with RICHARD JENKINS

This in-depth and hands-on professional development retreat will provide teachers with the opportunity to dive deep into the rich medium of comics & cartooning. Character design, lettering, sequencing, joke creation, story creation, inking, and panel layout are just some of the skills that teachers will learn. They will also learn the vocabulary of comics. Participants will design original outer space characters to be used in multiple humorous comic strips. Teachers will also design original super heroes and villains to be used in the creation of their own full-page adventure comics.

Paper, pencils, ink pens, color markers, and coloring pencils are the materials that teachers will be learning to use to make their comics; supplies are provided. Participants will also receive a free copy of the arts integration manual "Comics in Your Curriculum."

All skill levels welcome.

with KAYLA OHLNER

In this course, students will learn the foundations of glass kiln forming. This survey of glass fusing, slumping, and casting will give students the basic knowledge and foundations to pursue their creativity and ideas using glass as a material.  We will cover design, materials, cutting glass, mold making, and heat. The goal of this class is not only to explore the possibilities with glass, but to give students the tools to continue using glass in the future.

No experience required.

with MELISSA BLUM and PAUL CORBIERE

Paul and Melissa will take participants on a hands-on journey to explore practical applications of the World Music Drumming Curriculum, with activities and extensions for use with PreK-6th grade students. We will introduce several pedagogical concepts of the curriculum and will provide multiple ready-to-use lessons, including exploratory and foundation-building activities, ensembles with singing and movement, sound stories, skill-building games, and program ideas. Using drums, percussion, and other classroom instruments - such as Orff instruments, recorder, ukulele - and the curriculum key words of respect, listen, focus, teamwork, complement, and more, we will show how group drumming in the preK through elementary classroom helps students not only become stronger music students, but stronger students in all aspects of learning and better members of a cooperative, culturally respectful, community. Additionally, we will give participants experience in building their own drumming and leading skills to enable them to bring these activities to their classroom right away. 

For any music teachers in the preK-6th grade setting. All skills and experience levels welcome, no previous drumming or percussion experience is necessary. Bring along a soprano recorder; ukuleles optional. 

with FARAH MOHAMMAD

In this workshop, students will learn to make paintings on plexiglass using oil-based ink, and to collaborate with a printing press to transfer those onto paper. We will practice working spontaneously to create images using stencils, various painting and collages techniques, and image transfers. 

We will begin the course by exploring working with newsprint and vellum stencils and will proceed to making reusable stencils with tape. Students will practice incorporating drawings and photographs into their compositions. They will learn about how various modifiers can alter the texture of printmaking ink to achieve different painterly outcomes. Students will also learn registration techniques in order to make layered prints.

All skill levels welcome.