Georgia State University’s (GSU) Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design and the Georgia Art Education Association (GAEA) opened their classrooms to the next generation of art teachers on July 10, hosting The First Years Experience: Summer 1-Day Art Education Intensive for Educators — a free, daylong arts education training program, built for people just starting out, or just starting over, in the art classroom.

Educators practice Chinese brush painting during a First Years Experience GSU workshop on bamboo technique.
Participants in the First Years Experience learn traditional brush techniques during the “Chinese Bamboo 101” workshop at GSU’s Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design. (Courtesy of Georgia State University)

More than 40 educators attended the arts education training program, which opened with remarks from GAEA President Marea Haslett followed by  a keynote on creativity, resilience and advocacy in the early years of teaching by Dr. Amy Sery, a visual and media arts teacher at Briarlake Elementary School in DeKalb County. 

From late morning through mid-afternoon, participants rotated through artrs education workshops covering visual journals as a teaching tool;  “Chinese Bamboo 101,” a Chinese brush-painting session; needle-felting paired; and sessions on classroom management, resume-building and interview prep. Other workshops looked beyond the traditional educational setting, covering careers in museum education, arts administration and curriculum writing. Dr. Adéwálé Adénlé, an assistant professor in the Welch School, led a tour of GSU’s studio classrooms. Participants also had the chance to visit GSU’s EXLAB makerspace and take in the exhibition “Where Being Takes Root: Works by Southern Artists From the Larry M. and Gwendolyn E. Walker Collection.” 

  • roup of art educators practicing brush painting during GSU's First Years Experience intensive.
    Educators from across Georgia work side by side during a workshop rotation at the July 10 intensive. (Courtesy of Georgia State University)
  • Educators work on a needle felting project at a First Years Experience GSU workshop table.
    A hands-on fiber arts activity doubled as an introduction to GAEA membership benefits during the intensive. (Courtesy of Georgia State University)
  • Art educators gather around a classroom table during GSU's First Years Experience program.
    Caption: Educators gather for a workshop discussion as part of the day’s rotating sessions. (Courtesy of Georgia State University)

Why this, why now?

Jennifer Mack-Watkins, a lecturer in GSU’s Art Education program, said the intensive traces back to her own first year in the classroom. After more than 17 years as a K-12 teacher, she said she looked back on her own early questions and gaps — and built a day meant to answer them.

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 “I felt it was important [to] provide preservice and new teachers various perspectives that included administrators, leaders, veteran teachers, and professional education associations and the Georgia Department of Education,”  Mack-Watkins said.

Mack-Watkins traced her investment in access back to high school in South Carolina, where early encouragement from teachers opened doors — until, in her junior year, a newly hired teacher rejected her application to Advanced Placement Art. 

“The challenge of not having access to art classes for a year became my motivation,” Mack-Watkins said. She comes from a family of educators, she said, and wanted her own courses to help other teachers make art “accessible.”

Mack-Watkins hopes this summer’s arts education training program signals something bigger: that GSU can serve as a training resource for art educators across Georgia and as a destination for prospective students who want a program blending studio practice, teacher preparation and research. 

Sherri Daye Scott is a freelance writer and producer based in Atlanta. She edits the Sketchbook newsletter for Rough Draft.