Earlier in September I went to Chiang Mai in Thailand to attend the Asia Region Art Educators Workshop. This wonderful conference is held annually in different schools in Asia. The best about this is that it is organised by art teachers for art teachers. The workshops are hands-on, practical and extremely relevant. It really is the best professional development for Art teachers. Oh, and of course, it’s heaps of fun too.

This year the host school was Prem International school which is set in a beautiful campus. We stayed in rooms on campus, were well fed and extremely well looked after.

View of Prem International School campus

Along the lines of previous conferences the first day (Friday), we were all taken out to visit local artists and galleries.

First we went to see a father and daughter. He works in acrylic painting landscapes and local house scenes. His daughter is an extremely interesting and very versatile artist – doing installations, video and traditional media.

Lovely setting for an artists talk.

Painting in progress by local artist.

In the afternoon we went to a local restaurant and gallery. We were given a demonstration of a stencilling technique then got to have a go ourselves.

stencil demonstration

stencils ready for us to use

stencil equipment

stencilling in action

On day two we were on campus for workshops (these had been pre-chosen). I took part in Graffiti, Oil Pastels and cardboard sculpture.  There were several workshops on offer, it had been hard to choose which workshops to sign up for.  All the workshops were well run and great fun. I took away new skills, new project ideas and new contacts.

Graffiti test run

As a group we had a large board to work on once we had done a bit of practice.

group graffiti

The almost finished wall.

Demonstration of card sculpture.

Card sculpture in progress

Some of the finished card sculptures.

It was an amazing weekend, meeting fantastic art teachers, learning new techniques and having a blast!  I can’t wait for next year’s conference!