You Can’t Force Inspiration… or Can You?
Have you heard or even said the phrase, ” You can’t force inspiration.” In some ways this is true, you can’t force yourself or your students to have inspiration in any given moment, however, there are many practices that you can put in place that encourage and feed into developing inspiration. Understanding the creative process […]
Exploring Materials and Meaning
My husband is a letter carrier, and each year, I design a thank you card for people that give him tips. The inspiration for the design is a combination of things that remind me of the neighborhood where he delivers and working to create with art supplies that I already have. ( I’ve always enjoyed […]
What I learned from Illustrating a Children’s book
What do you like to create? While I spend a lot of time helping others uncover their creative process and how that connects to the type of work that they create, sometimes, I forget to do the same for myself. While studying Art Education at Messiah University, I realized that I enjoy creating beautiful function […]
7 Gift ideas: How the Bear Met the Bee
As you’re working on getting all of your holiday gifts crossed off of your list, here are a few ideas of who to give the book, How the Bear Met the Bee, to. Anyone with elementary-age kids, bonus points for those that love animals. Make a donation to your local library. Elementary school art teacher […]
How to Prepare for Scholastic Art Awards
As you’re researching and planning for college, you’re also likely looking for ways to earn scholarships. Have you considered entering your work in the Scholastic Art Awards? How to get started Look at previous award winners to get a sense of the caliber of work submitted: dwriting.org/gallery, and here https://www.artandwriting.org/gallery/awards Narrow your search and view […]
Where Does a Story Start?
Where does the story come from? How do you find your inspiration and ideas?These are not easy questions to answer and the process cannot be boiled down into a simple list, but I will attempt to allow you to peek into the window and get a glimpse of the process. My children both have enjoyed […]
10 Steps to Revision
Nobody likes revision. Revision is often viewed in negative terms. We often think of revision as an indicator of failure, because we have to start over or make adjustments to our work. Revision isn’t bad, it’s a natural part of the creative process. Over a year ago I started working on illustrations for a children’s […]
Plagiarism and Appropriation in Art
AP Studio Art data reflects that a large group of students was caught plagiarizing or inappropriately appropriating works of art. While many quickly jumped to conclusions about students being lazy or taking advantage of online learning due to the pandemic, there is a more important and meaningful conversation to have about cheating. Do students understand […]