The 2023 Summer NOW Conference Preview (Ep. 379)

Welcome to Art Ed Radio, the podcast for art teachers. This show is produced by the Art of Education University, and I’m your host, Tim Bogatz.

All right. It is conference week. I’ve been talking about it for a while, but the NOW Conference is finally here. So many cool things happening this week, so many fun things that we will be doing between the kickoff on Wednesday, tomorrow, and the main event on Thursday. As always, we want to do a conference preview episode, so those of you who are joining us for NOW know what to expect, and those of you that haven’t registered yet are maybe enticed to do so. If you’re listening to this on Tuesday, you have one more day to register. Registration closes at noon central on Wednesday. You can find everything you need at www.theartofeducation.edu/now.

Now, for this episode, we usually have Amanda on because she co-hosts the conference with me, but today I invited Janet Taylor on instead because Janet has played a vital role in putting this conference together. She’s done an incredible job of finding and working with presenters, creating resources, helping me with big picture ideas, and just so, so much more. She’s been a huge part of what we’ve put together for you this week, and I can’t wait to see what she’s most excited about over the next few days. So let me bring her on to talk about the NOW Conference.

Janet, welcome. How are you?

I’m doing well. How are you?

I’m doing great. I’m super excited you agreed to come on. You’ve played a huge role in developing this conference, so a big thank you, first of all, for doing all of that. But I thought it would be perfect for you to come on and talk a little bit about all of the cool things that we have coming this week. I guess let’s start just by talking about Chicago. I’m super excited. We are coming back to Chicago to host again from the DePaul Art Museum. Did that last year. DePaul was awesome. Chicago was awesome. Love doing all of that. We are back. Janet, you are from Chicago, and so I guess I need your best recommendations. As people are listening to this, I’m going to be flying to Chicago, and I have a day to do stuff. So what are your recommendations for me? What should I be doing in Chicago?

Of course there’s some cliche things and some not, some hidden gems that I have to share. First of all, you have to go to the lake front, which I know you like to run, right?

I do.

That’s obviously … I think last time, didn’t you say you did a nice run down the lake path there?

Oh, man, I did. Not that anybody wants to hear my running story, but I’ll just briefly, when NAEA was in Chicago a few years back, I ran from my hotel to the convention center, and I ran along the lakefront at Sunrise, and it was just so incredible, one of the best runs of my life. It was fantastic.

I used to cycle a lot, so I would ride that path a lot and it is gorgeous in the morning, it’s gorgeous in the evening, it’s gorgeous all the time. But less pedestrian traffic at those times, so it’s little quieter. But while you’re doing that, you should definitely stop at Millennium Park, which has Cloud Gate or commonly known as The Bean.

The Bean, yes.

Yeah, the Bean. Definitely it doesn’t really get old. It’s really still fun to go check out. There’s Pritzker Pavilion, so if you have time to catch a concert, that is a cool pavilion because it is designed by Frank Gehry. I love his designs. The Cultural Center, Chicago Cultural Center, is super cool. It has really incredible architecture. Some mosaic tiling, stained-glass windows like Tiffany, I think. Plus they have some rotating art galleries, so that’s always a plus.

Nice.

Of course, the MCA or Art Institute. I think you’re a pretty fan favorite of that, right?

Oh, love both of those museums. I’ve already looked up MCA, I’m not super excited about what’s there right now, so I may or may not go, but Art Institute I feel like is a must for me.

What’s your favorite area of that?

Oh, modern … do they call them wings?

Yeah.

That’s it for me.

The modern wing is?

Modern wing for sure.

Me too. When they developed that, it was just gorgeous and I spent most of my time there. I still like to do a tour around the whole museum. Then of course, Tim, what about the food? Do you like deep dish pizza?

I do. A couple weeks ago, Andrea Slusarski was on, she had a whole creativity analogy about your favorite slice of pizza that you could create, and my favorite slice would be a deep dish slice.

I love it.

I’m very much looking forward to all of the food, but the pizza especially in Chicago.

There’s a lot to offer in Chicago. We have so many different cultures and ethnicities, and so it’s pretty cool. You can get Latin and Ethiopian and Middle Eastern and authentic German, but I do feel like the deep dish is kind of the standard.

It really is. I feel like I have to have a deep dish when I come to Chicago. Then other than that, I always want to try something new, so I will be on the lookout for something I’ve never had before, and that’s always a goal so that should be good.

That’s awesome.

Since not everybody’s going to be in Chicago with us, we should probably not spend all of our time talking about Chicago, so let’s chat about the conference. This particular one, summer 2023, we have a lot of exciting things happening. For you, what is exciting about this particular conference this week?

I feel like helping with a lot of these presentations, I’m a little bit biased because I think they’re all pretty amazing, but I am pretty excited about the art teacher round table that we do every time because it’s live and you get a couple different teachers from different levels, elementary and middle school, and high school and whatnot, different locations, and we’re all just kind of talking and debriefing about the big topics that are kind of happening right now. This time we’re going to be talking about the importance of reflection and adaptation, and obviously it’s been a little bit rough the last couple years, and I think we’re all kind of in this weird place of pivot and what do we do and how are we going to start our year in a good place, so I’m really excited about that one.

I think that’s going to be good. I’m really excited about Davia King, our keynote present, our featured presenter, just because we’ve done something different this year. Usually it’s the interview with our artist, our author, whoever our featured presenter is. But this year we hired Davia, who’s a muralist for people who are not familiar, contemporary artist in LA. We hired her to go to a school and create a mural with kids. So shout out Melinda Mowen in Los Angeles, art of teaching on Instagram, if you all follow her. We went to her school and she coordinated this mural with Davia and so we have an interview with Davia, but we also have all sorts of great footage of her working with students, creating a mural with students, and it’s almost this documentary style presentation that I’m so excited for people to see. Something new, something different, and I think that’s going to be a highlight for me for sure. Anything else that you want to add?

Yeah. I mean, besides, I guess, the cool thing is being in Chicago, we’re going to do this in-person meetup with art teachers who are local. You guys did that in Florida last time with a a few art teachers?

Yes. It was incredible.

We’re doing that again here in Chicago and of course, I’m a little bit biased and excited to hang out with some people and meet some new art teachers in the area, but it’s going to be really cool, because it’ll be casual and relaxing, but also connecting our community in person, which I think is an exciting part of our conference now.

For sure. I love that. I love the entire community that we get all week, but the more we can expand that, the more we can do with that, the more I love there. Speaking of just doing fun things and engaging with the art teacher community, let’s chat about the conference kickoff. Wednesday night, we always do really fun evening of games and art making and prizes. We are doing Let’s Make a Deal, which I’m super excited to host that and just make random deals with people. Anyway, it’s going to be a really, really fun game. I don’t even know how many people pay attention to Let’s Make a Deal or familiar with it anymore, but it’s a great game. We’re going to have a lot of fun. But Janet, can we get your best advice for why people should attend our games, art making, excitement extravaganza on Wednesday night?

I love the kickoff because it’s so fun and relaxing, and I feel like it is just what we all need, just to get together. It’s just a much more casual experience. Art teachers even come onto the screen when you call them up to be guest contestants or whatever, so it’s really fun to see each other’s faces and not just in the chat. I also love the art making breakout sessions that we do, because again, it’s like a regular Zoom room, you know what I mean? Where you get to see everybody working and kind of enjoy. Plus, Tim, if you are wanting to partake in some excellent art themed adult beverage menu, you can do that too,

That menu is so much fun. Honestly, we always have a non-adult beverage on there, at least one option. Even if you do not partake, but you still want a fancy art related drink, those options are there. Check out the menu and it’s going to be fun. We’re doing a lot of really, really fun giveaways at the kickoff too, of different art making supplies, different things for your classroom, a couple just straight cash giveaways, which people always appreciate that you can use for yourself, use for your classroom, whatever you want. We’re excited to do all those giveaways and it’s definitely worth coming for sure. Hopefully everybody will come to that. Obviously we really want everybody to come live on Thursday to the main event. There’s so many great options there for presentations that you can come to, interactions you can have, but can we get your opinion, Janet? What is your experience on the main event days? What do you enjoy about the main event?

Two big things for me. The chat, interacting with everybody, is insanely crazy. It is so great where everybody just pops in, says where they’re from, and people will be responding to presenters and then they’ll come up with other ideas, and then other people will share, and it’s just crazy exciting and really great all day. I love that part. Even last time, Andrea Beatty, who was our future presenter, she popped in during her chat and it was so cool because a teacher was like, “Where in Illinois are you from?” and she was responding, and they’re like, “I’m from there” and it was this great fan girl moment to be like, “Andrea Beatty just responded to me.” I love that part.

The other thing that I love about the day that’s great to go live is that it’s all day curated so you don’t have to move from session to session, and you don’t have to worry that something isn’t going to be the right fit for you or whatever. You can just be there, kind of set up and be present and kind of tune in and tune out where you need, go to the bathroom or whatever. But you’re not going to really miss anything because then all of that’s in the after path. But I love being there on the day because of all of that kind of energy that happens.

I think energy is a good word, because like you said, there are just so many people connecting, bouncing ideas off of each other, finding common ground on things, helping each other with things, just all the questions and the discussion that goes back and forth is an incredible. I love the ability to just make art throughout the day as you’re listening, as you’re watching. Obviously when I’m hosting, I don’t have a ton of time to do that, but we’re starting today with Joel Scolten doing a painting project, and obviously you’re not going to get that done in the 20 or 25 minutes that he’s introducing it, but you can continue to work all day and continue to make art as you’re listening, as you’re learning, as you’re connecting. I think that’s a really cool experience.

Then obviously I love going online and just seeing what everybody posts on the NOW Conference hashtag, and just seeing all the art making that people do, the notes that they’re taking, the sketches and the doodles and the sketch notes that they’re creating. Just seeing what everybody’s doing I think is really, really energizing, I guess, which is especially good as we’re thinking about going back to school soon.

I know that some people are like, “Oh, I don’t want to think about going back to school quite yet”, you know what I mean? But it doesn’t feel like that. It feels exciting and fun and jotting down the notes or doing the art projects ahead of time, or lessons or whatever, like Joel’s lesson, for example. You have all of those materials then ready for the beginning of the school year. You don’t have to do as much prep, in my opinion. You already have it. I think it’s just a really fun day.

I think even if you’re not in the head space to go back to school just yet, I think this maybe gets you there. I think the conference is exciting enough that it can get you excited about going back to school. No promises on that. I don’t know where everybody’s head is at, but that’s definitely how I feel. Just seeing all of those different presentations, getting all of those different types of inspiration really gets you excited about the possibilities for the coming year. Can we talk a little bit more about Davia, our featured presenter Davia King? She has been fantastic. I think she’s going to be a really good keynote. Janet, what do you think people should watch for with her presentation?

So just a general overview. I mean, she does these murals, like you said, large scale murals where they’re bold colors and then does blind contour drawing of people that she engages with. I think what I love is listening to her talk about the connection with humanity and she’s talking about this blind contour, the intimacy behind it, and it’s funny, I teach it all the time as a drawing teacher, whatever, but it always makes students uncomfortable, which is kind of my favorite part, when you’re like, “Okay, look across from you and stare at the person and draw them.”

I always tell them to gaze into each other’s eyes. It’s very awkward and hilarious for me.

It’s amazing. I love it. I’m going to use that next time. But the idea of this intimacy behind it, or the vulnerability of connecting with humans on that level is really cool, especially in a time when I think that is our focus is kind of bringing back our community, coming back to humanity and connections to, I don’t know, unify us back a little bit after everything. I really love listening to her talk about that and kind of that exchange.

I love her presentation. Like I said, it’s very documentary style, and I think it’s very cool to hear her talk about what she’s trying to accomplish and then immediately see that in action with the students that she’s working with and seeing them help create this piece for their school, which the connections that are made there are very important. I think it’s powerful think it’s really cool to hear from her and to see her create that work, and so I’m excited that we can share that with everybody. Last question before we get out of here. I would love for you to give everyone something to watch for. Let’s just say one presentation from the main event on Thursday, one presentation from the after pass on Friday that you’re really looking forward to, or that you really want to highlight.

Well, you know I’m not good with boiling it down to one thing. All right. So the main event. Other than Nick Hanh coming on talking about games in the classroom, which I think is going to be super fun, and Jonathan Jarvich, he always has some quirky connections to contemporary artists, but other than those two … See what I did there? I just kind of tossed it in there. But I’m super excited for Ruth Burns’s presentation. She is talking about the power of storytelling in the art room, and she just has so many great ideas and prompts and lessons, and she teaches K through, I think, five or six. But really in my opinion, I’m like, “I could totally use this with my high schoolers.”

Oh, absolutely.

You can really adapt.

I’m sorry to interrupt you here. I know you don’t have an answer [inaudible 00:19:16], but I was able to meet Ruth in April and saw her present at NAEA. Like you said, she teaches elementary, but then some of the prompts that she gives and the questions that she … I immediately said, “Oh, I would use this for high school without question. Immediately. I can take these prompts, these questions that she’s giving her kids and take them to high schoolers right away.” I’m super excited to see her presentation.

She’s really great at getting her kids to really use art in that story way, I feel like. I’ve seen her stuff for a while, and I’m always amazed by what she can get her kids to do. It’s really incredible.

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. What about for the after pass?

I actually have two for the after pass.

Oh my God.

I know. I’m excited about Luke Jenner’s presentation because he’s going to be talking about scaffolding video and animation lessons and I feel like video and animation is kind of becoming more and more popular as a niche either in a lesson that’s integrated or an actual class in high school or middle school, whatever. But he just has a ton of lessons and examples, and he’s so generous with giving a folder of all of these student examples to our teachers. It’s going to be really great.

He shared so much, he has everything you need if you are looking to do some animation stuff.

That’s kind of an area that kind of intimidates me, to be honest with you a little bit, is the animation, so he really makes it a little bit more accessible, I feel like.

That’s awesome.

Then I’m going to slip in. So Chris Sacora, I’m also excited about because he’s talking about creativity, and of course I love talking and thinking about the big picture creativity. You had Andrea on recently talking about creativity, you had Katie White talking about creativity, and I’m like, “I want more creativity. Let’s talk about it.”

That’s awesome. No, those are both definitely worth looking at. My recommendations for the main event on Thursday, I’m super excited about Caitlyn Eddington. She’s Art with Mrs.E on Instagram, if people are familiar with her. She is doing a presentation on the power of drawing prompts, and she’s doing it live, so we have no idea what’s going to happen.

Oh my God, I can’t wait.

I know. It’s going to be great. She’s such an awesome presenter. She has such an incredible personality and such great ideas. I’m really, really excited to have her come on and share all of her ideas with us. Also, I’m really excited about Latanya Hicks. She is doing stuff on inquiry-based learning and sort of scaffolding of things that you’re teaching your kids with exploration and discovery. We always get requests for more things for advanced students, more prompts for advanced work, and Latanya’s stuff is just right up that alley. Just great advice for working with advanced students. I’m excited about both of those. Look, I just snuck in too without even realizing it.

There you go.

I really can’t give you crap about that anymore.

Still think I got your beat.

But then for the after pass, I’m really excited about Laura Irmis. She did a presentation on … what’d she say? Building your ceramic confidence. She’s got all the basics. She’s a ceramicist, does some incredible artwork of her own, kind of an expert in the field of ceramics. She shares all kinds of great advice for people who are just starting teaching clay, whether that be how you’re building stuff, how you’re glazing, how you’re firing, just all the basics that you need to get started with that so you can do all of that with confidence. She’s an awesome presenter, great information. I’m really excited. I think that’ll be incredibly helpful for a lot of people. I think that’s one to keep an eye out for.

This lineup is just really incredible this time. I’m really excited. I mean, every time.

Well, you did a great job, Janet.

Way to go. I can pat myself on the back, right?

I was going to say, I don’t know. We’ll see how it goes this week, but I’m excited about that. I think it’s going to be an excellent conference. We’ll wrap it up there, though. Janet, this may be the shortest podcast we’ve ever recorded, and it’s still almost half an hour long, but we did well to keep it short, for us anyway. Anyway, thank you for coming on, and as I said, thank you for all of your help with everything you’ve done for NOW this time around. I think you’ve helped us put together something pretty special and hope everybody will enjoy it this week, so thank you.

Awesome. Thank you.

Thank you to Janet. I appreciate her coming on and like I said in the beginning of the episode and right there at the end, we really could not have put together such a good conference without her. Let me give you one last rundown of what’s happening tomorrow and Thursday, and then after that. Tomorrow, Wednesday the 26th, is the conference kickoff we’re playing Let’s Make a Deal. It’s going to be an incredible game. We have all sorts of amazing giveaways. It’s going to be just a ton of fun. That starts at 7:00 PM Central, and then we’ll be doing some art making probably about 8:00 PM Central. Hey, on Thursday is the main event. This is the conference itself, all of the presentations, all of the learning, everything that you’re looking for, just a full day of presentations for our teachers. That starts on Thursday at 10:00 AM Central and then be going until about 3:00 in the afternoon.

Then on Friday we have the after pass, which you can’t access on Friday, but then you can access for the rest of the year. You have an entire year to dive into all of the learning there. Not only all of the presentations and the art making from the previous couple of days, but an additional 15 presentations that really sort of dive into more niche topics and really can get specific about what you’re wanting to learn, what you’re wanting to check out. Make sure you see everything that’s in the after pass as well. If that all sounds good to you, and I hope it does, again, you can register at the artofeducation.edu/now. You can get even more information, find everything you need to know about the event, and I hope that we will see you there.

Art Ed Radio is produced by the Art of Education University with audio engineering from Michael Crocker. All right, this is our last call for mailbag questions. Amanda and I will be recording later this week when we’re together for the NOW Conference, so send us any back to school questions that you want answer. So timothybogatz@theartofeducation.edu, or look for Amanda on Instagram today, and she may have a question box up there. You can submit questions that we will get answered. Thank you for listening and we’ll talk to you next week, and hopefully we’ll see you this week at NOW.