Over spring break, I had the opportunity to do some exploring downtown in Saint Paul with some friends. We decided to check out the train station which had an awesome glass installation hung from the ceiling, as well as a light installation. The light installation was cool because it depicts swimmers swimming across the lights. We didn't realize they were swimmers until we went to take a picture of them and the photo helped to flatten out the image so we could see what was happening.

We also swung by the new Minnesota Museum of American Art which had some work that I found really interesting.

The Twin Cities were also having a juried high school exhibition of the top 100 artworks in the city. It was amazing to see such talent!

Here's a little shameless plugging for my friend's art show. It's seriously sooooo good.

If you are in the Eau Claire area, I HIGHLY suggest swinging by Volume One's Local Store to check out their current art exhibit. The show is by my good friend, Ashley Harrington, who does some AMAZING work. I love her blending of non-traditional art materials such as cooking spices, gunpowder, and knives. I was particularly drawn to the painting above. She starts with water media to paint the surface and then adds cooking spices to create a textured ground. What really drew me into the piece though was how she cut into the paper. You can faintly see the lines the knife left in the colored area of the painting. She used the knife to carve scenes of cities into the paper. This creates a ghost-like effect of cities and nature throughout time.

It was great being able to see how her artistic talents and ideas have developed since she graduated!

Inspired, exhausted, rejuvenated, excited. These all describe what I am feeling after attending the National Art Education Association's conference. I attended the 3 day event with Ms. Scott and Mrs. McDole, East and West's art teachers, as well as with 5,000+ other art teachers from around the world. It was amazing attending professional development sessions hosted by many of my art idols, many of whom I have mentioned on my blog before.  From assessment to technology to interdisciplinary lessons, I attended some great sessions and took away many ideas that I hope to bring back to Milton. I'm already counting down the days until NAEA 2017 in New York City!