Visual Arts Education Coalition Professional Development Day
The event is put on by Seattle Public Schools Visual & Performing Arts Program and Seattle Office of Arts & Culture via the Creative Advantage initiative. This day of learning is hosted by the Seattle Art Museum for SPS teachers, teachers from other districts, arts organizations, and teaching artists. The day will include workshops led by visual arts partners and SPS educators.
Clock Hours: 6
Honorarium: $100 for Seattle Public Schools teachers and Creative Advantage arts partners (Provided to participants from Seattle Office of Arts & Culture.)
Lunch: Provided
Workshop Descriptions:
Auntie Baddie Narrative In this art session, we step into our Auntie Baddie Narrative era—where uncertainty isn’t a weakness, it’s the main character’s glow-up. Instead of shrinking from doubt, fear, or overthinking, we put them on the page and make them work for us. This space is about reclaiming the plot. Using both traditional and nontraditional tools—ink, pen, paper, collage, butcher paper, colorful cut-outs, and unexpected mark-making tools—we create as Native aunties do, intuitively, unapologetically, with intention. Messy is welcome. Dramatic is welcome. Contradictory is welcome. The intention isn’t perfection; it’s presence, voice, and story.
Facilitator: Dr. Georgina Badoni
Meaningful Inclusion: Engaging with Distinct and Focus Pathway Students in Visual Arts Classrooms This workshop combines the expertise of Seattle Public Schools Special Education Program Specialists to provide an overview of the vision for special education, share attributes for students in the intensive special education pathways (distinct and focus), and share strategies, specific to visual arts, that support student learning and inclusion. There will be time to apply learning to your visual arts classrooms through a demonstration lesson by Graham Hill’s visual arts teacher.
Facilitators: Michelle Bammert, Melissa Baron, Marian Fink, Alison Spencer
Teaching Visual Arts in Muslim Contexts: Beliefs, Representation, and Practice This session invites educators to explore Muslim beliefs and perspectives related to visual arts through conversation, observation, and hands-on. The session opens with a facilitated discussion using case studies of real scenarios addressing common questions, assumptions, and nuances around Muslim contexts. Participants will then engage in a light, shadow, and pattern art activity inspired by Islamic visual traditions, with a focus on intention, process, and reflective spaces. Educators will consider how these approaches can be adapted to support inclusive and thoughtful classroom practice.
Facilitators: Sarah Karim, Amina Quraishi
