Jul 18, 2012

#1 Art Teacher to Follow on Pinterest

Art teachers can’t get enough visuals, which is evidenced by the growing community of art teachers on Pinterest.

Pinterest is a form of social media where you can catalog the things you love, but here is my favorite part of Pinterest: Photos are organized visually with a small thumbnail image. This is an art teachers dream because you can “bookmark” a website by using an image from the site as a visual. Then you can organize these thumbnail images into boards, which helps to categorize your Pins. If you would like to learn more about Pinterest check out the Tech Teach: Pinterest.

If you are Crazy for Pinterest then I have an art teacher who is a must follow! Donna Staten has put together some amazing tools for art teachers.

Donna Staten is the #1 Art teacher to follow on Pinterest! Her 254 boards are organized by project types, medium, you name it and Donna will probably have a board for it. Or you will get lost in one her other wonderful resourceful pins. I always get excited to try out new ideas with my art students and Pinterest is a place where I become alive with all sorts of new ideas to try.

All of Donna’s boards are all about Art, except one that I found Just Pinteresting as well! This board has lots of great Pinterest tools, which I had a great time reading about Pinequtte.

I thought it would be fun to create a board for Art Parodies to pin the great remakes out there. I decided to instead use Donna as a resource to link back to. Her seven art parodies boards are organized as Appropriations, American Gothic, Mona, Scream, Starry Night & Van Gogh, Seurat, and Whistler’s Mother. I will be sure to reference back to these boards when my students complete their artist research projects!

With 26,483 pins and counting Donna is a great Pinterest art education resource if I do say so myself. I truly appreciate all of her time and the great assortment of boards. Happy Pinning!

What ways could you use these boards as a classroom resource?

How have you used Pinterest as an art educator? Personal? For School? With students?

cfrobeyinc

Ahhh, yes, Pinterest! I haven’t created an account yet but I LOVE going there and checking things out. I will have to check out this art teacher. The website itself gives great ideas for art projects….a great place to brainstorm! One could literally spend hours on there.

Cathy
- http://www.theartofed.com/ Chelsie Meyer
  
  Yes, Cathy I agree you can easily spend hours there! My husband is always asking me what I’m looking up on Pinterest ;) I LOVE it as well!
  
  I know several people who just go to the site to get fabulous ideas as well!
  
  If you would like to join I can invite you! Just email me your email address… mine is chelsie.meyer@gmail.com and I will send you an invite.
Kmason

I have been trying to start using Pinterest, and can’t. I am still waiting for an invite. Is this normal?
- http://www.theartofed.com/ Chelsie Meyer
  
  It took me a bit to get set up. It was so worth it once I got it though! It took a few trys for whatever reason.
  
  Pinterest has you sign in with your Twitter or Facebook account.
  
  I can invite you! Just email me your email address… mine is chelsie.meyer@gmail.com and I will send you an invite.
http://rainbowskiesanddragonflies.blogspot.com/ Mrs.C

I love Pinterest! It’s my virtual file cabinet! In response to Kmason… it took a couple of weeks before they sent me a link when I sent for an invite. I collect boards for school and myself. My school boards are first so when I need something for class/lessons it is easy to find. I use my Videos for the Art Room all the time in class! I collect short video clips that I can incorporate into my lessons. The students love them! I always follow the pin to the original source before I pin it to see if it is something I can use and/or appropriate for school. I’m waiting for a rainy day to sit down and re-organize some of my boards. You can lose many hours on Pinterest without realizing it!
http://profiles.google.com/ashmom623 Angela Harris

Wowza. She has pinned SO MUCH. Thanks for the tip!
- http://www.theartofed.com/ Chelsie Meyer
  
  Yes, I agree Angela! I’m so impressed with her pins and boards! She is a great resource.
http://profile.yahoo.com/W4DGDLMNC4GQ36X2MKJYYMYTRU flossg

Pintrest is my lesson plan idea/inspiration binder. Why print out lesson plan ideas, when you have it all WITH VISUALS online?
BrandsArtClass

This is totally true! I am feeling so prepared to create new lessons because I know that she has done an awesome job sorting the endless information available on Pinterest:) Thanks Donna!
- http://www.theartofed.com/ Chelsie Meyer
  
  I agree that her organization is amazing! Thanks Donna!
Donna Staten

Hi Chelsie,
I follow your site and just saw your articles about my Pinterest boards! Thanks for getting the word out there to art teachers. I have taught art for 26 years. Pinterest has taught me so much and has given me lots of new and exciting ideas! What a great venue for all of us to share!! I have spoken at a couple of conferences about Pinterest in the Art Room, and the excitement was amazing. I have submitted a proposal to present at NAEA next spring- would be great for all of us “pinners” to meet!
Thank you again,
Donna Staten
- http://www.theartofed.com/ Chelsie Meyer
  
  Donna,
  Thanks for commenting! I truly enjoy checking out your pins and boards, you are such an amazing resource. I do think there is something to be said about Pinterest in the Art Room- social media for us visual learners! Pinterest makes brainstorming art lessons so exciting!
  
  Thanks- I feel very blessed to write for The Art of Education. I can not take credit for this amazing site- that goes to Jessica & Derek Balsley, the founders! Jessica will be presenting at the NAEA conference as well.
  
  It would be great to meet up! I feel so honored that you responded! :)
  
  Thank you for all the work you do organizing and pinning great info for all of us art teachers to be inspired!
- Mstarnitcky
  
  I have been teaching for 23 years of Middle School wonders! I love all of your boards! You do a fantastic job! I would love to meet you at NAEA! I am hoping it is close to Wisconsin next year! Happy summer for a little while yet!
  - http://www.theartofed.com/ Jessica Balsley
    
    Donna,
    
    I hope to meet you at NAEA! I have also submitted a proposal to present. Fingers crossed!
    Jessica
    - Donna Staten
      
      I will definitely look you up! Hopefully, we will both be presenting… but not at the same time.!
      Donna
erica

Fantastic RESOURCE! I will spend way too much time checking out her boards. . . already have!
Suann Evans

I love Pinterest, too! I actually used it in my classroom last spring. I would pin images that I would want to show as examples or reference when we started new projects. How much easier to pin a bunch of images on a board and pull that up to show students? No cutting, pasting into a Powerpoint and all the images are linked to their original source. No making lists of websites, links or blogs. I do check the source links to all my pins to be sure they aren’t leading somewhere inappropriate.
It is a great resource and I encourage its use. Just be sure to set yourself some limits so you don’t get lost there for hours!
- http://www.theartofed.com/ Chelsie Meyer
  
  Suann, Thanks for the great reminder to check the pin’s source links! This is always frustrating when you click on what looks like a great pin just to find that the the source link does not exist :(
  I need to start setting a time limit :) Great idea!
cherie

I also love pinterest. However… my school has blocked it so I can’t get on at school. Does anyone else has this problem? I called and ask them to unblock it but they said they wouldn’t. :-( I do use it at home all the time. Thanks for the information
- http://www.theartofed.com/ Chelsie Meyer
  
  Cherie, This is disappointing to hear that they would not unblock it after you asked them to. :(
  
  My school’s tech guy is very supportive! If a site is blocked and I need it for educational reasons our tech guy bends over backwards to open it up for us ASAP!
  
  I wonder if they would open it up if you showed them how you would be able to use it to help inspire students. Suann Evans (see posts below) stated that she uses it in place of PowerPoints or making a lists for students to gain ideas.
  
  I know our elementary art teacher will show students Pinterest for them to brainstorm, similar to how we as adults use it to brainstorm and share ideas.
  
  “If the leaders don’t get it, it’s not going to happen.” -Scott McLeod
- ARoadman
  
  My tech guy tried to unblock it for me and the filter our school uses wouldn’t allow me to access it, even with his help. So now I have to make sure I am super prepared from home and add the direct link that I pinned into my lesson plan.
  - http://www.theartofed.com/ Chelsie Meyer
    
    Glad to hear your tech guy tried to unblock it for you! :)
    
    Filters on schools can be so funny sometimes! Thanks for sharing ARoadman!
http://www.theartofed.com/ Chelsie Meyer

Suann, Thanks for the great reminder to check the pin’s source links! This is always frustrating when you click on what looks like a great pin just to find that the the source link does not exist :(

I need to start setting a time limit :) Great idea!
Swshumaker

Oh my… this just made my whole week. Thanks so much for sharing!!!
Diamondteacup

I follow her, and have for months. Does she ever leave the house.
- Donna Staten
  
  Haha!! You made me laugh! Yes, I do leave the house! I have always read everything I could get my hands on about art- books, magazines, journals, etc. There is so much great information online about art- blogs, websites, etc. So, for me, Pinterest is just a great “filing cabinet” to store all the things I read and want to remember. And, I am usually doing something else while I am pinning. So, keep following and enjoy!
  
  Donna
http://www.facebook.com/twasciuk Theresa Wasciuk

come see me at Kollage o graphy……art teacher/artist………dog lover! Pin your original art!
Pingback: Some Insight on Paring Down Your Teaching Files | The Art of Ed
Donna Staten

Hi Jessica and Chelsie,
My proposal to present “Pinterest in the Art Room” was accepted for the 2013 NAEA conference! Hope to meet you both there!

Donna Staten
- http://www.theartofed.com/ Chelsie Meyer
  
  Hello Donna, Congrats! Very well deserving!
- http://www.theartofed.com/ Jessica Balsley
  
  That’s awesome! I will see you there. My presentation, “Blogging for Art Educators” was accepted as well. Go technology and art!
http://twitter.com/PinkNGreenMama Pink and Green Mama

I couldn’t agree more, I love Donna’s boards!