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THE ART OF NATURE
In collaboration with Charlevoix-Emmet ISD, Crooked Tree Arts Center - Petoskey is proud to host a professional development day for art and science teachers to explore a variety of impactful methods for fostering inspired and interdisciplinary learning in the studio and classroom.
Art and Science unite in this interactive and informative workshop. Participants will learn more about the local possibilities of blending science, nature, and art for their classrooms. We will begin our day with a Keynote presentation by 2 representatives from the Little Traverse Conservancy and 1 local art teacher. Then we will dive into a hands-on challenge, take a field trip to a local nature preserve, and finish the day with 2 break out sessions.
When: Monday, April 14, 2025 (8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.)
Where: Crooked Tree Arts Center - Petoskey
461 E. Mitchell Street
Petoskey, MI 49770
Registration and 6 SCECHs available through Char-Em ISD.
Registration for homeschool and non Char-Em ISD teachers is Thursday, April 10, 2025
Participants will have opportunities to:
- engage their curiosity and creativity in hands-on activities and curricular development
- explore nature at a local nature preserve (weather permitting)
- gain experience exploring art and environmental science concepts in studio activities
AGENDA
8 - 8:30 Welcome, arrival and check-in
8:30 - 9:15 Keynote
9:15 - 9:45 Explore and Create
9:45 - 10:00 Curriculum Activity
10:30 - 10:45 Share
Break
11:00 - 11:30 Tea / lunch in the Galleries
11:30 - 11:45 Travel to Nature Preserve
11:45 - 12:45 Sarah & Sarah Session at Nature Preserve
12:45 - 1:00 Travel back to CTAC
1:00 - 1:50 Breakout Session #1
2:00 - 2:50 Breakout Session #2
3:00 - 3:30 Survey, Questions and Giveaway
Keynote Presenter Bios:
Kelcey Coveyou graduated from Illinois State University with a Bachelor's Degree in Art Education and Northern Illinois University with a Masters Degree in Art Education. She moved to northern Michigan in 2005. She is an elementary art teacher in Harbor Springs, MI. 2024-2025 is her 26th year teaching Art. Currently, she teaches choice based art (TAB) art to students in Kindergarten through Fourth grade. TAB (Teaching for Artistic Behavior) is a Nationally recognized choice based art education model. In a nutshell, Mrs. Coveyou teaches a new art concept or technique every class session, however she does not tell her students what to make. The students are innovative and creative, plus their artwork is authentic!
The Education Department received an infusion of enthusiasm and passion for this work when Sarah Mayhew came on board in February 2011. The granddaughter of Dana Houseworth, a well-known Michigan state park manager whose duties included Petoskey State Park, Sarah has conservation in her blood. In 2006, she received a B.S. degree in Outdoor Recreation Leadership & Management from Northern Michigan University.
Since then, her experiences have taken her to places such as Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest, where she has taught in various education and outdoor leadership settings. “As an environmental educator, I can expand on a traditional classroom lesson into one that will reach multiple learning styles while providing real-life, hands-on experience. They can see it, feel it, smell it, and understand it. They are experiencing nature. This experience gives them a sense of adventure, confidence, and accomplishment. It’s a gratifying feeling for me to be a part of that experience.”
Sarah Koetje moved to northern Michigan after graduating from Western Michigan with a degree in Interpersonal Communication and business. She and her two sons, Gavin and Rowan, love exploring and learning as much as possible about the world around them. Adventures big or small; they are up for it all!
For years, Sarah and her boys attended the summer programs that The Little Traverse Conservancy put on. Once her boys were both in school, she was looking for a job. Not just any job, but a position that would fill her soul— Something that she believed in. The Little Traverse Conservancy was hiring seasonal help in their education department. She updated her resume and sent it in that day, and here we are, three years later.
“My interest in environmental education stems from my passion for nature, conservation, and my love for children. I pinch myself daily— what a gift, what a tremendous advantage. I get to enlighten young minds as they are simultaneously illuminating me. It’s pure magic.”
Breakout Session Leader Bios:
Jim Beckering is in his twenty-fourth year of teaching art for Boyne City Public Schools. He brings a lifelong love for the arts to this professional development day. Jim believes students' futures and teachers' attitudes and emotions can be molded in a positive direction through shared experiences. In his breakout sessions he will bring a combination of nature and human interactions through drawing still lifes that explore tension and balance. Multiple techniques and media will be explored.
Johnson Hunt Veeder, Visual Arts Instructor, Interlochen Center for the Arts, resides in Interlochen Michigan where she is a new wife/mom/step-mom, practicing artist and art educator. She has taught Experimental Fashion, Printmaking and Studio Art at Interlochen Arts Academy for the past 10 years. She is a former Florida resident and holds a MFA from Florida State University. She has been awarded 1st place at DisArt’s Process and Presence Fashion Show during Art Prize 2018 in Grand Rapids, MI. She has been the recipient of FSU’s 30 under 30 Award, and Florence Teaching Award. Currently she has work on exhibit in the North West Michigan Regional Juried Exhibition in the Dennos Museum in Traverse City.
