AEI History of Awards

AEI Elementary Art Educators Award

Wow!  I am appreciative and humbled by this acknowledgement and honor.  My passion for teaching creative spirits to soar has never waned. I believe each one of us can find the artist inside of us.  With encouragement, we can all learn to be creative thinkers.  We can learn how art touches our lives in the past, present, and future.

As a teacher, one always wonders if students are absorbing your philosophy of art and its importance in their lives.  Then, when you least expect it, one of them comes along and affirms your hopes.  For me, the legacy was complete when one of my elementary students became an art teacher. 

A special thanks to my family, friends, colleagues, and to those who dumped “creative junk” in my art room, for helping me nurture the creative spirits of my kids. Our town may be small, but the support for the arts is huge!

This last summer while I was drawing with my seven-year-old niece, Adi, she gave me a picture of coneflowers and at the top she said it all,

            “When you draw you go to another place.”

Cynthia Spears