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Just can't get enough…

Published May 12, 2011 Art & Teaching , works of art Closed
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For those educators who cannot get enough of the DMA this summer, we have many professional development opportunities for you!   With a possibility of earning over sixty CPE credit hours, these sessions are open to K-12 educators across all disciplines and schools.    We hope to see you at one or more of the sessions listed below.

Summer Seminar 2011: Teaching for Creativity
June 14 – 17, 2011, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. daily
24 CPE Hours; limit fifteen
Registration is due May, 30, 2011

Designed for teachers of all grade levels and subjects, Summer Seminar is an immersive experience in the Dallas Museum of Art’s galleries and Center for Creative Connections.   Conversations, experiences with works of art in the Dallas Museum of Art’s galleries, and creative thinking techniques will be used to create an enriching experience for teachers and models for use in the classroom.


North American Wildlife at the Dallas Zoo and in the “Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection” at the Dallas Museum of Art
Friday, July 15, 2011, 9:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
6 CPE hours; limit thirty

Teachers will explore the relationships between American Indian cultures and native North American wildlife.    Participants will closely observe animals at the Dallas Zoo and will study works of art in the Dallas Museum of Art’s exhibition Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection.



Museum Forum for Teachers: Modern & Contemporary Art 
July 25- July 29, 2011, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. daily
30 CPE Hours; limited to twenty-five middle and high school teachers; application is due May, 23, 2011

Teachers will deepen their understanding of contemporary art and architecture through gallery experiences and discussions.   Participants will spend each day at one of five area institutions: Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Sculpture Center, and The Rachofsky House.


Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection   
August 9, 2011, 9:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
3.5 CPE hours; limit twenty-five

Explore the belief systems of American Indian cultures through artworks in the Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection exhibition. 


Please note that the Dallas Museum of Art is accredited by the Texas State Board for Educator Certification, and participating educators will earn Continuing Professional Education (CPE) hours during Teacher Workshops, Summer Seminar, and Museum Forum.

Until next time….

Jenny Marvel
Manager of Programs and Resources for Teachers

Call of the Wild: Animals in the Art of the American Indians

Published May 10, 2011 Art & Teaching , works of art Closed
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The Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection is currently on view at the Dallas Museum of Art which features art such as masks, ceramic bowls, jewelry, and clothing. I recently led a gallery talk entitled, Call of the Wild: Animals in the Art of the American Indians that focused on American Indian art that incorporated animals into the design or as the materials to create the work of art.  Animals are essential to many American Indian groups because they provided food, clothing, and oftentimes, shelter.

Mimbres Bowls

   Bowl With Fish, c. A.D. 1000-1150
United States: New Mexico, Mogollon culture, Mimbres people,
Ceramic; Mimbres Black-on-White type
Foundation for the Arts Collection, anonymous gift

The name Mimbres, which means “willow” in Spanish, was given to a group of people from the Mogollon culture who lived between 150 A.D. to 1450 A.D. The Mimbres people were an egalitarian society and lived in the Northwestern region of New Mexico. The Mimbres people were a very small society with approximately 5,000 members.  Their diet consisted of small game meat such as rabbits, turkeys, sheep, and foxes. They are known for creating clay-fired bowls between 1000 A.D. and 1150 A.D. during the peak of the Mimbres culture, known as the “Classic Mimbres Period”. These bowls were first discovered in the early 1900’s and continue to fascinate archaeologists because of their sophisticated design and level of creativity compared to their contemporaries and other ancient societies.

The Mimbres bowls were painted in the interior surface with geometric designs, human figures and/or animals, with a series of bands painted around the rim of the bowl. The designs may have represented scenes from their daily life or connections to the spiritual world. The leaves from a yucca plant were used as a brush to paint black slip on a white background or to paint white slip on a black background. Archaeologists can only speculate as to what these bowls were used for, such as storing food or used in a funerary offering. Many of these bowls have a hole punched out at the bottom. The process of making these holes is often referred to as “killing the bowl”. These particular bowls would have been placed over a deceased person’s head in order to free their spirit. There are approximately 20,000 Mimbres bowls in private collections and museums around the world.

Horse Mask                                                                                                  

  Horse Mask, ca. 1875-1900
    Nez Perce, (Nimi’ipuu) or Cayuse, Idaho,  Oregon, or eastern Washington
Trade cloth, blue cloth, cotton lining, thread, glass beads, brass buttons, horsehair, mirror, feathers, silk ribbons, hide, ermine
Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y

During the 13th through 17th century, the Plains Indians were a semi-nomadic society that traveled, traded and farmed by foot. They lived in the Plains region, which covered about one million square miles of land that covered Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wyoming, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. The buffalo was their primary source of food and was also used for making clothes, shelter, tools, and weapons. In the 1600’s, the Spaniards introduced horses to the Plains Indians, significantly changing their lifestyle. They became equestrian hunters and used horses in battles. This Horse Mask made of horse hair, ermine, feathers, glass beads, trade cloth, brass buttons, and mirrors would have been placed over the horse’s head to be worn during a prewar processional. A zigzag design symbolizing lightening was stitched around the eyes to represent the Thunderbird, a patron of war who protected the horses and warriors during battle. Mirrors were attached to the mask to reflect sunlight in order to distract their enemies.

Shield

 Shield, ca. 1860
Crow, (Apsaalooke), Montana
Buffalo rawhide, antelope skin, trade cloth, eagle and hawk feathers, porcupine quills
Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y

The Shield was also an important element of protection for Plains warriors riding into battle. However, it wasn’t just the buffalo hide that protected them from arrows and clubs, but also the spiritual power of the image painted on the shield. This image would have been revealed to the warrior in a vision or dream and was believed to have given him protection while in battle. The image on this shield reveals a White Mountain Lion painted beneath a green curved lined line which signifies a magnificent hunter. The Horse Mask and Shield are no longer used in battle; however, they can be seen in many parades and ceremonies held by Plains Indians today.

These American Indian works of art and others can be found in the Dallas Museum of Art collection and the Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection, which is currently on view until September 4th

Thanks,
Karen A. Colbert
Teaching Programs Intern

Staff Spotlight: Tom Jungerberg

Published May 5, 2011 Art & Teaching , People , Resources , works of art 6 Comments
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Over the past two years, we’ve shared with you our exciting work with teachers related to Connect: Teachers, Technology and Art, a project supported by an IMLS grant.  This funding made possible a grant coordinator position that assists with various tasks related to the grant.   Tom Jungerberg quickly fit in with our department, and helped tilt the very uneven ratio of male to female staff ever-so-slightly in the opposite direction.

Could you trace the path that has brought you to the DMA?

I have Bachelor’s degrees from Florida State University in art history and English, and a Master’s degree from Boston University in English.  I’m originally from Florida and I lived there for two years prior to moving to Dallas. I worked at University of South Florida as a visiting assistant professor teaching composition, mostly, and expository writing.

My girlfriend began teaching at UNT Dallas last August, and that’s what brought me here. When I got here, I was excited to see an opening for the IMLS grant coordinator position since it seemed so suitable to my skill set. 

What is your role with the IMLS grant?

I serve as the liaison between Nicole and Jenny and the teachers – I correspond with teachers and coordinate meetings with them.  I write and edit some of the new online teaching resources.  I also participate in meetings, during which we discuss how we’ll approach the artwork as we develop materials and the steps we’ll need to follow to complete the project.

What has been the most interesting aspect of your work here?

I’ve really enjoyed everything, but it’s been especially interesting to observe teachers in the classroom. It’s great to see how people take the materials we’re preparing and apply them to their own curricula and lesson plans.  I appreciate being able to see the final outcome of these things that we’re making, and to see the different ways they’ll be used when they go public.

How do you spend your free time?

I just bought a house, so that takes a lot of my free time.  It was built in 1895, and legend has that it was built by one of the founders of TCU.  I also raise chickens, and I have a garden which I’m pretty excited about since it’s the growing season.  Yellow and green squash are coming in right now; I have also planted tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, spinach, some lettuce, bok choy, peas, and green beans.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

That’s hard, as this job is ending in September.  I enjoyed my time at University of South Florida, so I’d like to teach.  I think teaching, but if you ask me tomorrow, I don’t know.

We’ve invited Tom to be a guest blogger; look for posts written by him in the coming months.

Melissa Nelson
Manager of Teaching in the Community

Community Connection: Combining Two Passions

Published April 28, 2011 Art & Teaching , People 1 Comment
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One of the great things about working with volunteers is the opportunity to meet people with a wide range of interests, experiences, and passions.  Last fall, I interviewed Deborah Harvey, one of our Go van Gogh volunteers.  I am pleased to introduce Jennifer McNabb, another Go van Gogh volunteer, who has managed to combine two of her passions through our outreach program.  
 
Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m British, and I’ve been in the U.S. for twenty years, in Dallas for nineteen years.  I’m a longtime visitor to the DMA.   When my work situation opened up seven years ago, I was looking for a way to volunteer in the arts.  I have a background in community arts from the 1980’s in England, when I helped set up and run a group studio for artists called Red Herring Studios.  We took over derelict buildings that were to be demolished, converted the buildings to studio spaces, and had an exhibition space too.  Red Herring put visual arts on the map in Brighton and has given birth to other fabulous organizations like Fabrica.  

Jennifer with her father and sister at Chesworth Studios in West Sussex, England.

What do you like most about Dallas?

I think what I like most about Dallas is the very vivid cultural life here.  We have great museums (the Nasher Sculpture Center, the DMA, The Crow Collection of Asian Art), and I love the way the Arts District has been developing with the AT&T Performing Arts Center and the expansion of Booker T. Washington High School.  I don’t come from a place where you have zoning; in London, these places are all in different parts. Also, I love the fact that Ft. Worth is just a few miles away with another bunch of fabulous museums. Although Dallas is a town that tends to be on the map business-wise, it is also on the map culturally.  I live in Oak Cliff, so it’s very easy to get to these places.

Tell us about your relationship with the DMA.

I started out by coming to your office and asking what I can do to volunteer with the DMA.  At the time, I couldn’t give the amount of time necessary for the docent program, but I did like the idea of the Go van Gogh program.  I have a background in teaching, and I thought it would be nice to get back into the classroom.  I like that the DMA has this type of in-reach and does such a good job at taking art into the classroom, getting kids excited about it, and hopefully encouraging teachers to take kids to the museum more.  Teaching is something I feel passionate about along with the visual arts – I come from a family of artists and I like the fact that I can go into the classroom and do all the fun stuff, and the kids love me for it. 

I’d been doing Go van Gogh for three or four years when a friend said to me one day, “You should come to this meeting about Resolana and get involved with this organization that provides programming for incarcerated women.”  I am also passionate about prison reform.  When I saw the creativity workshops they did, I thought yes, this combines two things I feel strongly about.  I got involved almost immediately.  After I had been to the jail a few times, I spoke with you and Amy about the possibility of the DMA doing something in partnership with Resolana.  I was looking for ways I could take the DMA into the jail, and you suggested trying some of the programs we teach in the schools. 

Jennifer leads the Arts of Mexico Go van Gogh program with Resolana participants.

What are the greatest benefits and challenges to presenting Resolana programs?

I was very aware I was teaching a different population, but in some respects they’re kind of similar.  Being in the jail frees them up, and they are very good about trying anything you suggest.  They don’t have self-editing about what is right and what is wrong in a class setting.  The women are willing to try most things; I don’t get the same resistance I might get from sixth-grade students.  The difference is, these are adults, and I didn’t want to make them feel I was doing baby stuff with them.  I had to adapt the programs because certain supplies are not allowed in the jail.  I also tried to get the discussion portion much more pitched toward their level.  I would not lead too much, and tried to give them space.  I am also in the Master of Liberal Studies program at SMU, and I took a class with Carmen Smith, who worked at the DMA for twelve years before working at the Meadows Museum.  I learned a number of techniques for talking about art with groups of people that museum educators use and started to use some of those techniques.  What I learned about in class went straight to the jail, and I saw a remarkable difference in the quality of the discussions. 

What is capturing your time and attention at the moment?

I’m always reading something fascinating, but work right now is capturing a lot time and attention.  We now have a pod in the jail dedicated to women interested in attending Resolana classes – they all live together.  It means we have doubled the number of women we see every week, so I’m trying to increase our number of volunteers as quickly as I can.  I am also trying to develop a program to train volunteers, using Go van Gogh as a model.  The Meadows Museum has donated their studio for training sessions. That takes up a lot of my time.

My other big passion is learning. I get to take classes in all kinds of things in the Liberal Studies program. I’m knee-deep in anthropology at the moment, and I’m writing a paper about systems of value in the U.S. and in the western world in general, and how that compares to other value systems when looking at works of art.

Melissa Nelson
Manager of Teaching in the Community

Trade before Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Published April 21, 2011 Art & Teaching , Museum Insight , People , Resources , works of art Closed
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Have you ever wondered how goods and services, such as spices, fabrics, and art, traveled from one part of the world to another before the use of planes, trains, and automobiles?  The Silk Road provides a great insight for understanding early trading among different countries. It is the most well-known trading route of ancient Chinese civilization that was used during the first millennium B.C.E through the middle of the second millennium C.E under the Han Dynasty. The Silk Road was a transcontinental network of land and sea trade routes that spread across Eurasia from the Mediterranean to China and Japan. Domesticated horses and cattle as well as marine vessels were used as transportation to carry such goods and services along these routes.

Dr. Anne Bromberg, The Cecil and Ida Green Curator of Ancient and Asian Art, organized The Silk Road, an installation which illustrates how this great route of trading developed.  This exhibition also describes the spread of religions from India to Central Asia during this time. One of the greatest benefits of the Silk Road that Dr. Bromberg wanted to emphasize was the spread of agriculture. Animals not only provided transportation, but they also provided food and a mechanism for cultivating crops.

                    

 Oxen and Cart, 2000-1800 B.C., Bronze
Dallas Museum of Art, Irvin L. and Meryl P. Levy Endowment Fund

A great deal of Near Eastern art similar to the Oxen and Cart traveled along the Silk Road. The Proto-Hittites were devoted to animals, which were vital to hunting and farming. Objects such as the Oxen and Cart were perhaps used as an offering to be left in a shrine, sacred caches or tomb. In addition,  the Oxen and Cart symbolizes the distinct moment when domesticated horses or cattle were first used as powered transportation on land.

The Silk Road provides a great opportunity to discuss with students the benefits and consequences of trading among different cultures. I’ve added a list of books and websites that will help you introduce the Silk Road to your students. These books and more can be found at the Dallas Public Library or the Museum’s Mayer Library.

Books:
Stories From The Silk Road by Cherry Gilchrist and Nilesh Mistry
The Silk Route: 7,000 Miles of History by John S. Major and Stephen Fieser
Mapping the Silk Road and Beyond by Kenneth Nebenzahl
Adventures on the Ancient Silk Road by Priscilla Galloway and Dawn Hunter
Silk Road: Monks, Warriors & Merchants by Luce Boulnois and Helen Loveday

Websites:
the Silk Road project:
http://www.silkroadproject.org/tabid/177/defaul.aspx

Silk Road Seattle:
http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/

Enjoy,
Karen A. Colbert
Teaching Programs Intern

First grade's smartest artists

Published April 19, 2011 Art & Teaching , Creativity , works of art 1 Comment
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[slideshow]Last month, four volunteers and I piled into the Go van Gogh van and drove south of downtown to Rosemont Primary, a DISD PK-2 school in Oak Cliff.

While Rosemont Primary is just one of the many campuses we visit with the Go van Gogh outreach program, we have a special relationship with their first grade teachers.  Each year, we visit the first grade at Rosemont, presenting multiple programs in all eight classrooms and getting to know the students during our many visits.  Through the years, the first graders at Rosemont have played a larger role in the Go van Gogh program than they might realize; Go van Gogh staff often takes newly-developed curricula into their classrooms.  We test questions, gauge response during activities, and (most importantly) make sure that we’ve packaged an experience that’s fun, engaging, and relevant for the students.  Go van Gogh staff is grateful to our first grade friends at Rosemont for the smart observations, unexpected answers, and funny moments that have helped us refine curricula, ensuring that our programs are solid.

Needless to say, we were pretty excited to return to Rosemont last month with the Me & My World program.  Me & My World introduces first graders to people and places in art through stories and clues.  The program features four artworks, and our conversations range from talking about families while looking at Mary Cassatt’s Sleepy Baby to thinking about heroes while looking at our Greek Gold Wreath.  Students create an art activity inspired by another artwork in the program, Fernand Leger’s The Divers, drawing a picture on transparency film with a Sharpie, and layering it on top of a bright collage of shapes.

Photos from our fun morning at Rosemont, featuring the little artists and their creations, are above.

Enjoy!

Amy Copeland
Coordinator of Go van Gogh Outreach

Revealing Spirits: The Art of Indonesia

Published April 14, 2011 Art & Teaching 3 Comments
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My colleague Amy Copeland and I recently led a teaching session focused on a few works of art in the Dallas Museum of Art’s amazing Indonesian collections. Our session in the galleries highlighted an expressive ancestral couple and a beautifully carved door with mythical creatures, emphasizing ways to look closely as well as explore geography and belief systems through objects from Indonesia.

Spirits abound in Indonesia.  A mysterious energy animates the entire universe. Human beings and animals, trees and plants, the ancestral dead, stones, man-made objects, even traditional houses — all share in this vital force.  Man has been inspired to give many of these spirits tangible form, to make the unseen visible.

— Dallas Museum of Art wall text

Female ancestor figure, Toba Batak people, Sumatra, Indonesia, 19th century or earlier, wood, Dallas Museum of Art, the Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc.

Male ancestor figure, Toba Batak people, Sumatra, Indonesia, 19th century or earlier, wood, Dallas Museum of Art, the Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc.

This male and female pair represents an ancestral couple from the Toba Batak peoples on the island of Sumatra.  The two objects were originally bound together with a third object and kept out of sight in the uppermost region of the house inhabited by the Batak lineage founder.  This region of the house was a space the Batak associated with the upperworld, where gods and ancestors reside.  Only a privileged few were ever allowed to view or touch these powerful ancestors who both protected as well as carried the potential to inflict harm. What I love about this couple are their expressive qualities.  Look closely at their faces — the eyes, the noses, and the mouths.  Next, notice their posture. Both have knees bent slightly and their backs held in a certain way.  Viewing these in the galleries is best so that you can walk all the way around them. Finally, perhaps what attracts our eye most are the large hands of the female. The male once had separately carved hands as well.  You can see the rectangular slots on either side where his hands were once attached.  The hands on the female are up, with palms turned inward.  This gesture expresses the Batak greeting of “Horas”, or hello.

Door with protective symbols, Kayan people, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, c. 1850-1900, wood, brass, and shell, Dallas Museum of Art, the Roberta Coke Camp Fund

The Kayan people of East Kalimantan in Indonesia live in longhouses, which can be very large structures that rise from the ground on stilts.  The longhouse is a series of contiguous, individual spaces connected by a common verandah.  The organization of the spaces in the longhouse is similar to the American concept of apartment structures.  Each space houses a family, so a longhouse is the residence for many people.  This wooden door was either as the main door to the longhouse or as the door to the individual space of the chief. The animal symbols carved on the door protected inhabitants from evil spirits and intruders.  Look closely for animal forms on the door.  The white, shell circles contrast sharply with the dark wood.    These circles are the eyes of the protective, mythical creature called the aso, a form resembling both a dog and a dragon.

In addition to looking at objects in the galleries, Amy and I shared some general information about Indonesia during the session that help us begin to know and connect with this far away location.

  • Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world!  It consists of thousands of islands.
  • According to Google Maps, it is 9,200 miles between Dallas, Texas and the East Kalimantan in Indonesia.
  • A plane ride to Indonesia would last sixteen to eighteen hours!
  • Many islands in Indonesia have been known throughout history for the spices, such as nutmeg, and natural medicines, such as camphor, found there.
  • Several delicious coffees originate from Indonesia.  Sumatran coffee from the island of Sumatra is one of my favorites.

Nicole Stutzman
Director of Teaching Programs and Partnerships

Printmaking 101

Published April 7, 2011 Art & Teaching , Museum Insight , works of art Closed
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Printmaking has been around since the fifteenth century.  There are many types of printmaking processes, such as woodcuts, etchings, engravings, lithographs, and monotypes. The earliest print technique, the woodcut, was used to illustrate books. To make a woodcut, the artist carved a design from a piece of wood and inked the block. Ink would only stay on the areas of the block that were not carved. Eventually, artists looked for new ways to create images, which resulted in etchings and engravings.  

Etchings and engravings were favored by artists. To make either type of print, an image is drawn onto a metal plate with a v-shaped tool called a burin.  The plate is coated in an acid-resistant surface and ink is beaten into the incised lines with a tool called a dabber. Then, the plate is submerged in an acid bath, which opens up the lines and exposes the metal surface. The acid creates the depth of line by reacting with the areas of exposed metal. Afterwards, the plate go through a printing press. In the engraving process ink rests in the engraved lines and the plate is run through a press. Both prints allowed for greater flexibility with images and a variety of lines and tones in the final product. 

Advances in the print world saw the emergence of  lithographs and monotypes during the nineteenth century. Lithographs are a direct medium; the image is drawn on a flat stone with a greasy oil or crayon and run through a printing press. Monotypes have ink drawn onto a glass or copper plate and transferred to paper. Monotypes produce one image; printing another image results in deteriorated quality.

To help you better understand prints, I included some images of the printmaking process. I hope you enjoy seeing how they are created! If you would like to explore works on paper in the DMA’s galleries, prints by the following artists can be found in the collection: Edgar Degas, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre Bonnard.

[slideshow]

Amy Wolf
Coordinator of Gallery Teaching

Educator Resources: Funding for Field Trips

Published April 5, 2011 Art & Teaching , Resources 1 Comment
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One of the best ways to connect your students with art and the cultures they’ve been learning about in the classroom is to bring them to the Museum.  Each year Museum staff and docents tour hundreds of students from the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, and school tours are one of the most enjoyable aspects of our days.  The Museum is entirely FREE for students, teachers, and their chaperones on school tours, and the only cost to you is your bus.  We realize that even the cost of a bus can limit you and your students’ ability to visit the Museum.  So, we’d like to share several opportunities to subsidize the cost of your transportation to and from the Museum.

1. Target Field Trip Grants

Target launched its grant program in 2007 and has awarded almost $10 million in grants, allowing students and teachers from all fifty states to extend the classroom to the world of museums, historical sites, and cultural organizations.  Each Target store awards three grants up to $700 to K-12 schools nationwide.  Applications for the 2011-2012 school year open August 1st!

2. DART Transit Education

DART’s Community/Education Outreach Program provides support for public and private schools, grades 1-12 in thirteen DFW-area cities.  The program offers a twenty-minute on-site presentation about public transportation, safety, and rules of conduct.  Then, classes can be transported FREE to a number of different Dallas sites, including the Arts District and Fair Park.  For more information and to schedule a program, see the DART site.

The Museum offers both docent-guided and self-guided  tours, which can be scheduled online.  Museum visits for the 2011-2012 school year can be reserved beginning in August, and request forms will be available online.  The calendar does fill quickly, so please schedule programs as early as possible.  We look forward to seeing you and your students at the Museum!

Ashley Bruckbauer
McDermott Intern for Teaching Programs and Resources

Community Connection: Dallas and Beyond

Published March 24, 2011 Art & Teaching , People , works of art 1 Comment
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I look forward to spring for several reasons: warmer weather, hints of green and color coming out on trees and plants, and the National Art Educators Association Convention.  Held in a different city each year, the Convention provides opportunities for us to meet museum and classroom educators from all over the United States, as well as other countries, and to learn what our colleagues are doing and thinking about in their respective cities.  On the flip-side, DMA educators often lead conference sessions and share about the new and exciting programs that consume our daily lives.

The most recent Convention took place in Seattle during Spring Break.  I took part in a session with Elizabeth Gerber and Sofia Gutierrez, educators from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  We all work closely with afterschool programs, and evaluation and reflective practice are essential to the development and refinement of our programs.  We led a session that not only described our programs but also encouraged our audience to share their practices.  Meet our most distant Community Connections to date below:

Briefly describe your position at LACMA.

Elizabeth:  In a nutshell, I aim to connect the art at LACMA with the lives of students and teachers throughout Los Angeles County.  This includes working with multi-visit school programs where kindergarteners through high school students visit the museum multiple times; programs that take place in schools, libraries, and community centers; and professional development opportunities for classroom teachers.  These programs occur during school, after school, in the evenings, and on the weekends.  LACMA even creates an exhibition at a local elementary school each year!

Elizabeth Gerber

Sofia:  I coordinate the out-of-school afterschool component for the Art Programs with the Community: LACMA On-Site program. We have a partnership with the Los Angeles Public Library, the YMCA, and the Los Angeles Unified School District. The majority of the workshops happen at the seventeen partner libraries, where we hold weekly sixty- to ninety-minute hands-on art programs focused on developing critical thinking skills, creativity, and personal connections. I work closely with our teaching artists by mentoring, looking over lesson plans, collaborating on professional development, team teaching, and further developing best strategies for equal voicing opportunities for our participants, many who are English Language Learners. Each workshop has learning and social goals that were developed from our two-year participatory evaluation modeled after the Theory of Change.  I also work closely with the librarians and other community partners and coordinators in our programs to ensure we are meeting the educational and life-long learning needs of their community, and to extend the hospitality of LACMA as part of their community.

Sofia Gutierrez

What was your favorite part of your Seattle NAEA experience?

Elizabeth:  This year I really enjoyed the opportunity to think “big” about museums and the ways they connect with audiences and communities.  This work encompasses everything from collaborating with living artists, to evaluating the work of museums, to articulating the ways museums have an impact on their visitors and program participants.

Sofia:  I especially enjoyed hearing about all the inspiring work that is being done in the field of Museum Education and the nation’s libraries, and the call to action from our profession to ensure that the nation is aware of the crucial role and value of these public institutions, and that museums along with libraries, not just the sciences, are leading the way in developing 21st Century Skills.

If you could take any work of art from the LACMA collection home with you, what would you choose?  (I know I ask this question of all our museum colleagues, but this is a great way to learn about the treasures of their collections!)

Elizabeth:  It is tough to pick just one!  Although my background is in contemporary art, I’d love to live with Copenhagen: Roofs Under the Snow by Peter-Severin Krøyer.

Sofia:  I would choose Veiled Christ, a small 18th century Italian terracotta sculpture of Christ entombed with a shroud covering his body.  And if that wasn’t available, I would take The Magdalen with the Smoking Flame, c. 1638-1640, by Georges de La Tour.

Melissa Nelson
Manager of  Teaching in the Community

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