Year Two of the Elementary Art Cohort

November 14, 2024

Three times this year, a new Elementary Art cohort is meeting at Perpich. Members of this group range from a highly experienced visual arts teacher new to elementary grades to early career and inexperienced visual arts teachers to elementary classroom teachers who are teaching visual arts to their students. All participants are eager to unlock the endless possibilities of art education, empowering the next generation of creative thinkers and practitioners. In the first session on November 11th, teachers were immersed in hands-on art-making that included printmaking and compositional line painting.

Elementary Art cohort participants work on compositional line painting

Teachers expressed multiple reasons for joining the cohort, including:

• Learning more about getting students to not only create art but to think about their art and the work of others.
• Networking—making connections with other teachers.
• Working on developing dynamic lesson plans that increase student engagement.
• Learning more about using the Minnesota K-5 arts standards.

When asked about the best part of the day, one participant said, “Every part of the workshop was the best for me!” Another reflected that the best part “was the community and all the great resources.”

Elementary Art cohort participants work on printmaking

The visual and media arts cohorts are facilitated by Jeremy Holien, Visual and Media Arts Education Specialist at Perpich Center. Holien leads standards implementation, professional development, best-practice in curriculum and assessment strategies, arts teacher evaluation processes, and arts program development. He is responsible for professional learning, networks, and innovative initiatives in visual and media arts education. He regularly consults with school teacher and administrative teams, and works with post-secondary teacher preparation programs. Holien is a co-author of the National Core Arts Standards in Media Arts and co-author of both the 2018 & 2008 Minnesota Academic Standards in the Arts. He draws on his K-12 visual and media arts experience in the US while presenting at local, regional, national, and international conferences on topics that include: the cognitive value of arts education, artistic literacies, technology integration, curriculum/assessment, arts leadership, and professional learning. Holien is an esteemed visual and media artist and has been recognized for his arts education leadership with the 2015 Art Educators of Minnesota Distinguished Service Within the Profession Award, 2015 PBS Digital Innovator Award, and the 2006 TIES Exceptional Teacher Award. He has studied both visual and media arts at Minnesota State University Moorhead and Bemidji State University. He is a 2015 graduate of the School of Arts Leaders with the National Art Education Association. Holien served as the Director for the National Art Education Association’s Supervision and Administration Division from 2021-2023.