Art Keys Educational Workshop for Artists
with Kathleen Kirkpatrick and Jan Stephens

Saturday, March 8, 2008 10:00 am – 5:00 pm Willits High School Visual Arts Studio, Willits Registration Deadline: February 19, 2008

On Saturday, March 8, from 10:00am – 5:00pm, local arts educators Kathleen Kirkpatrick and Jan Stephens will lead a hands-on workshop entitled “Art Keys: Let the Standards Be Your Guide.” The workshop will take place at the Willits High School Visual Arts Studio, Room 16. Art Keys is designed to increase the number of professional artists in Mendocino County capable of presenting standards-based visual arts lessons to students in grades K-12. The course includes a one-day workshop on March 8, followed by one-on-one mentoring with the workshop presenters, leading to an opportunity to present a self-designed art lesson in a public school classroom.

Art Keys is a supplemental program of the “Get Art in the Schools Program” (GASP), an arts education collaborative of the Arts Council of Mendocino County and the Mendocino County Office of Education. An eligibility requirement for applying to GASP is prior experience presenting an art lesson in a classroom setting. Artists who lack this practical experience, but who successfully complete the Art Keys Educational Workshop, will be eligible to apply for a GASP grant the following year. Another benefit of completing the Art Keys course is a greater understanding of the California Department of Education’s “Visual & Performing Arts Framework for California Public Schools-K-12.” GASP artist applications are ranked according to an established criteria that awards for a number of factors, including an artist’s ability to offer arts programming that enhances curriculum as outlined in the “Visual and Performing Arts Framework for California Public Schools.”

Registration
The registration fee for “Art Keys: Let the Standards Be Your Guide” is $35 for members of the Arts Council of Mendocino County: $50 for non-members. The registration fee includes a copy of the “Visual & Performing Arts Framework for California Public Schools-K-12,” all workshop materials, and light refreshments on March 8. The registration deadline is February 19, 2008. Artists are encouraged to register early as space is limited, and special consideration will be given to produce a workshop with equal geographic representation - including artists from every region of Mendocino County.

To join the Arts Council and start receiving the benefits today, click here.

Click here to download an Art Keys Artist Application Form

Click here to download an Art Keys Workshop Agenda

For additional information, call the Arts Council at (707) 961-5449 or email director@artsmendocino.org.

“Art Keys: Let the Standards Be Your Guide” Educational Workshop for Artists is sponsored by a grant from the Community Foundation of Mendocino County’s Community Enrichment program.

About the Art Keys Instructors

Kathleen Kirkpatrick is the Willits High School Chair of the Visual & Performing Arts Emeritus. She has taught visual arts at the secondary level for 27 years and she has been teaching visual arts for Mendocino College for seven years.

In 2001, Kathleen was selected to attend the Teachers Institute in Contemporary Art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is a member of the California Alliance for the Arts, the National Art Education Association, the California Art Education Association, the Arts Council of Mendocino County and the Willits Center for the Arts. She has been the Coordinator of the Extended Learning Program for five years.

Kathleen is a visual artist and visual arts educator. Kathleen has been the curator of Art Under 20 for seven years and she created and led the implementation of A Hot Winter’s Night – the Willits High School annual collaborative visual & performing arts event four years ago. Kathleen started the Willits High School Safeway eScrip Art Program earning over $150,000.00 for the visual arts department since 2000. Kathleen is an advocate for visual arts education for all students as a core academic subject.

Jan Stephens is a visual artist and visual arts educator. She has a B.A. in Fine Arts, a Masters Degree in Arts Education, and a California visual arts teaching credential. She is a member of the California Arts Project (TCAP), the California Alliance for Arts Education (CAAE), and was a member of the steering committee for creating a cultural plan for Mendocino County, a project of the Arts Council of Mendocino County and the Mendocino County Community Foundation

Jan is a working artist and owner of Organic Attire, a line of hand-dyed and printed organically grown cotton clothing. She is also a painter has exhibited her artwork in the Bay Area, Mendocino County, New York and Arizona since 1974.

Jan is also a visual art teacher and grant writer and has brought over $250,000.00 into Willits’ public schools for arts education. She coordinated a California Arts Council Demonstration Project and a California Department of Education Arts Work Grant at Willits schools between 2001 and 2005. Jan believes that arts education is essential for all students and strives to make that a reality.

• In the Spring of 2005, Kathleen Kirkpatrick and Jan Stephens were selected to attend the Kennedy Center for the Arts two-day seminar, Planning Effective Workshops for Teachers, at UC Berkeley. The Art Keys Workshops grew out of that singular and stellar experience.

 

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