A California State of Mind.

After a whirlwind break, it is time for me to leave you, beautiful California.  My time here has been fabulous, especially the NAEA 2014 convention (my first ever convention!) in San Diego.

I've gotta tell you, I was totally starstruck running into and attending talks by superstars like Jessica Balsley over at Art of Ed.  These folks are total studs in the art community and I felt so lucky to hear them share out their fantastic ideas and information.

My great friend and art colleague and I were lucky enough to present both a workshop and a lecture at this year's conference, and what a grand experience it was!  Our attendees were fantastic folks and super talented artists.  I was able to share a project I do with my 5th grade students based on the fun and talented Serene Bacigalupi of Leroy's Place.

 

We also attended an awesome workshop hosted by some fellow Midwesterners featuring the artwork of Maine gardenscape artist, Lauren Fensterstock.  So inspired to try one of her paper installations with my students!

We also navigated the many many booths of art vendors. Thank you to the generous companies such as  Michaels, Faber-Castell, Crayola, SmartFab, Prang, Amaco, Dick Blick, and more who shared their wonderful supplies with us.

Packing up our box of goodies was quite a test of our artistic spatial skills.  But we succeeded!

Before...

After!  Also, a special shout out goes to Duck Tape whose wonderful tape was used to seal our WAY overstuffed box.

And after our lecture and workshop was over, I headed on to a different Cali destination which I will share with you soon.

One last note: a trip to San Diego isn't complete without the zoooooo. I got up close and personal with my fave long legged feathered friends.

I also got up close and personal with many a delicious fish taco and will probably be facing fish taco withdrawal when I get home...