyone’s eyes.  We were all in awe of his courage. Dan demonstrated using his head stick loaded with colorful chalk to sketch in his ideas and blend colors and lines while creating his artwork. Watching his head swing back and forth and his raw determination to express his inner self inspired so many as Kay assisted in the translation. Upon completion of his revealing artwork participants created their own personal self portraits.   The power of art and its ability to heal, inspire and give voice to many was evident that day.

     I would like to extend our sincere thanks to the Conference Coordinators: Linda Popp and Mark Coates along with Sue Owens for their tireless efforts in planning, organizing and orchestrating the many activities associated with the conference. Thanks to all involved with the vendors’ exhibits, wonderful student art exhibit/reception from around the state( Laura Kerr, Joan Newcomer, Diane Margiotta, Katie Gill Harvey,etc.), those who worked on awards and certificates ( Linda Newton, Brenda Makle, Mark Coates).Thanks to Margie Eisenstein  our treasurer and registration guru along with many volunteers on the Exec. Council. In addition, a big thank you goes out to Kay Broadwater, Ray Martens, Jean Miller and the student chapter at Towson for graciously hosting the event. If you have not had an opportunity to present at our state conference it is one of the most gratifying things you can do to share your expertise, lesson ideas, travel experiences or tips with others. I have met so many talented and intriguing art educators that I would never have come in contact with had it not been for MAEA and NAEA conferences and presentations. Workshop presenters find that the experience of preparing and giving a presentation results in tremendous personal growth as a teacher, artist and speaker. The benefits far outweigh the initial butterflies! Try it with a fellow educator and maybe we’ll see you in the fall on our workshop list- if you present you get a big discount on the registration fee!              

                                                Riselle Abrams

NAEA
Membership
now available
online

Student Art Exhibits

BWI Youth Art Exhibit
June - December, 2007

2008 Emerging
Student Artists
at MD General Assembly Exhibit
2007 Exhibit

MAEA Outstanding Student Artist Exhibit