Kate Vinson Presents at Association for Experiential Education Conference

February 23, 2021

Kate Vinson, Visual Arts Instructor, recently presented a workshop at the Association of Experiential Education (AEE) South East Regional Conference. The workshop, titled Art, Making & Experiential Education: Creating Connections focused on deliberate connections, intersections, and the benefits of using art, and art-making, to expand, enhance, and strengthen a variety of experiential education programming. The workshop investigated ways to personalize art education both as an active programmatic tool and a way to expand client engagement. The workshop used the art of book making to facilitate and demonstrate interdisciplinary connections. Vinson had a global audience with participants from Colorado, Georgia, North Carolina, USA and Jakarta, Indonesia, etc.

Reflecting on the experience, Vinson said, “The opportunity to present at the AEE’s SE Regional Conference was an exciting event. It allowed me to bring my past work as an adventure educator to my present as an art educator. The combination of these two areas challenged me to step out of my comfort zone and actively demonstrate more intersectionality of the field. It was exciting to have workshop participants from all over the world.”

The Association of Experiential Education (AEE) is a global membership community comprised of experiential educators, practitioners, inquirers, researchers, and students with the shared goal of elevating the field of Experiential Education. AEE believes learning through experience positively transforms people and our world. Learn more about AEE here.

A slide from Vinson’s presentation

The AEE South East Regional Conference, themed Reimagining Experiential Education, took place February 19-20, 2021 in a virtual format. Experiential educators are no stranger to uncertainty and change. Difficult and adverse times such as the ones we are facing now, also offer wonderful opportunities for reflection and renewal as educators reimagine new methods of achieving the mission of experiential education. As such, the conference aimed to answer questions such as:

• How have programs, classrooms, offices, and outdoor spaces changed?
• What assumptions have been challenged about navigating life?
• How might we adapt and thrive as we move forward?

Kate Vinson began teaching at Perpich in 2018. Kate hails from Michigan where she began a career in Outdoor Recreation, specifically Adventure Education, where she taught students of all ages in experiences from Ropes Courses, Sea Kayaking, Elderhostel, and Outdoor Education. She came to Minnesota for M.S. in Experiential Education and received her Art Education License at the same time. She has taught in a variety of Art Education settings such as: Museum Education, Adult Education, Arts in Adult Day Care Programs, and K-12 Schools. Vinson is a practicing artist with a focus on sculpture using fibers/organic materials to create contemporary forms. She has received a Jerome Foundation Project Grant through the Textile Center of Minnesota and participated in several mentor/protégé experiences with local arts organizations as ongoing artistic development.