NAEA Conference - Vibrant

This year the National Art Education Association Conference was held in Louisville, Kentucky. Lucky for our UW-Stout students, the conference was during their spring break! Thanks to the AIM Grant, a delegation of 10 highly active involved future art educators attended along with 3 alumni art educators.

During this conference the students saw 2 key note speakers, Nate Powell and the Guerrilla Girls, and attended many different professional development and learning sessions, as well as hands on lesson planning workshops.

Thursday night the delegation had a group dinner to reconnect and discuss how the first day of the conference went, and all of the different sessions everyone attended.

Josh, Lily, and Victor taking in the downtown art scene.

Throughout the conference the students explored and enjoyed the local art all around downtown Louisville. Many murals and sculptures were found, and a few also were excited in the architecture of the surrounding area. Murals and street art are a fantastic way to make and share artwork with a large group of people.

Excitement arose in the group when we found a colorful shake sculpture around the corner from the conference center.
Lin (left) and Josh (right)

Lin enjoying a “shake”

Victor Kopping

The main street is peppered with stunning
murals between storefronts and restaurants,
and Victor’s favorite was this brightly
colored Abraham Lincoln.

Marci, Lin, and Karla enjoying more murals and street art.

Getting to know one another better while exploring a new city and appreciating all that we see.

Marci and Lily holding a project sample from a session where they learned about incorporating books and contemporary artists into lessons for all ages.

Lily Schwartz

Guest Speaker - Nate Powell

During the opening session, the first keynote speaker on Thursday was author Nate Powell. He talked about his journey as an author, and how he handles being an author, artist, and parent in this society. He also touched on how comics is a very accessible medium for everyone. Often art or materials can be expensive, but all you really need to make comics is some paper, pens, and creativity.

Universal Design of Learning for Preservice Teachers

An overview of preservice lessons/projects that prepare students for adapting their lessons to students of all abilities. This interactive session started with a speed cutting contest, with left-handed scissors. This activity encouraged us to think about how sometimes even having proper materials can help students excel. We looked into lesson adaptations, choice based lessons, incorporating diverse artists into examples so that students feel represented, classroom environment, and providing proper assessment and feedback for each student individually.

Inquiring Minds - What to Know

This session focused on the inquiry method and including students questioning throughout the learning process. We want students to engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. When students are engaged with art their engagement and curiosity increase. This also is a way for students to listen and understand ideas that are not like their own, backed by each students observational evidence. I really enjoyed this session, as it forced me to thing about how my own experiences impact how I react with artwork.

Art Education Club Programming

This session was presented by the art education club at the university of Kentucky. I really enjoyed learning about how they encourage involvement in their club across all majors, and their different meeting ideas. They offer various workshops for the campus and community throughout the school year, like Women’s History and Handicraft, make and take activities, cute and paste poetry, glow shows, and Day of the Dead community weaving. I’m excited to bring back these programming ideas to UW Stout and Menomonie.

Curiosity Lab

Research in the art room. These presenters are on the research team for NAEA, and I learned a lot about how we can bring research and data into our classrooms to work with students, and how we can study our own research within the classrooms that can be used to justify the importance of art in schools.

Embroidery on Photos

This was an early morning session, so I was expecting it to be a little less busy than it was. We learned about how to embroider on paper, magazines and photographs, and how we can tie in meaning, data, or information into the embroidery. I really enjoyed this hands on session, and I made a few really wonderful connections with teachers and museum educators that I talked to while we were working.

Engaging with Art Through Nature

Ecopedagogy was the primary focus for this session. I learned a lot about bringing the environment into our classrooms and artwork, or our classrooms to the environment. We also had some really interesting discussions about how different people and cultures have various definitions of “environment” and both urban and rural can bring nature into their inspiration and classes.

Lin Boland

Overview of the conference:

NAEA 2025 was another great opportunity and experience for myself and my Stout peers once again. This year, every educator was able to come together and find ways to help one another and support one another during a stressful and uncertain year. I was able to meet educators who were willing to share resources to help in my future classroom. NAEA never fails to bring an uplifting community together, and this year, if I could describe our group of educators in one word, I would describe us as: powerful. I think being together and empowering one another is important now more than ever so I am glad I was able to have the opportunity to join my fellow art teachers at the national level for a third time!

Hip-Hops Transformative connection to SEL and DEI in arts education

For my first official session, our speaker focussed on how to make students feel seen and heard through hip hop music and projects based on music they know. This person in particular used kendrick lamar as their inspiration for their final unit in one of their art classes, and students are to make a project that represents a story of some kind, usually their own personal story. This seems like a great idea for an SEL lesson and having students show stories instead of telling them.

We will draw with anyone about anything speed date

I always like to attend sketchbook speedates at conferences, but this one peaked my interest more than usual. The goal for this particular session was to talk about anything, any topic at all, and then draw as we talked with our neighbors. Once we finished, we all added our conversation- based drawings to a community poster to show others what conversations we may have had and how they vary from person to person.

Big gay church: the final act

For my third session, I went to the final session of big gay church. This session showed another side of such a warm community as everyone came together to remember 15 years of an uplifting group of individuals. There were poems, video goodbyes from characters that other people played, and overall I think it was a wonderful sendoff for the community.

Kayla Ellefson

Hip Hop's Transformative Connection to SEL and ED&I in ArtEd: This session focused on how hip hop can be used to connect students to social-emotional learning and equity topics in a real, meaningful way. It wasn’t about turning students into rappers, but rather about using elements of hip hop—like rhythm, storytelling, and identity—to help students express themselves and reflect on their communities in their artwork. I appreciated how it tied into culturally responsive teaching. It gave me some practical ideas and a broader way of thinking about student voice and connection.

Tips and Tricks for Teacher Sanity: This was a very practical session full of small things that can help reduce stress and keep things manageable. The presenter shared time-saving strategies, classroom management ideas, and simple routines that help with staying organized. It was helpful to hear from someone with experience and to get ideas that could actually make a day-to-day difference. I wrote down several ideas I’d want to try during student teaching or my first year.

Youth Artists Advocate for Positive Social Change: This session highlighted student artwork centered around social issues. The students shared what they created and why, and it was clear how art can be a way for young people to process what’s going on around them and speak out. It was straightforward but powerful. I liked seeing how teachers supported these projects and helped students take the lead while still guiding the process.

Cross-Level Collaboration and the Importance of SEL in the Art Room: This session showed examples of elementary, middle, and high school students working on connected projects, often with a social-emotional learning focus. I liked seeing how collaboration can happen across grade levels and how SEL was intentionally built into the planning. The strategies shared felt doable, and I liked how they showed real student work and the outcomes of the projects.

Play, Process, and Meaning Making: Learner-Driven Creating: This session focused on letting students take the lead in their artmaking by emphasizing play and exploration over final products. It was grounded in process-based learning and choice. I liked how it connected to student motivation. When students are trusted with their own creative process, they tend to engage more. There were good examples of how to support meaning-making without over directing.

Ignite Artistic Fire in Your Middle Schoolers: This session was all about strategies to keep middle school students engaged and excited about art. It included specific project ideas, classroom routines, and ways to build classroom culture. I liked the clear, practical takeaways, things like using sketchbook prompts, building in choice, and how to manage materials in a way that works for that age group. It reinforced the idea that consistency and relationships go a long way.

How We See Neurodivergence in Media Matters: Exploring Visual Culture Representations of Autism: This was one of the more thought-provoking sessions. It looked at how autistic people are represented in film, TV, and other media, and how those portrayals impact students. The session challenged stereotypes and showed how to be more thoughtful about what media we show and how we talk about neurodivergence in class. It wasn’t about having all the answers, but about being more aware and intentional. I appreciated the examples and questions they raised.

Cultivating Creativity with Simple and Effective Challenges: This session offered a bunch of quick, low-prep challenges that can help get students thinking creatively, especially during transition times or when you need something short and engaging. Some of the prompts were open-ended drawing or material-based challenges that could work at different grade levels. I liked how flexible everything was. It made me think of ways to build more moments of experimentation into a week.

First Year Teacher Tips: This was straightforward advice from teachers who had made it through their first year. There were reminders about setting boundaries, staying flexible, and asking for help. Some of the tips were more about mindset, while others were practical (like organizing your supply area early). It was helpful to hear what people wish they had known and to get a more realistic picture of what to expect.

Low Budget, High Impact Supplies: This session shared a ton of ideas for saving money while still offering students meaningful materials. There were examples of alternative tools, reused or repurposed supplies, and dollar store finds that can stretch a budget. It made me feel more confident that I don’t need fancy materials to run a strong art program. There were also ideas for getting community donations and building partnerships.

Conference Reflection
Overall, the conference was really worth attending. I left with new ideas, resources I can actually use, and a better understanding of how to connect with students through art in both practical and meaningful ways. Some sessions gave me lesson ideas, others helped me think more about classroom management or how to support all learners. I also appreciated seeing how other teachers approach things, especially when they shared student examples. It was a good balance of inspiration and down to earth advice, and it helped me feel more prepared as I move into my first job this coming fall!

Victor Kopping

During my time at the NAEA 2025 convention in Louisville, Kentucky, I was able to do a number of things including networking with people in the profession, talking with fellow preservice students, and attending sessions, and after each day was done, I was able to experience some of what the city has to offer. Over the few days I was in town, I feel I learned a great deal and was able to forge stronger relationships with my UW-Stout peers.

I opened the first day, Friday, with a thoughtful session welcoming first-time attendees and explaining the structure of events at the conference. I thought it was considerate of the organizers to host a session like that for those of us that hadn’t been to a national conference before.

From there I attended the first keynote of the event featuring graphic novelist Nathan Powell. He discussed his work both generally and specifically, covering his technical process as well as the social impact of his art and art like it. He emphasized the value of art in community and sharing powerful messages. I found his speech to be one of the most inspiring and enlightening that I was able to experience.

Next, I made my way to a session on equitably teaching LGBTQ+ artists. The panelists explained important rules of thumb for teaching really any diverse artist but especially LGBTQ+ artists, primarily to not treat them tokenistically. They speakers shared a number of queer artists’ work as they relate to the principles and elements of design and different art movements and styles, such as Shantell Martin and her use of line.

The following session I attended was about encouraging students to document their work. The speakers explained how to design assignments to guide students through recording their inspirations and tracking their sketches and drafts. One thing they brought up that I hadn’t thought of before was how having students make a process book for their projects limits their ability to turn in AI assignments as it documents their thoughts as they work.

My next session shared a transgender history of art education. A scholar in the community shared their work-in-progress essay that explored the history of art education with a focus on transgender perspectives. I found it interesting how, as much as trans perspectives were incredibly sparse in the past, they’re still very sparse in modern day aside from a small handful of influential teachers and scholars.

The second to last session I saw on the first day focussed on reengaging disengaged students. We got to hear perspectives from three veteran teachers on the impacts of homelife, background, and neurodiversity on students’ ability to focus in a classroom setting. The main takeaway was that, as a teacher, you should consider each child’s needs in your classroom. Traditional teaching methods may not work for every student so you have to communicate with them. One thing the presenters really stressed was getting gifted and talented certification in order to offer more opportunities to advanced students.

One of my favorite sessions I went to at this year’s conference was the final one I attended on the first day. This session centered on strategies for teaching empathy through art history. The speakers had us in the audience participate in a few activities in which we thought through some historical works of art together, specifically focussing on considering what the characters in a piece might be thinking or feeling about the situation they’re in. I found the idea of connecting visual analysis to Social Emotional Learning lessons really interesting as it wasn’t an idea I’d considered before.

After a wonderful evening exploring the city with my fellow UW-Stout preservice teachers and a good night’s sleep, I opened our second day in Louisville with a session about teaching female artists. The panelist, whose specialty is teaching AP Art History courses at the high school level, took us through a list of influential female artists to teach to our students. I especially enjoyed how she highlighted both historical artists like Mary Cassatt as well as contemporary artists like Toyin Ojih Odutola.

My next session was Saturday’s keynote event: the Guerrilla Girls. Only one of the two planned members of the activist group was able to attend, but she gave an uplifting speech about utilizing statistics and humor to bring attention to important social issues. An interesting point she made was about how capitalism has a great deal of influence on what art gets displayed in museums. I hadn’t thought about how private collectors and privately-owned museums decide what art gets a spotlight and whose art is deemed valuable in our country. I was really moved by the way that their art has been translated into so many other languages because their message resonates with artists all over the world.

After a quick break for lunch, I was able to attend a thought-provoking session on the representation of autism in the media and how it impacts our view of neurodivergent people in our greater culture. The presenter, an autistic teacher, showed us examples of autistic characters in American and Korean television and discussed the stereotypes perpetuated by said characters. She concluded the presentation by explaining both some accommodations to make our classrooms more accessible for neurodivergent students and the importance of interacting with real neurodivergent people in order to hear their perspectives and challenge negative stereotypes of autism in your mind.

The following presentation I saw was about cultivating good sketchbook habits in your students. They primarily focussed on the value of time constraints and random prompts on sparking creativity, having us in the audience try a few prompts to see said creativity in action. I thought that using such prompts as a warm up to loosen up students’ creativity at the beginning of class sounded like a really useful teaching technique.

After that, I attended a session that shared a number of tips for incoming teachers. One of the tips that really stuck with me was to find community with your fellow teachers. Having professional relationships with other people in your field and similar fields to ask for support is something that I feel will be really valuable when I graduate and become a teacher myself.

The final session I was able to attend before we headed home was a panel of two disabled preservice students and one of their professors discussing accessibility in the classroom. I found their perspectives incredibly valuable, especially their experiences with what elements in the classroom environment and instruction that did and didn’t help them. While disabled people are not a monolith that all experience their lives the exact same, I feel that being able to hear personal experiences from individuals with disabilities on top of research around accessibility is important for making more informed decisions regarding making my future learning environment as accessible as possible for all my students.

Ultimately, I am incredibly grateful that I was able to have such an experience as attending this conference. I feel that I learned a large amount of information and met many people in my prospective field that I wouldn’t have been able to had I not been able to attend this event. I look forward to potentially having an opportunity like this in the future as I believe that it can only strengthen my skills as a future art teacher and member of this community of educators.

Gwen Stein

Misfit Memory Work: Challenging Sexism and Ableism in K-12 Self-Portrait Lessons

At this session I learned that there is a stigma around visual scarring or other physical differences that can make students uncomfortable. I learned artists now show scars in self-portrait but we don’t ever show it in the K-12 classroom. Some artists we learned about were Laura Swanson- an artist with dwarfism, showing different people.We even learned about Frida Kahlo’s portraits that show less disabled-ness are typically shown even though her work goes both ways. We learned about bringing back memories by using art to bring back repressed memories. We also talked about the questions: How does peer pressure work with self-portrait? And how do others perceive them? This is the link that that we got shared during the session.

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/1839028362538910564

Exploring Self-Care Among Arts Teachers in an age of Burnout and Anxiety

At this session we learned that time is important to take time to refuel instead of “moving like in the machine”. We also learned about self care for some people: making art, exercise, meditation, family… They talked about a holistic view of self care. We talked about how we aren’t able to drink enough water because we don’t have enough time to go to the bathroom. We also talked about being able to let go of perfectionism, “be planned and prepared for class, but its ok if everything isn’t graded.” They also talked about Teachers want more PD’s related to their subject. They also talked about the fact that teachers want to be given time for research, like a sabbatical. We weren’t given very many solutions, just answers.

Getting Started with Tape Art: Practical Approaches for Preservice Art Teachers

We made a tape painting/sculpture. We learned that tape art is not too expensive. We learned how to making curves by having your hands close together. We also learned that If the tape is not filled in the project doesn’t use that much tape.

Navigating AI in Art Education:

We learned why we should teach AI, you can teach how to use it responsibly. This is also important to be honest about AI. This can also help talk about the value of art.It’s going to be a part of schools at some point so why is this a start?

There are ways to talk about cultural appropriation and bias that we can teach about. We learned about “encourage[ing] AI as a starting point and not a finish line”. Canva can use AI for students and not adobe express.Siri is AI and google so it's in everything…We also learned about Reversey… to track if the product turned in is AI. We were also told to look into plagiarism checkers on google classroom.

From Trauma Informed to Trauma Swept: A journey to Empathy Understanding, and Peace:

We started off by learning how to make google slides have captioning: google sides: slideshow and menu at the bottom to add captioning. We learned trauma makes it so you might not be able to picture the future. We learned about Adverse Childhood Experience is a type of trauma and then took a test (in the artifacts) that is an indication for if you are likely to have experienced trauma. This test is not a complete list, things like violence, racism and poverty. We learned to be realistic with trauma, read cues, detach from the situation, saying “no”, Sticking to boundaries, and advocating. We also learned “it's ok to be alone”. We talked about the process but not the product to help our students who are experiencing trauma. We learned about tranquil two minutes in the classroom, silent two minutes to help students. We also learned “behaviors are needs” so students do them to say something.

Unlocking digital Art With Chromebook:

We learned about different tools to use with chromebooks that are ready to use, free and for most require no log in. They also tried to get ones with strong privacy policies so they would be acceptable in schools. Here is the list below:

Autodraw: has AI, but this could be an entry point, there is also freeform drawing. Could create a coloring sheet this way… maybe just a fun thing
Chrome canvas: this has layers, Limited pressure sensitivity.
Adobe Express: drawing is an option, there is pressure sensitive brushes.
miam, there is a paid version but forever just limited brushes. This can be a collaborative art canvas. This is similar to jam board.
Canva: they have drawing but no pressure sensitivity. This is good for collage, they also have a never ending white board. Mood board is a good idea with reference imagery.
Sketch.io: this has layers and multiple brushes.
Paint sumo: saves between sessions, but still try to save. Tap and hold to change things about the brushes to make them more yours. This one doesn’t follow normal symbols.
Kaliki: save file and import it the next day.
Pixel art: may be blocked. Has a teacher and student portal. Has an uncontrolled gallery so it might be blocked or not good because we have issues knowing if images are appropriate. Allows layers…
Sculpt.gl: (not on PDF): This is a 3D modeling software. Has symmetry, looks like forger.
This is Sand: more of a mindfulness tool but still cool.

They sell their tablets at wacom for $39 each at the cheapest.

Elaborating the Narrative of a Personal Meaningful Photograph with Collage, Assemblage, and Sculpture: Linda Popp

We learned college doesn’t necessarily have to be 2D.We talked about how students can make something “Authentic, personal, and meaningful to you”. We also talk about how artists that students reference do not have to align the project materials if they are inspired by the artists.We talked about this process NOT being scrapbooking. We always start with a title to start with an intention. Take pictures along the way… have students draw thumbnails for non phone schools.

Pressed bugs and flowers, other memorials are good for narratives.These use a real photo and narratives to bring the artwork to life. This is meant to be a cherished piece, and should be a meaningful project.

Unlocking Potential: Exploring Literacy in Art Education:

We did an activity where you write/draw from the perspective of a non person price of an artwork ( examples Salvador Dali) We also talked about approaching artwork with: I think, I see, I feel, I wonder. Look at an artwork and have them answer the questions.Another activity was creating a diptych and triptych of what happens before and after a painting or image.Another activity was artist research, just have artwork up with one or two hints about the price and then they figure out the title, artist, year made, and anything else. This is not only digital literacy and literacy.Have students describe the artwork to find it in google.They can also research in sketchbooks, adding not only words but doodles and drawings.We also talked about having students keep sketchbooks like a diary, but make it so other students don’t get to look at them.

Reflection:

This is my fourth NAEA conference with AIM. This conference is my first one not being a preservice teacher. This conference make me feel more confident in my passion for teacher by getting to hear from more veteran teachers. I also learned so much and one of my sessions was about trauma informed teaching which is going to be so valuable as I continue to help my students with issues outside and inside of my art classroom. My well-being has also been improved during this trip. I got to hang out with art ed peers and make art. I had a session about tape art with my friend Abigail and it was so fun. It was a free session, and they even gave us mocktails. We got to make a cool temporary piece of art as well as learn about a new medium we had never worked with. I got to network with not only teachers from across the country, but also contacts at colleges so I can look forward into starting a master’s program. I got to hear a first-hand account from a current masters student as well as get in contact with someone who sent me a code that will waive the application fee. This experience has made me more confident to be able to finish out the year. It is all thanks to the AIM grant that I have been able to get to experience so much and learn even more than I would if I had never been able to go to these conferences.

Abigail Thompson

Summary:

Mock Interviews & Resume Review:

For this session, I came prepped with my resume and my interview binder which contains an example cover letter, the 12 werf questions, examples of my work, lesson plans, and student work. I first had a mock interview which had a shaky start but went well overall. The two main pieces of advice I got were to keep an eye on the time throughout your interview and to memorize at least ten terms principles will know and recognize, such as PBIS and 21st Century Skills.

Tape Art:

This was a free ticketed session for preservice. In this session we learned what tape art is and there is a group of artists who go around schools teaching it to students. Tape art as we learned is making a temporary mural on a wall or floor with tape. We also learned that they use a specific type of that that only one factory still makes, despite this it is only a little over $50 for a box which should last a couple of sessions. We then dived into making tape art for ourselves with a theme of plants coming alive with feelings in a science lab.

Exploring Self Care:

This session, I felt would’ve been better for teachers who are currently teaching and for those who hold power to make change in their schools. This session was a lot of review of numbers gathered from a poll they sent out to teachers. Some things they did talk about which was helpful was to keep doing your hobbies, taking time away from work to function properly, engage with others outside of your job, go to therapy if needed, and to take water and bathroom breaks. They also talked about setting boundaries for both you and for others. These included, trying to keep work at work, staying out of gossip, and that its ok to stray from the to-do list.

AI in Art:

This was an interesting session as with reason a lot of art teachers are opposed to AI in the art classroom, it was also interesting as at my former student teaching placement I attended an in-service day which talked about how to implement AI in classrooms. This session talked about the importance of teaching students about AI, what is, and how you can identify it in art, as it is not going away anytime soon. They also talked about teaching responsible use, and to teach the ethical considerations, and how it might be used in the classroom.

Preservice Adaptive Art:

This was another free preservice ticketed session. In this session we learned about making art accessible through inclusion, scaffolding, and equity, along with why it’s important. We talked about how we can adapt our materials, tools, teaching style, and lessons to make them more assessable. We also talked about different things that might need adaptations in the classroom. These were; intellectual disabilities, visual impairments, hearing impaired, emotional and behavioral, sensory, and gross motor skills.

Unlocking Digital Art w/Chromebooks

This was a really good session as I don’t know much about digital art. It introduced us to several free programs that students have access to on their chrome books and the difference between the programs. These included: Auto Draw, Chrome Campus, Adobe Express, Magma Studios, Canva, Ex Cali draw, Sketch IO, Paint Sumo, Kleki, Pixel Art, Sculpt G.L., and This is Sand.

What New Teachers Need to Know – Tackling Your First Few Years with Confidence:

This was a good but fast session. The presenter talked about curriculum, instructional strategies, classroom management, building relationships, assessment, repurposing rubrics, and informal formatives.

Literacy in Art Education:

This was another great session. We started off with a drawing warmup based on student’s vocab words, and talked about the importance including literacy in art, as it enhances reading, writing, critical thinking, and communication skills. Some of the broader benefits talked about were creativity, cultural appreciation, and social emotional development. Some ways we talked about including it were presenting an artwork and having student draw/discuss what may have happen before, what was currently happening, and what may have happened after. Another one was researching in reverse, showing just the artwork and presenting the student with only the time period and medium, and having them research the artwork with the limited information to find out more about it. We also talked about visual journaling and documentation, research, experimentation, practice, and reflection. The lasted thing discuss was having every class keep a sketch book.