Melbourne, Australia-based Yaz Gaté, née del Mar, taught English as an additional language and art to new arrivals of mostly refugee backgrounds for 17 years in the UK and Australia. After being treated for breast cancer, she decided it was time to share her love of art and living creatively through her business, Tiny Cupboard Creatives: a small enterprise providing exciting classes, workshops, and events as well as commissioned artwork and creative collaborations with other artists and organizations.

Don’t you love the feeling of seeing your students when they are hit with a bolt of inspiration? During this presentation, Yaz will unpack how she helps her students tap into their creative side using storytelling as one of her superpowers. Learn how you, too, can help inspire your students’ creative approach to art and their artmaking process.

Candido Crespo is a husband, father, artist, and art educator and has taught in the Central Islip Union Free School District in NY for 15 years. He firmly believes that art teachers are at their best when they not only teach others but also create for themselves.

Comic art is a great way to engage students and help them practice a variety of skills, including creativity. In this presentation, Candido will discuss sequential art, comics, interdisciplinary lessons, culturally relevant pedagogy, and comic industry professions. He will also share exciting ways for you to bring comic art into your classroom!

Jerald Robinson is the art teacher at Tapp Middle School in Cobb County, GA. He is in his 17th year of teaching, eighth year at Tapp, and fourth year in the art position. Formerly, he was a special education teacher. Jerald hopes to inspire others and spread love through his art.

That potted plant? Your old stereo? The chair in the back of the room? Each one can be a canvas! Jerald will share how his motto of “everything is a canvas” has helped elevate what he does in the classroom. You will discover how your students can be inspired to make creative, original pieces with anything they can find!

Rachel Albert is a middle school art teacher and director of student activities in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where she develops curriculum and engages students through an array of instructional approaches. Rachel has developed a curriculum that uses technology in innovative ways, such as using art-related apps to support learning and bring student voice into art experiences. She strives to engage all students in art education through integrated learning and school-wide initiatives.

Showcasing student artwork required some extra creativity this year. In this presentation, Rachel will share the steps she took to take her art show online and what aspects of the event she will continue using when art shows can be in-person again.

As a classroom teacher, Yvonne Lopez Taylor used art to make connections with academics. Now, as a studio art teacher, she works to seamlessly merge the two. She is continuously amazed by the work her students create and how they see the world. Art, cheeseburgers, and talking and collaborating with others have always been a few of her favorite things. She is a Texas native who studied in Wisconsin only to return to the Lone Star state to share her passion.

In this presentation, Yvonne will share one of her favorite printmaking activities that she loves to do with her students. Inspired by the work of Margaret Burroughs, she has developed a lesson where students create portraits via collagraphs. Yvonne will share everything you need to know to bring these ideas to your students!

Janet Taylor is a high school art teacher in the western suburbs of Chicago. She geeks out on developing choice-based curriculum and believes that by guiding students through their own creative process, they are empowered to create unique and meaningful artworks.

Do you cringe when you hear the word “assessment”? Do you feel overwhelmed by calculating numbers and assigning letters? Assessing art can make even the most veteran teacher a little woozy! In this presentation, Janet will walk you through quick, easy, and (dare we say) painless ways to approach assessment with an open mind. You will learn how to sift through scores and focus your attention on what really matters.