Let's Travel

Hello internet world…I know…it’s been way too long. Looks as if the last time I posted was close to A YEAR AGO. Really?! I am totally “SMHing” (shaking my head) right now. I promise to work on this. I really have to be keen on publishing more blogs so I can let you know what’s been up creatively. In my defense…I am a man of many trades, not just the artist but also the salesman, the educator, the administration, the writer. Get my drift? I believe I’ve touched on this a couple of posts back but I am really excited in announcing what Abelitoart has been involved in for the past four years other than selling and producing new artwork. Education. Yup, essentially, I contract out my art education services to schools that have the money to afford my programing. The name of my art education business is Abelitoart Appreciation. Wait a minute…back up…art education business? I started contracting out my art teaching services to school districts in the greater Houston Area back in 2012 when I wrote an art residency project for a grant coordinator to teach students from a couple of middle schools contemporary self portraiture painting. After having performed the residency, other grant coordinators who found out about my art program contacted me to see if I had any other art projects I could create for various grade levels. So I got to writing. The demand for my services was awfully high when I first started out, so I brought in a good pal of mine from college to teach under my tutelage and also learn the business for the next two years. Shout out to Ivan Camarena, a very talented artist who is now the proud owner of Cam Fine Art Workshops. Since my participation in education, I’ve managed to teach students from every grade level fine art. But with a twist. Aside from teaching them proper painting technique, I teach them about vocational opportunities available to them and how they themselves can eventually make a living with fine art production. Basically, while I’m teaching my art programs, I am also giving the students in participation real time advice on what it’s like to begin an entrepreneurship…because it’s currently happening to me. An educational workshop meant to enlighten perspectives and enhance technical skills in the production of fine art and other areas of study.

After three years of conducting various art residencies available to grade levels 3rd – 12th, recently, for the 2014-2015 school year, Abelitoart Appreciation wrote a collaborative art residency that brought two professional traveling artists to recipients of the 21st Century Grant to teach animation and the benefits of traveling. The cartoon required the help of students from multiple grade levels to complete, which made the project a collaborative one. The cooperative efforts came from students at a high school, an intermediate school, and two elementary schools. The two artists in charge of the art residency visited the participating students at each of the schools and had different tasks for every student involved. Throughout the entire school year, each team of students (who never met each other) were assigned distinctive tasks in order to complete the film. Some tasks included voice acting, online research regarding locations explored in the film, storyboarding, and painting. Each student displayed a vital role that was necessary for it’s success. What the resident artists wanted to achieve alongside the students involvement was a “moving mural” with fun educational facts about locations visited within the film. Check out the animation titled “Let’s Travel” by clicking the video below.