Renaissance Center hosting art educators summer retreat

Release Date: 7/7/2003. Expired: 7/13/2003

Art teachers from across the state will gather at The Renaissance Center in Dickson July 11-13 for the Tennessee Art Educators Association Professional Development Retreat.

The three-day retreat will include a choice of three art workshops and lesson plans for the educators as well as the annual business meeting of the TAEA.

“We are very excited to be hosting the TAEA at The Renaissance Center,” said Bob Kucher, senior director of Visual Arts and Theatre. “This conference will give us a chance to expose our facility and its capabilities to art teachers from all across Tennessee. We hope this will lead to more interaction between the center and art programs in our school systems.”

After checking in on Friday, July 11, TAEA members will be provided time to explore Dickson and the surrounding area, then will be treated to a Renaissance Players production of the Irving Berlin musical Annie Get Your Gun.

Saturday, July 12, has a slate of three workshops from which the teachers can choose.

Donna Anderson will be leading a workshop on printmaking and bookmaking. With a focus on self-image, participants will create a self-portrait in linoleum and print an edition large enough to give each participant a copy. Each person also will write a poem to go with his or her print. Books will be completed containing art and poetry from each participant. Anderson is this year’s Tennessee Art Educator and Professional Development chairman for TAEA. She teaches at South-Doyle High School in Knoxville and is department chair for Art and Music.

Christine Harness will lead a workshop on watercolor technique and methods. It will focus on use of different brushes and sources demonstrating new techniques and methods in creating watercolors. Demonstrations will be most useful to teachers for use in the classroom. Harness retired this year after 34 years of teaching Art at Gresham Middle School in Knoxville. She is a past Art Educator of the Year for Tennessee and serves as treasurer for TAEA.

Gay Nell Gray will conduct a workshop on sketch book journaling. She designed the curriculum to teach a freshman orientation class and uses motivational techniques and creativity methods. Gray worked as an award-winning advertising artist for many years before deciding to teach. She started at West High School in Knoxville and is now teaching at Powell High School.

Sunday, July 13, will conclude the retreat with workshop sharing and the awarding of certificates. All participating educators will be provided with lesson plans to take back to their schools.

The retreat provides teachers with eight hours of professional development credit to go toward their CEUs.

For more information on the TAEA Professional Development Retreat, contact Anderson at (865)531-5919 or Harness at (865)588-9826. For more information on The Renaissance Center, contact Kucher at (615)740-5565.

The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson.