CSEA/SCÉA National Conversation – Art Education and Community Development – Saturday, March 20th

To participate in the National Conversation,
please click on the link below:

Cynthia Jane Taylor (1936 – 2020)

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Cynthia Jane Taylor.  The CSEA/SCEA sends sincere condolences to her family, friends, students and colleagues.

Cynthia Jane Taylor, age 84, lover of life, mother, teacher, artist, conversationalist, musician, seeker, died suddenly at home in Sambro Head, Nova Scotia, on October 19, 2020. She was the wife of Hugh William (“Bill”) McKibbon; mother of Jeffrey, Tim, Eric, Melissa and their partners; stepmother of Eric and Lisa; grandmother of 8; step-grandmother of 2; proud great grandmother of 4; sister of Robin, Priscilla, and Melanie; aunt of numerous nieces and nephews; best friend and mentor of many all around the planet. She was beloved by all who knew her.
Exceptionally full of vitality and youthful energy, Cynthia had a beaming smile. She expressed her joy and love for life and other people through boundless hospitality, humour, and positive encouragement, especially in art, music, and thought.

Born in 1936 as the first of four daughters of Lorne and Ruth (née Smith) Macey of Montreal West, Quebec, Cynthia quickly showed her intelligence and creative spark. She studied architecture at McGill University and later art education. She met her first husband Bruce Taylor (1929-1996) at McGill. They soon embarked on what was to become a lifelong passion for international travel. When Cynthia was 22 years old, she and Bruce travelled throughout Europe in their campervan. She was not worried that she was pregnant with her first child, and was excitedly planning to have Jeff in Italy. However, just before his birth she had a change of heart and boarded a plane home while trying not to reveal her pregnancy. Cynthia and Bruce eventually settled in Peterborough, Ontario where they raised four children, and Cynthia began to teach art in high schools.

In 1975, Cynthia moved to Nova Scotia with her second love, Bill, and continued to teach art. She taught a year at J.L. Ilsley High School in Spryfield before becoming a professor in the Art Education department of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax. There Cynthia worked closely with an exceptional team of professors who cared deeply about their students and the future of art education. The ‘diva’ of Art Ed, Cynthia organized various conferences as well as the annual fun-filled retreats to Paradise, Nova Scotia for the students, staff, and their families. She also served as President of the Faculty Union of NSCAD. As a teacher of art educators, her focus was to encourage students to teach art playfully, with passion, good humour, and excellence.
While teaching at NSCAD, Cynthia returned to her own studies, earning a Ph.D in Art Education from Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania, after which she became NSCAD’s first female full professor. She also developed the art of painting on silk, and her home and those of many of her friends and family are filled with her wonderful, vibrant silks bursting with colour.
Cynthia and Bill also shared a love of travel and meeting people from other cultures. After their retirement as art teachers, they travelled extensively and enthusiastically. In 1989, they travelled around the world for seven months. Later, they settled into the pattern of spending a few months of each year in Spain, Italy and India. Rarely would Cynthia be found without her watercolours and paper on which she would first sketch and then paint the beautiful vistas around her. Italy continued to spellbind them, and they eventually found the mediaeval Tuscan town of Barga to which they returned every spring for 17 years. In Barga, they established a large network of friends and enthusiastically hosted numerous guests from around the world in “Casa Rosa.” Cynthia radiated hospitality. Not only was she superbly generous with family and friends, but for many decades, hosted fellow travelers in their home in liaison with the non-profit peace organization SERVAS International.
Most importantly, Cynthia was at the heart of a large and loving family. She always gathered together as many as she could for birthdays, holidays or just to talk about the adventure of life. She loved to cook and serve carefully prepared meals, bake homemade cake, and have lively conversations full of laughter. Going to Cynthia and Bill’s colourful and artful ocean-side home, which they built themselves, was pure joy.

She was the consummate hostess and entertainer. Everyone has funny stories about Cynthia. Once, after pouring everyone a cup of tea, she put the tea cozy on her head and pulled bits of her hair through the holes meant for the handle and spout. We all burst out laughing as her face erupted with glee. She was pure joyful light: shining and shining and shining.
Cynthia’s approach to life was to bring out what was ‘artful’ in all things. She was also drawn to deep thinking, especially the writings of Martin Heidegger and the philosophical discipline known as hermeneutic phenomenology. For much of her life Cynthia was engaged in a search for deeper truth, for how to awaken, for how to live rightly and to serve what is worthy. In this search, she was guided by the teaching of G. I. Gurdjieff and by working with others in the community of fellow seekers who gained so much by being with her. She brought a sensitivity and a great love to playing the Gurdjieff-de Hartmann music and made it a sacred work. She often returned to the question “What really matters?”

Cynthia lived an abundant and adventurous life. She was deeply loved and will be greatly missed by her family and by her many, many friends.
A celebration of life will be held at a later date once current public health restrictions have been eased. For now, the family will be hosting a socially-distanced visitation at the gazebo near the Dingle Tower, Sir Sanford Fleming Park, Halifax from 2-4 pm on Sunday, November 1, 2020. All are welcome.

Registration Now Open for CSEA’s 2020 AGM and Panel Discussion – Teaching Art Education during COVID-19

Dear CSEA/SCEA members and contacts,
 
You are invited to attend the 2020 Virtual AGM, to be held via Zoom on Saturday, October 17, 2020, beginning at 10:00 am (Pacific Daylight Time)*.
 
All members and contacts are invited to attend the meeting but please note that only current members are entitled to vote on any motions made. If you have any questions about the status of your membership, please e-mail Mary-Jane at office.csea@gmail.com.
 
This meeting will include very short reports from the current executive, financial information, and the announcement of our new executive for the 2020-21 term. It is scheduled to last ½  hour.
 
At approximately 10:30 (Pacific Daylight Time)**, everyone is invited to participate in the Panel Discussion, Teaching Art Education during COVID-19. Presidents from each provincial art education association will speak about the current situation in their province, and then the floor will be opened to questions and comments from the audience in attendance. The panel will last a maximum of 1 ½ hours.
 
You must register in advance for the AGM and/or the Panel Discussion.
 
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUsd-yrrzkuHtOFOoMZAkBLAJJwl62hYNA2
 
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email
containing information about joining the meeting.
 
The link and registration information is the same,
whether you plan to attend the AGM, the panel, or both.
 
Please register, even if there is a possibility you might not be able to attend.
 
Sincerely yours,
 
Peter A. Vietgen, Ph.D.
Associate Professor – Visual Arts
Interim Director, Tecumseh Centre for Aboriginal Research and Education
President, Canadian Society for Education through Art
Department of Educational Studies
Brock University | Faculty of Education

 
* Start time for the AGM:
10:00 am Pacific Daylight /
11:00 am Mountain Daylight or Central Standard (i.e., SK) /
12:00 Central Daylight /
1:00 pm Eastern Daylight /
2:00 pm Atlantic Daylight /
2:30 pm NL Daylight
 
** Start time for the Panel:
10:30 am Pacific Daylight /
11:30 am Mountain Daylight or Central Standard (i.e., SK) /
12:30 Central Daylight /
1:30 pm Eastern Daylight /
2:30 pm Atlantic Daylight /
3:00 pm NL Daylight
 
———————————————————————————

Aux membres et personnes-ressources de la CSEA/SCÉA,
 
Nous vous invitons à participer à l’AGA virtuelle de 2020 qui se tiendra le samedi 17 octobre, via la plateforme Zoom, dès 10 h (heure avancée du Pacifique)*.
 
Si tous les membres et personnes ressources sont conviés à cette séance, veuillez noter que seuls les membres en règle peuvent voter sur les motions proposées. Pour toute question concernant votre statut de membre, veuillez communiquer avec Mary-Jane à l’adresse office.csea@gmail.com.
 
Cette réunion, d’une durée prévue de trente minutes, comportera de brefs rapports de l’exécutif actuel, des données financières et l’annonce de notre nouvel exécutif pour la période 2020-2021.
 
Vous serez tous invités, vers 10 h 30 (heure avancée du Pacifique)**, à prendre part au Groupe de discussion : Enseigner l’éducation artistique en temps de pandémie de COVID-19. Les présidentes et présidents de chacune des associations provinciales d’enseignement des arts aborderont la situation actuelle au sein de leur province respective. La parole sera par la suite donnée aux membres de l’auditoire pour poser leurs questions et soumettre leurs commentaires. Cette discussion de groupe durera au maximum une heure et demie.
 
Vous devez vous inscrire à l’avance à l’AGA et/ou au Groupe de discussion.
 
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUsd-yrrzkuHtOFOoMZAkBLAJJwl62hYNA2
 
Une fois votre inscription complétée, vous recevrez un courriel de confirmation contenant des informations sur la procédure à suivre pour participer à la séance.
 
Les informations relatives au lien et à l’inscription sont identiques que vous participiez à l’AGA, au groupe de discussion ou aux deux.
 
Veuillez vous inscrire même s’il se peut que vous ne puissiez y participer.
 
Recevez mes salutations les meilleures,
 
Peter A. Vietgen, Ph.D.
Professeur agrégé – Arts visuels
Directeur intérimaire, Tecumseh Centre for Aboriginal Research and Education
Président, Société canadienne d’éducation par l’art
Département des sciences de l’éducation
Université Brock | Faculté des sciences de l’éducation

* Début de l’AGA :
10 h – heure avancée du Pacifique/
11 h – heure avancée des Rocheuses ou normale du Centre (c.-à-d. SK) /
12 h – heure avancée du Centre /
13 h – heure avancée de l’Est /
14 h – heure avancée de l’Atlantique /
14 h 30 – heure avancée de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador
 
** Début du Groupe de discussion :
10 h 30 – heure avancée du Pacifique /
11 h 30 heure avancée des Rocheuses ou normale du Centre (c.-à-d. SK) /
12 h 30 – heure avancée du Centre /
13 h 30 – heure avancée de l’Est /
14 h 30 – heure avancée de l’Atlantique /
15 h – heure avancée de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador

Creativity Matters Journal – Volume 1 Out Now!

Exciting new journal freely available on-line at http://www.atlanticcentreforcreativity.com/creativity-matters
by the Atlantic Centre for Creativity, Dr Mary Blatherwick, Chair (and long-time member, supporter, and former executive member of the CSEA/SCEA):

CSEA’s first Cocktail Chat

Thanks to all who participated in CSEA/SCEA’s first “Cocktail Chat” on Friday, August 28th, hosted by Dr. Sandrine Han (CSEA/SCEA’s Director of Special Projects).

August 28

Topics discussed included:
– Are you ready for the new school year?
– What have you taught online? How did you do it?
– Are you wondering what other art teachers have taught online?
– Would you like to share your online teaching experience?
Keep watching here and on our Facebook page for information about future CSEA/SCEA Cocktail Chats!

You are invited to the first CSEA/SCÉA Cocktail Chat!

You are invited to the first CSEA/SCÉA Cocktail Chat!


Who: Canadian art teachers!!
When: August 28 (Friday) @ 1pm PST – Please note new time
Where: Zoom! https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86851417752?pwd=UUVtNUlUTmdCekU2a3FYQXh3UkMxZz09
What: Informal virtual chat, hosted by Sandrine Han.

Are you ready for the new school year?
What have you taught online? How did you do it?
Are you wondering what other art teachers have taught online?
Would you like to share your online teaching experience?
The CSEA Cocktail Chat is a platform for Canadian art teachers to share, discuss, and ask questions about the upcoming uncertain school year. We might not have answers for your questions, but we have each other! Let’s share our experiences, ask questions, and learn from each other!

This is a free event for all Canadian art teachers (K-12 & higher education, as well as gallery, museum, and community art educators). We hope to see you there!

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Sandrine Han (CSEA/SCÉA Director of Special Projects) at sandrine.han@ubc.ca for more information.


Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86851417752?pwd=UUVtNUlUTmdCekU2a3FYQXh3UkMxZz09

Meeting ID: 868 5141 7752
Passcode: 285028
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Yours in Art Education,

Sandrine Han, Ph.D.
CSEA/SCÉA Director of Special Projects
(National and International)
sandrine.han@ubc.ca