Experiencing Art

Not that I think anyone would ever doubt the power of education, but if they did, I recommend taking that person somewhere out of their element, like to an art museum. Let the person explore the museum on their own first and then have a docent educate the person and see if the person changes their thoughts once they are educated.

I recently took a tour of the North Carolina Museum of Art and in the past when I have toured art galleries on my own, I would admire the paintings or statues that I found appealing to the eye. For example, my favorite colors are pink, purple, light blue and most other pastel colors and I enjoy things like ballet. As you can imagine, when I visit museums, I enjoy looking at artwork from artists such as Claude Monet and Edgar Degas. However, can you imagine an uneducated person (in art) looking at statues/sculptures from artists such as Rodin, where backs of heads are absent… or entire heads for that matter. One would think, “This can’t be art.” However, after learning about the different pieces and the artists, you begin to understand it and appreciate it; this, in my opinion, can be applied in all aspects of education.

I did not only attend the museum for me to learn about and have a better appreciation for art, but to learn how to help elementary students find this appreciation. Taking students to an art museum would be a great field trip. I cannot wait to teach students about the different types of art and have them make their own before visiting the museum.

Before the visit to the art museum, I would:

• Have students make art from recycled materials, mosaics, paintings, sculptures, etc and have them write a story about their piece explaining why it is a piece of art/what the meaning is behind the piece of art.
• Teach about different cultures like Egyptian, African, and Judaic.

While at the art museum, I would:

• Ask the students to pick out geometric shapes or patterns and explain the similarities and differences between the pieces of art.
• Visit the Egyptian, African, and Judaic rooms to connect what we learned in the classroom to the pieces of art.
• Have students make connections from what they learned in class about history to art.

The sky is the limit with making connections from art to other areas, as long as you are educated about it…