Dallas Museum of Art Uncrated

In mid-October, Center for Creative Connections staff embarked on an exciting collaboration with Janeil Engelstad from Make Art with Purpose and a group of students from the Skyline High School Architecture cluster led by teacher Peter Goldstein.

Students talking about Buren’s ‘Sanction of the Museum’.

We work closely with the students asking questions and prompting discussion.

On one of the days, students appropriated one of Mondrian’s paintings by focusing on the windmill and responding with a four step drawing, from figurative to abstract.

Jonathan responding to Gerhard Richter’s ‘Abstract Painting’ in the exhibit ‘Museum is History’ in the Hoffman Gallery.

Skyline students have been visiting the DMA on a weekly basis to become acquainted with our collection. During the visits, the students explore the ways in which art can have cultural and personal significance by responding both critically and creatively through activities, dialogue, and reflection.

Starting on Level 4 with American Art and moving all the way to Level 1 with our Contemporary collection, the students have been talking, writing, and drawing works of art that they want to include on their own tour, which will be used to create a new smARTphone tour of the Museum. We also make weekly visits to their high school to further explore the collection and discuss the types of responses that will become content for stops on their tour.

Group of students in the Hoffman Gallery discussing Contemporary Art.

At Skyline, talking Gregory Crewdson and highlights from our Contemporary Art collection at DMA.

Students sketching on Level 3.

Miguel sharing his narrative response to Leonora Carrington’s surrealist painting on Level 4.

The project is part of Translating Culture, an initiative that launched last year that aims to create links with the community by inviting groups to collaborate with staff through a series of workshops to inspire dialogue for mutual understanding and varied perspectives on the collection. While intending to inspire the use of art as a means of further understanding oneself and the world we live in, Translating Culture II also hopes to give the students a sense of ownership of the Museum and a platform from which to speak out their thoughts and concerns in order to engage their peers and the wider community.

We definitely make sure to have fun in the galleries! – While visiting the European Galleries, we asked students to dress up and create a tableau inspired by a work of art.

Abel and Guillermo sharing their response to a piece from the Japanese collection.

Students experiencing and talking about Zaha Hadid’s bench outside in the DMA Sculpture Garden.

We will continue to meet with the students until the end of November, at which point all the student work will be collected and prototyped into their bilingual smARTphone tour in early 2015. Stay posted for more detailed information on the project and a behind-the-scenes peek at students’ work, such as those below which include a sketch by student Miguel Martinez based on The Icebergs by Frederic Edwin Church, a drawing by Edith Cruz inspired by Renoir’s Lise Sewing and a set of sketches by Guadalupe Murillo during her visit to The Silk Road exhibit on Level 3.

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Eliel Jones
McDermott Intern for Visitor Engagement