Welcome to the final newsletter of 2022! This one is a special one with an essay by one of our recently retired teaching artists, so if your email cuts it off, be sure to click the button or link provided by your email client to view the whole email. It's worth it!

~ Allied Arts staff

What's New At Allied Arts?

Our Next Gallery Exhibit!

Exhibit dates: Dec. 2 - 17, 2022, 11:00-4:00 pm
Art walk and Opening Reception: Friday, Dec. 2, 2022, 6:00-9:00 pm * Performance provided by Marcia Guderian *

Our annual Holiday Festival of the Arts has been a Whatcom County tradition for 43 years and this year it promises to be even bigger! Visit the festival itself at 1411 Railroad Avenue and browse one-of-a-kind gifts crafted by local vendors. 

But that’s not all! For the month of December, the Allied Arts features a selection of our fabulous Holiday Festival talent at our downtown Gallery to give them a chance to exhibit some of their larger, higher-end showpieces that don’t otherwise make it to the holiday festival. 

Come view the showcase at the Allied Arts Gallery located at 1418 Cornwall Avenue, in downtown Bellingham. For more info, visit our website at www.alliedarts.org

Upcoming Deadlines:

• If you'd like to share content for our Art News 360 newsletter, email the important details and images to gallery@alliedarts.org before Dec. 22nd. (keep in mind, it will be edited as needed)
  
  
• Remember our Member show is in February! If you'd like to bring a piece of your own art, be sure it's ready to hang by January 31st, 2023!

* Special Feature *

Teaching for Allied Arts: A History

by Janet Oakley, recently retired from Allied Arts' teaching artists program

I have always loved history since I was a girl. I grew up on pioneer tales from the family going West, a great-grandfather who was a Union surgeon at the Battle of Gettysburg, a great-great-grandfather who was an amateur geologist in the Hayden Expedition that scientifically explored Yellowstone for the first time, and many tales of my courageous great-grandmother, Bongie and Nana, her daughter, in the late 1800s. I am so lucky. 

It was easy to pursue a history degree in college and later fall into museum work at Mission Houses in Honolulu and museums in the Pacific NW. I wrote historic stories as a girl and today, I write historical fiction for adults. History has been a wonderful, fulfilling pursuit I'll never let go. Most of all, I have enjoyed some 36 years teaching history hands-on to students as an Allied Arts of Whatcom County teaching artist. Just a few weeks ago, I told them that I was retiring. 

In the beginning 

My first exposure to teaching history to kids was when I was a guide at Mission Houses in Honolulu in the 1970s. The wood-framed house came all the way from Connecticut in 1821 as a pre-fab and was set up on a coral lined basement, the first of its kind in Hawaii. Honolulu in the 1820s was vastly different from what it is today, but how do you convey history in a meaningful way to young students? It was challenging (but fun) telling the story of the house, but when a student asked "Where's the TV?" I knew that the way to explain history was to experience it hands-on. 

When my family and I moved to the Mainland from Hawaii in 1977, I looked for a place to work with students in the local classrooms. The Whatcom Museum was training volunteers to go into the classroom to teach a hands-on activity workshop on Coast Salish Indians. I signed up for that. When I was asked to demonstrate spinning and weaving in my oldest son's classroom, I created my own hands-on history program. Sometime around 1983, I was drawn into the Allied Arts’ nascent artists in the community program. 

My teaching of history has always been the belief that children can understand concepts and process by doing it. By understanding how things work or are made, students come to appreciate the long ago lives they study in their social studies programs. From the start, my workshops were tied to the Washington State social studies curriculum taught in the schools. I drew on my training as a historian to make them historically accurate.

Pioneers in the Classroom 

“Sheep to Cloth: The Pioneer Way” was the very first hands-on workshop I developed. I taught third to fifth graders how to card and spin wool, dye with natural dyes, and make a journal to record their findings. I always gave a brief talk using an overhead projector to set the historic stage and explain how a kid would fit into that time (I’ve been doing PowerPoint presentations for the past decade), then the class was divided into four groups. For the next hour, students in the classroom passed through four different stations led by parents I had trained earlier. Soon I added hands-on history workshops on pioneer toys, historic journals in the classroom, early schools of Whatcom County and colonial life. Math and 19th century technology was added to the stations per teacher interest. Later, when social studies shifted history to 5th grade, I added a workshop on the Oregon Trail. 

I don't think anything has given me more joy than exploring history with young learners. I’m so grateful for the PTA at Roosevelt Elementary and the teachers in the Bellingham and Whatcom County schools who consistently invited me back every year. Over the years, I created social studies curricula for several school districts and national parks, a pioneer museum, and for my own years as a museum educator at a county museum. My time at Allied Arts, however, will always be top of the list. It will be hard to say goodbye, but I’m hoping that I made some sort of contribution to the Teaching Artist program. Good Times and wonderful memories.

Member & Community News!

Gallery Syre is looking for artists!

Gallery Syre is pleased to announce its first artist Open Call. We look forward to seeing all of the amazing art that will be submitted. Deadline is January 6th, 2023, 5 PM. Email Casey Curtis, gallery manager, with any questions at  casey@gallerysyre.com.

Inspire Washingtion Wants You!

Each year, Inspire Washington hosts Arts, Heritage, and Science (AHS) Week during the legislative session February 8-10. It is the time when advocates meet (virtually and in person) with their lawmakers to educate them on the issues facing the cultural sector. Each of the 49 legislative districts has its own team of advocates. We would love to see you sign up as an AHS Week Advocate this year!

Inspire Washington makes advocacy easy and fun. They provide you with ample training tools that help you learn about the cultural legislative agenda and how to talk to elected officials.

It is important that we advocate because we get to have a voice in the government process, create lasting relationships with elected officials who represent us, and be a voice for our cultural community.

Many Thanks to our Members & Sponsors!