AEI History of Awards

AEI Elementary Art Educators Award

2008 Cynthia Spears
2007 Liz Lyons

2006

Amy Pfeiler-Wunder

2005

Susanne Noonan, Sandra Wentworth

2004

Margaret Parks

2003

Mat Safly

2002

Mary Beth Craven

2001

Wendy Livy

2000

Becky Kobos

1999

Annette Vance

1998

Jeff Tansen, Jean Caboth, Shawn Reynolds

1997

Ken Esveld

1996

Kyra Wilcox-Conely

1995

Pat Grubb

1994

Steve Cox

1993

Susan Baer

1992

Andy Helgerson

1991

Christine Laue

1990

Marlyn Green

1989

Sandy Vas

1988

Cliff Coussens

1987

Tempest Kuykandall

1986

Lynda Black

1985

Suzanne Runyan

1984

Joyce Dazey

 

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

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