Dallas Museum of Art Uncrated

Every June, the Dallas Museum of Art and the University of Texas at Dallas host a week-long seminar for teachers. This year’s topic was Teaching for Creativity. Through creative thinking, conversations, and experiences in the galleries, participants created useful classroom scenarios to nurture creativity in students…and ourselves.

There were many highlights in the course. One highlight was a creativity challenge. Participants worked in teams and were given a variety of materials. They selected a contemporary work of art and created a new work of art inspired by the object. Afterwards, each group explained their creative process. This linked creative classroom techniques with works of art and gave teachers new ideas to use in the classroom. What are some ways that you have use creativity in the classroom?

We also spent extended time with works of art in the galleries. Looking closely at Manjusri, participants asked questions about the work of art and, together, generated ideas about the object. Some things that the group explored with Manjusri include:

• What do the gestures on the object signify?
• Where would this object have been used?
• How does the creativity of the artist emerge from the object?
• How does the object’s material display artistic creativity?

Below are images of the seminar. I hope you enjoy seeing the creative process  of the participants! See you at next year’s seminar.

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Amy Wolf
Coordinator of Gallery Teaching