Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia Lamar Dodd School of Art will host art educators and administrators from across the country and Canada at ThinkTank5 from June 2-6. The five-day meeting of discussions and workshops will allow participants to explore the preparation of visual artists and designers for the 21st century.
An initiative of Integrative Teaching International, ThinkTank was founded in 2005 by Mary Stewart, foundations program director at Florida State University. Stewart, who will attend the meeting, is also the author of Launching the Imagination, a widely used college visual arts textbook.
The theme of ThinkTank5 is “Four Minds for the Future: Creative, Constructive, Critical, Connective.”
“We ask our art and design students to imagine something new, even though we often teach them in the same ways we taught 100 years ago,” said Richard Siegesmund, associate professor of art education in the art school and president of Integrative Teaching International. “We want our students to see the future and how art and design art critical to the way we live. It is about economics. We don’t make stuff in the U.S. anymore-we invent stuff. This is the world our students will live in. How do we help students understand that they need to join a larger conversation about the role of art in our society? This extends beyond just the aesthetic project you are working on.”
Participants in ThinkTank5 are experienced and emerging educators in foundations courses from post-secondary art institutions-first and second-year courses where beginning art students learn the basic formal skills that mark their entry into the formal art disciplines. Participants range from new master of fine arts students to deans.
This fifth iteration of ThinkTank is limited to its 70 participants, though the group is accepting applications for the 2011 meeting at http://integrativeteaching.org/. The public is invited to interact with participants of this year’s meeting at an exhibition in Gallery 307 of the Lamar Dodd School of Art by artists and educators Philip Ayers and William Itter. The exhibition, “Found in Nature: Paintings and Drawings,” is scheduled to coincide with the meeting. The opening reception on Friday, June 4, from 6-7:30 p.m. is free and the public is invited to attend.
The Lamar Dodd School of Art is located at 270 River Road on UGA’s East Campus; Gallery 307 is located on the third floor of the facility. For more information, see http://art.uga.edu or call 706/542-1511.