The conference photos I forgot to share!

It's been about a month since my state art teachers conference, and I already told you about the workshops I taught, but I totally forgot to share some of the other conference photos I took!

I was particularly enthralled with the inflatable sculptures of conference speaker-artist Beth Giacummo, who referred to herself as a "mixed media installation artist" in her slide talk.  When I first saw her inflatable sculptures being installed in the courtyard, I was intrigued.  But when I heard the artist speak, and share the stories of her work (the inflatables are called "Hormonamalies"), I doubly enjoyed/appreciated them.  And after the Saturday night dinner banquet, my dinner table got roped into participating in a mannequin challenge in the courtyard around the sculptures.  (I'm gonna spare you from having to watch the poor quality video, but it was fun.)

 Among the workshops I attended was a hands-on workshop on glass etching.  I chose a simple design to etch, in order to finish it in a short time, since I was trying to fit a lot into my conference schedule.  And what I discovered was that it was easy!  And fun!  It's not something I would do with elementary students (the presenter does this with a high school glass class), but I thought it would be a fun adult craft night activity.  It requires a minimum of materials and was not hard to be successful. 

On Friday night at the convention, there was an "art party" with hands-on activities.  One of those included using alcohol ink and other paints to decorate tiles.  Here's what I made.  Since then, I have sprayed them with a gloss sealer. 

There was a display of student artwork at the conference, with a lot of lively and interesting work.  Here's a few pieces that particularly intrigued me, from elementary through high school.  

I absolutely love the kindergarten painting below!

 And this print below is amazing, but became even more amazing to me when I discovered it was done by a 4th grader!!

 And this drawing below just makes me smile. 

 And a fabulous expressive piece:

Every year, I'm in charge of the "Bling Your Badge" table.  I came up with the idea about 4 or 5 years ago, and we've  doing it ever since!  It's a favorite place at the convention. The pic below is a bit of aftermath...

And a couple of name tag closeups that have some terrific 'bling'. 

A couple of people stopped by the table to show off the "art-bots" they had created in a workshop. 

 And of course there was a bit of art teacher funky fashion and accessories. 

 Dramatic in black and white

 Look at the heels and bottoms of these fabulous shoes!

I think that's it for my convention sharing, until I go to the NAEA convention in NYC this coming March!  Maybe I'll see you there?