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Back to School: 2016 Fall Teacher Programs

Published August 25, 2016 Art & Teaching , Resources Closed
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Arthur John Elsley, Hard Pressed (Any Port in a Storm/Late for School), 1898, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Kim Jordan.

Calling all teachers! We hope your back to school experience bears no resemblance to Arthur John Elsley’s Hard Pressed (Any Port in a Storm/Late for School), so we’d like to help you start the year off on the right note! Check out our Teacher page to discover upcoming opportunities and helpful tips for incorporating the DMA into your lesson plan this year.

We offer a wide variety of resources for educators including information on K-12 Student Visits, Gallery-Guides, Teacher Resources, and more. Be sure to peruse the Types of Student Tours we offer, to get a better idea of the opportunities available to you and your students here at the Museum. As you’ll notice, we’re offering a new STEAM tour this year! You can also schedule a Docent-Guided Tour or a Self-Guided Visit of upcoming special exhibitions, Divine Felines: Cats of Ancient Egypt and Art and Nature in the Middle Ages. Helpful tip: be sure to submit your request at least three weeks in advance of your visit to see a paid exhibition for free!

Interested in visiting the Museum with your fellow teachers? You can schedule a Teacher In-Service here at the Museum, or register for an upcoming Teacher Workshop (more on that below!) We’re always looking for new ways to support and celebrate educators, so please be sure to sign up to receive our emails and check the box for Information for Teachers to stay connected.

Here at the DMA, we’re looking forward to the opening of the claw-some new exhibition Divine Felines: Cats of Ancient Egypt on Sunday, October 9, and we want educators to take part in the fun with a Teacher Workshop. The exhibition explores the role of cats and lions in ancient Egyptian mythology, kingship, and everyday life, featuring material from the Brooklyn Museum’s world-famous Egyptian collection. Our workshop on Saturday, October 22, will provide educators with the opportunity to enjoy the exhibition before public hours while learning strategies to teach, interpret, and use works of art in the classroom and Museum galleries. Register here–What more purr-suasion do you need? Space is limited, so sign-up right meow!

We look forward to seeing you and your students at the DMA this fall, and we wish you a smooth start to the new school year!

Lindsay O’Connor
Manager of Docent and Teacher Programs

Friday Photos: Summer Lovin’

Published August 19, 2016 Friday Photos , Just for Fun , People Closed
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The Education team works very hard to make your summer vacation fun and exciting for families and kids of all ages. So it only makes sense that we play just as hard! Some of us had some big art-related vacations, exciting camping adventures, and we had a lot of fun working in between (with or without our pups!). Check out some of our summer highlights!

Madeleine Fitzgerald
Audience Relations Coordinator

Go van Gogh on a Volunteer Excursion!

Published August 16, 2016 Art & Teaching 2 Comments
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As another fantastic summer comes to an end, it’s time to start looking forward to a fall season full of fun. To get involved in the excitement, consider becoming a volunteer!

Go van Gogh is currently recruiting outreach volunteers for the 2016-2017 school year to help us lead classroom programs across Dallas! We’re seeking volunteers who love working with children, have a passion for art, and want to give back to the community.

Go van Gogh volunteers help facilitate and teach programs in elementary classrooms that encourage students to look closely at works of art in the Museum’s collection and express their creativity through art making activities.

Interested volunteers must attend bi-monthly training sessions held Tuesday mornings from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Additionally, volunteers are asked to teach two programs per month from early October to mid-May. Programs are scheduled on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning.

All applications are due by Thursday, September 8, so hurry and submit your application here. If you’d like additional information, feel free to send an email to volunteers@DMA.org. We hope you’ll Go van Gogh around Dallas with us this year!

Andi Orkin
Volunteer Coordinator for Programming

2016 Museum Forum for Teachers

Published August 9, 2016 Art & Teaching , Creativity 2 Comments
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This summer I had the opportunity to participate in my first Museum Forum for Teachers, a week-long teacher workshop coordinated by The Warehouse, Nasher Sculpture Center, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, and the Dallas Museum of Art. Each day, twenty-four dedicated North Texas educators braved traffic across the DFW metroplex to participate in a full day of museum experiences, discussions, and projects for CPE credit centered around modern and contemporary art. Part of the fun of Museum Forum is that each institution hosts one day of the week, so we rotate and spend time exploring different collections. What could be better than the chance to catch up on current exhibitions and collaborate with a fabulous group of teachers and museum educators!

This year marked the ten-year anniversary of Museum Forum. To celebrate, we tried out a daily “Educator Exchange” and led a session at one of the other institutions (we also consumed many, many cupcakes). I shared A Work in Progress: Plaster in the Nasher Collection, and we practiced an exercise called Drawers and Describers in pairs.

Nasher stop motion app

Discussing the Joel Shapiro exhibition at the Nasher Sculpture Center before creating stop-motion video shorts.

Here at the DMA, we tried out a collaborative poetry exercise in Passages in Modern Art: 1946 – 1996. We divided into groups of five, and each group was assigned a work of art in the exhibition. After taking some time to quietly sketch and make notes, each participant wrote down one sentence on a slip of paper from the point of view of the work of art. From there, each group worked together to arrange their responses together into a narrative. Check out their outstanding work!

Speaking for myself, the week was inspiring, immersive, and left me excited to revisit some of the exercises and ideas we explored in upcoming Teacher Programs. Our participants enjoyed Museum Forum almost as much as museum staff!

I love the forum, all of the museum staff involved, and everything you guys do. Thank you so much! I’ll be back next year.

 

I was impressed with EVERY aspect of this. It was the most rewarding (personally & professionally) training I have attended in…forever!!!

 

This is by far the most fun and most challenging teacher conference I have ever attended!! The level of critical thinking necessary blows away anything I’ve done as a teacher in a very long time. Thank you so much!!!

Interested in joining us for Museum Forum for Teachers next summer? Sign up to receive our emails and check the box for Information for Teachers, so you can stay connected to exciting professional development opportunities here at the DMA!

Lindsay O’Connor
Manager of Docent and Teacher Programs

On your mark, get set, Go van Gogh!

Published August 5, 2016 Art & Teaching , works of art 2 Comments
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The Rio Olympics may just be getting started, but some of us here at the DMA have been going for the gold all summer long. Former Graduate McDermott Intern for Gallery and Community Teaching, Whitney Sirois, wrote this year’s Go van Gogh summer outreach program,”Go for Gold: Art and the Olympic Games.” The program brings together DMA artworks that celebrate everything we love about the games (gleaming prizes for the victorious!, scenes of athletes in action!, an array of incredible uniforms!), and it has definitely gotten us in the Olympic spirit.

We trained for this moment by looking closely at artworks from Ancient Greece. We crowned ourselves victors with golden pipe cleaner wreaths. We tried a toga on for size. We even got our wiggles out in Olympic fashion–stretching and doing some jumping-jacks, just like athletes! (And then we decided it was a good thing that Olympians don’t wear togas anymore–they make jumping-jacks tricky!).

The DMA’s Mixed Doubles painting inspired our art projects. We had to look very closely to determine which Olympic sport artist George L. K. Morris painted. Can you find the athlete’s arms and legs, and their sports equipment in the painting below? Using only triangles of construction paper and black markers, we then created our own similarly abstracted collages of a favorite sport. Many of our abstracted masterpieces were about the very Olympic sports we’ll be watching over the next few weeks.

Now it’s your turn to look closely at some artworks! Can you pair the Go for Gold collages below to the matching Rio sport pictograms for equestrian, soccer (football, in Olympic-speak!), and archery? What other sports do you see?

Amy Copeland
Manager of Go van Gogh and Community Teaching Programs

I’m Never Saying Goodbye!

Published August 3, 2016 People 1 Comment
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Hey everyone, my name is Joshua Berry-Jones. I’m a summer intern here at the Dallas Museum of Art through the Mayor’s Intern Fellows Program. I was chosen out of hundreds of students to come work for the DMA. In total, I interviewed at six different potential jobs. To be honest, I could have landed anywhere, but by fate I ended up here. I have to say, I couldn’t be happier–working at the DMA is the best!

What I’ve experienced at the DMA has exceeded all of my expectations. I’ve done more things than I can count on my fingers AND toes. I mainly worked with the Go van Gogh program, under my supervisor Amy Copeland. This year’s theme was “Go for the Gold.” We would educate children about Ancient Greece and how art tied into the Olympics. When I was not running around in the Go van Gogh van, I was shadowing many programs here at the DMA. One memorable moment would be when I was dressed up as a mummy for the DISD touch tour for children with visual impairment. Another would be when I choreographed a few dance moves with the Dance for PD program.

I’ve also been given plenty of opportunities to learn and build upon many valuable traits desired in today’s workforce. I was even allowed to completely coordinate a new program for the DMA in partnership with CitySquare, during which we created art with over 100 kids. I was the point of contact for volunteers, DMA staff, and CitySquare employees. I even came up with the art project the kids made. I am so thankful to Amy for giving me the chance to do that.

Out of the few jobs that I’ve had, and the many I will have in the future, the DMA will have a special place in my heart. Every day when I walk in, I feel a welcoming presence. Every person here has a personality that I cannot forget. These eight weeks have flown by so fast, I feel like it’s still my first day. I will never forget the wisdom and guidance that I gained at the DMA, and in the future, I plan to volunteer and/or work here. For me, this was not a job. This was an amusement park with so many different rides to try. To sum it all up, I really don’t want to leave–I’m never saying goodbye!

Joshua Berry-Jones
2016 Mayor’s Intern Fellow

Friday Photos: So Long, Summer!

Published July 29, 2016 Art & Teaching , Friday Photos 1 Comment
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With only one week of summer camp left, it’s time to say so long to summer! But before we pack up our sunglasses, let’s take a look at some of the brightest moments from our camps this year!

With nineteen different summer camps, campers explored every corner of the DMA’s collection, and learned about art from all around the world.

Of course, this inspired us to make art (lots of art!) of our own!

At the end of each camp, we shared our masterpieces in an exhibition for our families. One exhibition even took the form of a fashion show!

We’re sad to say goodbye to summer camp, but excited for our next adventure!

Emily Wiskera
McDermott Graduate Intern for Family and Access Teaching

Friday Photos: The Stewpot Art Program

Published July 22, 2016 Art & Teaching , Community Connection , Friday Photos , People 2 Comments
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One of the many perks of being a museum educator here at the DMA is having the opportunity to connect with amazing people in our North Texas community and beyond. Thanks to Tanya Krueger, one of our superstar volunteer docents, I’ve learned about the important work being done by The Stewpot, a community outreach program dedicated to serving homeless and at-risk populations here in Dallas.

Tanya volunteers for the Stewpot Art Program, a special program that provides class time and art supplies for individuals looking to express themselves creatively, grow as artists, and support themselves through the sale of their work (be sure to check out opportunities to support the program by donating supplies or purchasing artwork – the artist receives 90% of the sale and the remainder goes back into the program for art supplies and field trips for the artists.) The Stewpot artists themselves are a remarkable group of people. Plan a visit to the studio and you’ll be struck by each artist’s individual style, creative drive, and kind spirit.

Together with Cynthia Brannum, Stewpot Art Program Director, we’ve launched a monthly program for the Stewpot artists here at the DMA that includes a gallery discussion and lots of art-making activities. Speaking for myself, working with the Stewpot artists has been one of the highlights of my summer. Take a look at our first two visits!

Lindsay O’Connor
Manager of Docent and Teacher Programs

Beyond the Coloring Book

Published July 20, 2016 Family Fun , Just for Fun Closed
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Coloring Book 1

Adult coloring books are all the rage right now, and the perfect relaxing activity to take a break from your spreadsheets at work, the laundry piling up at home, or that never-ending to do list. If you don’t really want to share your coloring books with the kids, here are some creative, easy ideas that go beyond the coloring book.

Coloring Book 3

Graph Paper Drawing
A couple years ago, one of the few things on my nephew’s Christmas wish list was graph paper. He was genuinely thrilled to open up a gridded white board, and got to work right away creating all kinds of designs. If a blank piece of paper is too overwhelming for your child, graph paper drawing is a great alternative. The preprinted lines and shapes provide just enough structure while still allowing for open-ended expression. You can download and print your own graph paper in all kinds of designs, from regular squares to triangles, circles, hexagons, and more, here.

Coloring Book 4

Scribble Drawings
Scribble drawings are still one of my very favorite ways to doodle. Simply scribble a line (or two or MANY) on your paper and then fill in the spaces with color for a fun abstract design. Or, step back, take a closer look at your doodle and see if any images materialize. Can you see a face? A tail? Fill in the appropriate spaces to finish out what your imagination sees in the lines.

Coloring Book 5

Back and Forth Drawings
Turn coloring time into together time by playing simple drawing games together. Tangle Art & Drawing Games for Kids has tons of creative ideas. We tried “Horizon Drawings” here in the office. I drew a wacky horizon line on a piece of paper, then handed it off to Jennifer, who turned it into these delightfully kooky characters. Can’t you just imagine the story that is happening here?

Surreal Drawings
Surreal drawings are another imagination-builder. Start off with an everyday object—clip pictures from recycled magazines or print images from the internet. Challenge your child to transform that object into something new by drawing. Characters are an easy place to begin—a carrot turns into a basketball player, an egg beater becomes a charming friend.

Coloring Book 8

Pokemon Go Unplugged
When it’s time to unplug and disconnect, your kids can still burn off their Pokemon Go steam with a little old-fashioned drawing. Have everyone in the family invent and draw their own Pokemon Go character and hide it somewhere in the house or yard. Call “ready, set, go” and race to see who can collect the most characters.

For more great drawing ideas, check out these links:

Fun drawing games at The Artful Parent

All kinds of drawing prompts from TinkerLab

Drawing game using household objects from Craftwhack

And ten more drawing games from Craftwhack

Happy coloring!

Leah Hanson
Manager of Family and Early Learning Programs

Friday Photos: Summer Art Camp Interns

Published July 15, 2016 Camps and Classes 1 Comment
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I’ll be the first to own up to my pretty serious bias, but I think summer camp is the most wonderful time of the year! The DMA offers unique camps throughout the summer which feature different themes, artworks across the Museum’s collection, and new teachers and campers every week. We wouldn’t be able to manage so much change and excitement without our six camp constants: our 2016 Summer Art Camp Interns! It is my pleasure to introduce Kristin Wright, Clare Mills, Annabella Boatwright, Shannon Bentley, Julia Dotter, and Vanessa White.

Each Monday, these all-star interns greet a new group of campers and put their hearts into creating a friendly, fun, and safe environment for our young artists. They support our teachers, plan lunchtime projects, encourage and challenge campers in their art-making, and are the fastest exhibition set-up crew in the west. Take a look at some of the fun they’ve helped make happen!

Jennifer Sheppard
Teaching Specialist

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