A recap of our Fourth Annual Evening for Educators

To all those who could not join us for our Fourth Annual Evening for Educators, we thought we'd share a few of the exciting moments along with comments left by those who attended the event.

The highlight of the evening clearly was the heartfelt and impassioned keynote speech by Stacey Watson, founder of Drop-In Nation. She shared her “accidental fate" of becoming an educator and the challenges our city and country face to improve the education system. Stacey thanked the teachers for dedicating their lives and careers to the children of Western New York and connected her discussion to many of the themes brought forth in the exhibition McCallum Tarry: Intersections. The Burchfield Penney is proud to announce our future partnership with Drop-In Nation.

Throughout the evening, docents shared the ways that they support and create customized visits for schools, including a writing activity on the works of Charles E. Burchfield and a kinetic movement tour. Educators were also treated to painting demonstrations in watercolor and acrylics by exhibiting artists (who are also docents).

Here are some of the comments we collected:

• “I have tried to attend this event every year. I find them well organized and relevant to education and NYS core curriculum. I think it is a terrific outreach to our diverse subject areas.”
• “I always enjoy this. It is important to get us out of the classrooms where testing is pulling us away of the real teaching of art.”
• “I have never been to the museum, so I learned about EVERYTHING!"
• “I greatly enjoyed the active participation component of the writing and dance workshops. To participate as a learner is crucial or teachers.”

Please contact Mary Kozub for information about school tours. Thank you for the recommendations for improvement, and we hope to see you again soon and for the Fifth Annual Evening for Educators in fall 2013!

Mary Kozub, Museum Education and Tour Manager, develops educational programming for guests of all ages who visit the museum. After receiving a BFA in painting from the University of New York at Buffalo and a master’s degree from Canisius College, she taught art for 36 years. She now heads the docent team of 40 extraordinary volunteers and is also a docent at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.