Illinois Art Education Association
2734 Imperial Valley Tr.Aurora, IL 60503
Contact: Karen Popovich, IAEA Vice President
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ILLINOIS ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION NAMES STATE AWARD WINNER
Anne Sautman
The Illinois Art Education Association has named Anne Sautman of Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the 2016 IAEA Museum Art Educator of the Year. This award recognizes exemplary contributions, service, and achievements of one outstanding IAEA member annually. The award will be presented at the Illinois Art Education Association Conference in Normal, IL on Friday, November 4th.
Anne Sautman has been the Director of Education at Krannert Art Museum since 2006. In this role, she is responsible for the museum’s public and school programs through which she strives to make the museum a welcoming and thought-provoking place.
The public programs consist of artist talks, family events, music performances, spoken word events, yoga, and more. The breadth of programs are meant to appeal to diverse audiences on campus and in the community and offer multiple ways to engage, experience, learn about, and contemplate art and its role in their lives.
Sautman is very proud of the success of the Krannert Art Museum–Week at the Museum (KAM–WAM) program she started in 2011. In this program, as the name implies, public elementary school students have the unique opportunity to spend a full week at the museum learning about art, museums, and engaging in lessons across the curriculum. The program has expanded and now also offers another level, called KAM–BAM, in which students spend one full day at the museum with intensive lessons planned around a single theme. Whether a day or a week, the goal of these programs is to provide the opportunity for students to learn in a different context where they can engage with original artwork in a public space within their community.
Sautman also enjoys teaching a university service-learning course called Museums in Action offered to undergraduates in Art Education at the University of Illinois. Students enrolled in this class learn the theories behind museum education and actively put them into practice through projects at Krannert Art Museum.
Prior to her position at Krannert Art Museum, she worked at The Art Institute of Chicago in their museum education department. Sautman received her MA in Modern Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2005. Before that, she received a BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Even though she is no longer using this degree directly, it was during her undergraduate years that she had the opportunity to explore other subjects and discover her love of art.
Anne Sautman states, “I am very honored to have been selected for this award. I am grateful everyday to have a career in which I passionately believe in. Yet, to make this possible, so much relies on being surrounded by fellow museum staff and community members who support and appreciate my work.” Stacey Gross, CUSD #4 K-12 Visual Arts Coordinator, comments that Anne “is a dynamic museum educator whose innovate instruction and program development has transformed the Krannert Art Museum into a welcoming space for students, teachers, and the Champaign-Urbana community.”