Rigour amongst the Redwoods - an ILSP electives log entry

Last summer, I attended Camp Artseen, an arts retreat tucked into the beautiful redwoods of Guerneville California to complete 14 hours of electives toward my Integrated Learning Specialist Program requirements. 

This summer, Camp Artseen will take place from July 24-26 - there are discounts for teachers and groups, but you might need to ask. Register to satisfy your electives requirements or as a really fun team-building experience.

There were about 45 of us split into three groups rotating through a series of art-making workshops. We still had time for delicious rustic meals, swims in the pool, soaks in the hot tub, hikes in the woods, and yes, a few bottles of wine. In arts education, we know that learning should be joyful.

And I learned plenty. The teaching artists at Camp Artseen are highly capable and credentialed. I discussed what I learned in my electives log along with links to further demonstrations of understand, in the form of drawings.

From my Integrated Learning Specialist Program electives log:

In Erik Jame’s sculpture-casting workshop, I learned a very accessible technique for casting sculpture in pewter. This was a multi-step process requiring carving the negative space in 3-dimensions, taking me a little bit out of my artistic comfort zone.

In the brush and ink workshop with John Berger and Stacey Better, we practiced more intuitive mark-making in the midst of a lush, natural redwood grove. John and Stacey challenged us with a series of very quick assignments so that we really discovered what the ink could do.

Ford Crull’s mural-making workshop was more about what meaning could we tease out of painted symbols.

One could read much meaning in the resulting tree mural.

Ronny Louis Hutt and Anna Novakov teamed up to present their findings about what stirs our creativity. This paired well with a viewing of “The Woodmans,” and a discussion of that documentary.

Over the course of the weekend, I experienced several styles of sharing one’s art practice with students and returned home feeling physically, intellectually, and artistically revitalized.