The Creative Journey Retreat
On May 10, 2006 Erin Jahoda, Amy Kenton, Rachel Kleinberg, and Kathy Piacentine went to Dedham, MA to attend the Creative Journey Retreat with Peter Reynolds. As an added bonus Peter's twin brother Paul joined us to reveal the North Star Online Community of Practice site which he has been developing as his Master's Project through Pepperdine University. Below are some thoughts and comments from those of us who attended the conference.
Erin, Rachel, and Amy at Creative Journey Retreat |
Peter and Paul at Creative Journey Retreat on May 10th |
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"The day with the Fablevision "family" and my Montauk faculty members was one of the best professional development experiences I've had. It was just that - about development - of potential, of the heart, of relationships. Far more time must be designed into school communities for this kind of creative exchange. The collaborative pieces in particular - in which one person begins a drawing and the other finishes-- are especially instrumental - and indicative of the magic that can happen - if we have the opportunities to tap and mix the best in each of us. " - Amy Kenton
"This conference renewed our spirit and inspired us to celebrate our creative talents. The day was such a rewarding experience. Peter and Paul inspire and empower teachers and learners to tap into and maximize their natural creativity." - Kathy Piacentine and Rachel Kleinberg
"I was truly inspired by the activities and discussion of the day. It reminded me how learning is supposed to be self-motivated and fun, something that we often lose sight of in the middle and high school. It also reminded me that as adults, we can, and need to incorporate this idea into our own lives as well. I rediscovered my sense of creativity and really connected with the ideas and individuals involved." - Erin Jahoda
We had a wonderful time at the conference. We were asked to think about experiences in our lives that helped shape our creative spirits. We spoke about ways in which individuals inspired or celebrated our talents and about ways others repressed that spirit. Peter listened with awe and compassion as participants expressed their most joyful experiences and hurtful memories. It was amazing how raw some of these memories could still be 20 years later. In addition, we participated in some drawing activities that gave us faith in our own unique talents.
The story of Ish was captured in an activity in which we all drew something Tea Cup-ish. Below are some of our drawings.
Amy's Tea Cup
Erin's Tea Cup
Kathy's Tea Cup
Rachel's Tea Cup
Later, we created pictures of flowers and were asked to duplicate that flower. We all found out how difficult it is to make a drawing look exactly like another drawing, even if it is our own. We were then asked to duplicate one of our neighbor's drawings, and that was even more challenging. Here is one of Erin's original flowers.
Erin's Baby Head Flower
Peter gave us ideas on how to celebrate students' work. He selected one of Kathy's flowers and, using a water color background, framed it in a gold frame. And then, following The Dot-Ish style, asked her to sign it.
Kathy's Flower Framed
We were asked to each create our own watercolor picture by filling in all the blank space in a rectangle. Peter's fiancee Diana Gaikozva, a world renowned artist and jeweler, took our page of flowers and chose one of them to mount onto our watercolor. Here are the results.
