Wilbraham & Monson Academy's Fine & Performing Arts Chair Paul Bloomfield sees art through a different lens, and he's more than happy to help even the most advanced artists focus on viewing art in a different light.
For the second year in a row, Mr. Bloomfield will give a presentation to art teachers from throughout the state. On Nov. 11 at the University of Massachusetts at 3 p.m., he will offer a lecture on "Art for Social Change and Positive Engagement" at the Massachusetts Art Education Association's annual conference.
"I'll give a presentation based on trying to incorporate global and social themes into production, and the understanding of art for the educators of Massachusetts," Mr. Bloomfield explained. "A lot of my personal work borders on global and social issues. That's a personal interest of mine. It's a theme I will be introducing into my classes soon."
Mr. Bloomfield gave a similar discussion at the MAEA conference last year at Lesley University in Boston, with his lecture titled "Redefining Art Education."
"The attendees were encouraging and interested, and it seemed not a lot of teachers were teaching art in this way," Mr. Bloomfield said. "It was interesting to them to see how they could connect with other issues, not just the teaching of art. To me, the teaching of art is not confined to the use of color and shape and those form of things, but what's the application and that's the purpose, or where does it come from and why do we do it?"