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Cruisin' in the Go van Gogh Van

Published July 12, 2011 Art & Teaching , People Closed
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You may have noticed the colorful Go van Gogh® van driving around town and wondered to yourself, “Is that van as fun to ride in as it looks?”  The answer is “Yes!”  Catching a ride in our van is easy: just sign up to be a Go van Gogh volunteer.  Volunteers are trained by Museum staff to lead interactive conversations and art activities based on works of art in the DMA’s collections and special exhibitions.  Taking these programs into classrooms throughout Dallas is a fun and rewarding experience for everyone involved, including the students, teachers, and volunteers.
 

A volunteer teaches fourth graders in a Dallas ISD classroom.

But you don’t have to take it from us that volunteering with Go van Gogh is a wonderful experience.  Kari Laehr, who just completed her first year as a volunteer, recently shared this with us:

“Working with the Dallas Museum of Art’s Go van Gogh Outreach Program has been a great pleasure.  Every program that I have taught has been not only exciting for the students, but for me as well.  There is something extremely special about sharing my passion for art with youngsters, and I consider it a great honor to represent the museum in this way. I was very nervous during my first teaching session; however, having that one “light bulb” moment with a student during the art-making process makes everything worthwhile in the end. In fact, I have heard numerous times in my class, “This is the best day ever! When are you coming back?” I feel that what I am doing with the Go van Gogh Program is making an impact in Dallas classrooms and would highly recommend this experience to others.”

Volunteers discuss a work of art during training.

Afterward, they perform a short skit inspired by the work of art.

Do volunteers need to have teaching experience?  No.  Do they need to be art history experts?  Not at all.  The two primary requirements for our Go van Gogh volunteers are (1) an interest in sharing works of art with students in grades 1-6, and (2) a commitment to attend volunteer training at the Museum and present programs in Dallas schools during weekday mornings.

If you are interested in volunteering, please complete and return the volunteer application by Friday, August 5, 2011.  Help us spread the word to any friends who may be interested as well.  You can also contact me with questions about the programs at 214.922.1230 or MNelson@DallasMuseumofArt.org. 

I look forward to hearing from you!

Melissa Nelson
Manager of Teaching in the Community

Friday Photos: Let's Get Ornithological!

Published June 24, 2011 Friday Photos , Museum Insight , Uncategorized , works of art Closed
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Over the past few weeks, whenever I left my house, I was dive-bombed by birds. At first, the experience was surreal and Hitchcockian: an ugly honking sound, and then mockingbirds—always the same two culprits—would take turns swooping just inches over my head. I wasn’t sure what I’d done to upset them, but this past weekend, I finally solved the mystery. It turns out that my assailants had built a nest in the ivy over my front porch. This is the best image I could get without getting pecked:

Between these hatchlings and the chickens I recently adopted, I’ve been feeling a little bit plagued by birds lately. So I thought I would use this blog post as an opportunity to share some of my favorite bird-related artwork in the DMA’s collection.

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I’m not sure that there’s a figure as ubiquitous in art around the world and across time as that of the bird. The images of birds I’ve selected are only a few of the many that can be found in the museum. What are your favorites?

Tom Jungerberg

IMLS Grant Coordinator

A New Chapter

Published June 3, 2011 Friday Photos , Museum Insight Closed
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After nine years of teaching with and writing about works of art at the Dallas Museum of Art, this is my last blog post as Manager of Programs and Resources for Teachers. I am beginning the next chapter of my life and am moving eastward to continue my career within the museum field.  While at the DMA, I have grown and matured as an individual and as an educator, developing a stronger sense of self and a more refined teaching philosophy. I have been able to follow my true passion of making interdisciplinary and thematic connections between works of art and cultures using the Museum’s encyclopedic collection and through special exhibitions.

As for my friends and colleagues at the Museum, I have been very fortunate to work with individuals who are extraordinarily passionate about teaching with works of art and care deeply about the Museum and its collection.  This is inspiring on many levels and allows for a creative environment to work in.

And finally, a heartfelt “thank you” to all of the educators I have worked with during teacher workshops, in-services, and partnership programs.  I appreciate the work you do as you support the in-depth learning that is possible with works of art from all places and all times.

As a parting thought, Henry David Thoreau wrote, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.”  I encourage you all to live the life you imagined.

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Until next time….

Jenny Marvel
Manager of Programs and Resources for Teachers

P.S.   I can’t help lovin’ that emaciated cow of mine!

Images:

Frederic Edwin Church, The Icebergs, 1861, Oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Norma and Lamar Hunt, 1979.28

Alexandre Hogue, Drouth Stricken Area, 1934, Oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Art Association Purchase, 1945.6

Richard Long, Tennessee Stone Ring, 1984, Stone, Dallas Museum of Art, General Acquisitions Fund with a matching grant from The 500, Inc., 1985.120

Friday Photos: Teens Only!

Published May 20, 2011 Friday Photos 2 Comments
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Coming soon to the Dallas Museum of Art…URBAN ARMOR: Building Identity through Art-Making, an exclusive program specially designed for teens.

Ceremonial Mask, A.D. 900-1100, South America: Peru, Sican Culture, Gold, copper, and paint, Dallas Museum of Art, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc.

MEET.  RELATE.  INVESTIGATE.
Look at hidden gems in the Museum’s collection.  Then, get your creativity on with unique projects using advanced techniques from movie making to screen printing your own T-Shirts and posters inspired by the Museum’s collection.  All experience levels are encouraged and welcome.  URBAN ARMOR programs will start in June and run through August, every Thursday from 1:30 – 2:30 p.m.  For more information, call 214-922-1822.

Nicole Stutzman
Director of Teaching Programs and Partnerships

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

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

Seldom Scene: Fancy Dancing

Published April 26, 2011 American Art , Education , Exhibitions 1 Comment
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On Saturday we welcomed hundreds of visitors to our Art of the American Indians Family Celebration, a day of fun activities, performances featuring the Oklahoma Fancy Dancers, art, tours, and a special sneak peek of the exhibition Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Below are a few pictures from the day. Join us on Friday, May 20, to celebrate this exhibition during Late Night.

Photos by Chad Redmon, Photographer at the Dallas Museum of Art.

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

TGIF Artwork Post

Published April 8, 2011 Friday Photos , works of art Closed
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All I can say is “Thank goodness it’s Friday!”  I found a few works of art that reflect how I spend my weekends.  

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Until next time….

Jenny Marvel
Manager of Programs and Resources for Teachers

Works of art:
Edgar Degas, Aria after the Ballet, 1879, Pastel gouache, and monotype mounted on cardboard, Dallas Museum of Art, The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection, 1985.R.26

Eastman Johnson, Five Boys on a Wall, 1875-1880, Oil on composition board, Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, gift of Roland S. Bond, Mrs. Alfred L. Bromberg, and Margaret J. and George V. Charlton, 1978.8.FA

Geoff Winningham, Untitled, 1985, Color photograph, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Jackson, Walker, Winstead, Cantwell & Miller, 1986.22.11

Richard Long, Tennessee Stone Ring, 1984, Stone, Dallas Museum of Art, General Acquisitions Fund with a matching grant from The 500, Inc., 1985.120

Coreen Mary Spellman, Untitled (girl reading in bed), 1945, Etching, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Helen, Mick and Thomas Spellman, 1994.160

Geoff Winningham, Untitled, 1985, Color photograph, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Jackson, Walker, Winstead, Cantwell & Miller, 1986.22.4  

Roger Kuntz, Paris Café, n.d., Silkscreen, Dallas Museum of Art, Mrs. Killborn Karcher and Mr. and Mrs. John A. Prather Prize, 1st Annual Dallas National Print Exhibition, 1953, 1954.17

Pietro Paolini, Bacchic Concert, 1625-1630, Oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, The Karl and Esther Hoblitzelle Collection, gift of the Hoblitzelle Foundation, 1987.17

Friday Photos: April Fool's Day!

Published April 1, 2011 Friday Photos 1 Comment
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We decided to have a little fun on April Fool’s Day, so a few of us took a field trip over to the Nasher Sculpture Center’s new  exhibition, Sightings: Martin Creed.  Getting lost in the balloons was fun and scary at the same time.  Can you find the Museum educators?

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Melissa Nelson
Manager of Teaching in the Community

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