Day 7!

Today's challenge is to go on a virtual field trip.  Choose a museum from the following links or one that you may find through searching.

1.  One of the best places to start is Google Arts and Culture.  Like everything else Google, this is a warehouse of art, museums and information. You may need to install the google arts and culture app in order to visit these sites. Visit the collections page to see a list of all the museums that offer tours through Google Arts and Culture.  Happy exploring!

2. The Uffizi Gallery is one of Europes best museums.  It houses some of the greatest art works of the Italian Renaissance collected by the Medici family.

3. The Louvre is the world's largest art museum.  Located in Paris, France, it has nearly 38,000 objects dating from prehistory to today. It is one of the most recognizable buildings in Paris, a former palace, now with its large glass pyramid in the main courtyard.  If you look carefully, you might find daVinci's Mona Lisa in the collection.

4.   The Frick is a museum in New York that houses the collection of industrialist, Henry Clay Frick.  If you take a visit, you will see works of art by Bellini, Ingres, Bronzino and Holbein.

5. A little closer to home, you can visit The Mint Museum of Art in uptown Charlotte.  While these Charlotte museums don't offer 'virtual tours', you can look at their collections online: The Bechtler and The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture.

6. Also close to home, check out the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh,  The Ackland Museum of Art in Chapel Hill, The Nasher Art Museum in Durham, The Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, The Weatherspoon in Greensboro and finally, about 45 minutes from home, The North Carolina Pottery Center.  While not all of these museums have virtual tours, you can follow the links and look at their collections on their websites.

7. This place, The Guggenheim museum in NY is one of my favorite places on earth.  The building itself is a work of art, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  Go.  Just go and look at it.

8. I'm saving my absolute favorite place for last:The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Someday soon, when we are all back together, ask me about the hours and hours that I have spent in this place.  It's my idea of heaven.

These are just a few of the hundreds of museums that are offering virtual tours.  How lucky are we all that during this Global Health Crisis we can sit safely in our homes all the while traveling virtually around the world visiting some of the most amazing collections of art that there is to be found.  And the best thing of all, it's all free.

Happenings...

Holy Hand-grenades, Batman!  The last few weeks in the art room have been a flurry of activity!  Seriously, I need a break.  Good thing Thanksgiving is coming up fast. It's all been great and fun but we have been so busy!

Chromebooks

I am very fortunate to work in a district that has implemented a 1:1 chromebook initiative with all the high and middle schools.  High Schools got theirs last year and thankfully, worked out some of the bugs and we got ours mid-first quarter.  At first, I was a little bit hesitant wondering what in the world I would be able to do with them in the art room, but they have turned out to be a great asset. 

I started out by creating Google Classrooms for each grade level and had the students sign in, using a specific code for their class.  Using Google drive, I can send out messages, assignments, photographs of examples, slide shows and any number of resources that students can refer to at any time.  The kids are so much more tech savvy than I, which is saying a lot because I really consider myself pretty darn good with technology and they have totally embraced using the chromebooks in not just my class, but most of their other classes as well. 

Working on the Art Scavenger Hunt in Google Classrooms

Neil found the information about American Gothic fascinating.

Google Classrooms and a chromebook in every student's hands makes leaving sub plans a breeze!

Art Club

 

The art club recently completed their first project. We meet every Monday afternoon for about an hour and work on some kind of project that I generally can't do on a large scale.  I had some old vinyl records donated last year and was hoping to get enough to do this project with a whole grade level but only got about 30 so I decided that it would be an art club project.  We took a couple of weeks and drew on the records using plain old crayola colored pencils.  

We drew lines and patterns and just colored them in until one side of the record was completely covered.

We took them down to what was, at one time, the old careers classroom that has a small 'efficiency' kitchen in it and boiled water in a shallow skillet.  I have to tell you that I was worried sick that 1. It wouldn't work 2. The designs that they drew on the records would wash or melt off 3. Somebody (me) would get scalded with hot water. 

Much to my surprise, IT WORKED!  We were all thrilled to pieces with our record bowls and took home our first (successful) project.  Trust me, MizzSmiff breathed a sigh of relief.

I created an Art Club classroom in Google Classrooms and sent them all a message to let them know that we wouldn't be meeting this Monday.  We only have 2 days this week before Thanksgiving and many of us will be out of town and busy with preparations for the holiday.  I took the opportunity to let them know that our next project will be a canvas painting.  They are so excited and want to know what it will be.  The truth is, I really haven't decided yet, but I have an idea.

The art club and their record bowls

 Field Trip

The 'Arts Department' at AMS (that would be me and the band teacher, ha) took the 8th grade art, chorus and band students on a field trip about a week ago.  

We filled a bus with our students and headed to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  G'boro is a little over an hour's drive from AMS in a car and we were expecting it to take much longer by old yellow school bus, but thanks to Ms. Watkins, we were there in record time. 

I know you aren't supposed to take pictures in museums but I couldn't help myself.  This was part of the 'Art on Paper' Exhibition.  I wish I would have written down the artist who did this piece.  I love it!  It was done by tracing shadows of iron gates, then cutting them out.

We saw an Opera, toured the school of music and the art students visited the Weatherspoon Museum of Art while the band students sat in on a practice session.  I have never been to the Weatherspoon before and was pleasantly surprised by their collection.  I was thrilled that the kids got to see art, in person, in a real museum.  They asked the docents a lot of smart questions and I think that they enjoyed themselves. By the end of the tour, they were tired and asking what we were doing next and when we were going home.  It was a long day with a lot of walking.

That all being said, I hate to admit that I think the highlight of the trip was having lunch in a real college cafeteria.  Can I just say that college cafeterias have been stepped up their game since I was in school back when the crust of the earth was cooling?  I'm not kidding.  It was overwhelming.  It was huge.  The kids didn't know where to start and what to do. We heard a lot of 'Can we have anything we want?' and 'We can go back for seconds?'.  There was a lot of wandering with plates out and eyes glazed over.  Apparently, the tater tots were amazing, mashed potatoes with a side of bacon bits make for the best lunch ever and cookies can be stuffed into back packs and the pockets of cargo pants for the long ride home.   

We also hit the bookstore up right before we headed back to the bus, I got wrangled out of 20 bucks for Starbucks for I don't know how many kids (did I really do that?) and we got back to school about an hour and a half later than we expected.  I really hope that we put a spark in their minds about what a large college campus looks like and what they can expect in just a few short years when they head off to college.

Teacher Artists

 

The next few pictures are of a 'Painting Party' we had in my classroom last Saturday.  This idea all started at the end of the last school year.  Usually, a bunch of us like to do something fun to commemorate the end of the year and thought that it would be fun to do one of those 'Wine and Design' or 'Paint and Pour' activities.  There was a Groupon out and as much as we tried, we just couldn't find a date that would work for most of us. Jennifer Walker, 6th grade science, assured me that I could teach a group of teacher to paint SOMETHING, but I really just wanted to go to an event to see how it was done before I tried to do it myself.  Fast forward to early October.  I'm not sure how it started, but someone, I think it was Heather, found a cute snowman painting on Pinterest and I exclaimed "OMG!  We can do that!  I promise!"  It started with about 5 of us. I ordered 5 canvases from Blick.  Then we said, We have to invite so and so.  And She needs to come! And I ordered 5 more canvases.  And we haven't seen Her in so long!  So, 10 more canvases. And it turned into a THING.  And I said "Eh, fuggedabout it." and ordered 10 more.  I realized quickly that no one had enough room in their house for 25 women, canvases and paint so I emailed my principal and said "Ummmm, Beverly, there are a few (a lot) of us that want to get together and paint a holiday painting on a Saturday and I was wondering if maybe we could use my art room and if maybe you could turn the alarm off so we could use the bathroom and stuff and you can come and paint with us too if you want."  

We had a blast.  And we didn't even have any wine with our design or pour with our paint.  AMS teachers, former teachers, former students, moms and friends came.  We are already thinking about what we are going to do the next time. 

I say this a lot and I know that I am not the only one on my staff that feels this way, but we are so lucky to work with people that we call friends.  We all know that teaching is a hard job and above all, we need to support each other.  Hanging out and just having fun with each other is so important.  

Staci and her masterpiece, pre snowflakes.

Heather,  working diligently.

Maureen.  Notice she put her flakes along the side of her canvas!

Kat adding her snowflakes.

Nancy, Jennifer, Chaundra and Brooke with their finished projects!

AP Art History and the AP Institute

I just got back from the AP Summer Institute at Marist School in Atlanta, Georgia.  Teachers from all over the southeast converged on this beautiful campus for a week of intense training and I am now certified by the AP Institute to teach AP Art History!  I minored in Art History when I was in college and in fact, had I taken 2 more classes, I could have had a double major.  The sound that you hear is me kicking myself.

I have always had a great love of art history and I am pretty sure that comes from growing up in New York.  I can remember from a very early age, probably third grade, taking multiple yearly field trips to visit the many museums in Manhattan.  As soon as I was old enough, I was allowed to take the train into the city with friends and we would spend the day at the Met or the MoMA.  Really?  What were my parents thinking?  I can remember getting lost in the art and thinking about the people in the paintings and what was going on in the world at that time. As I got older, I discovered The Frick, The Whitney, The Brooklyn Museum, The Guggenheim and my favorite, The Cloisters to name a few.  One quick story and then I'll tell you about my week at Marist.  When I was old enough to drive, some friends and I decided that we would drive into the city.  Thanks to my mom who let me borrow her car.  Really?  What was she thinking?  It was a brand new Cadillac Eldorado.  Seriously.  I wouldn't let me do that.  Anyway, my dad, doing what all dads do gave me strict instructions on how to handle myself.  Have your toll money ready, park in the open parts of parking garages, be careful on the West Side highway because it gets narrow and don't let the cobblestones freak you out. His strictest admonition was that I was IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS to make a left when getting off of the George Washington Bridge.  NO LEFTS!  Bad neighborhood!  Beware!  I was 17.  What do you think I did?  Yep.  Made a left.  A big one.  But it was then that I discovered the glory of The Cloisters.  If you've never been, please go.  Please.  Tell all the art that I said "Hello" and have a nice picnic lunch on the grass over looking the Hudson.  Sigh.  It's just so lovely.

Fast Forward a couple of decades (or a few, really) and I am on my way to Atlanta, Georgia.  I've been to Atlanta many, many times but it has been a while and I have to tell you that if you have ever heard anything about the traffic in this city, and what you heard about it was that it is bad, well, that doesn't even begin to describe it.  The last hour of my trip took me about 2.5 hours or so.  I had reserved a room at a nearby hotel that offered discounted rates for those attending the Summer Institute.  By the time I got there, I was exhausted and the last thing I wanted to do was go get something to eat, but my lunch from the Cracker Barrel in Greenville, SC was long gone so I decided to splurge and got some room service.

 OMG. Chicken Cobb Salad.  Worth every penny.

I unpacked a little bit and went for a swim in the hotel pool.  I figured that since this was going to be my 'Big Vacation' this summer I was going to take advantage of every amenity. 

The hotel provided a shuttle to the school and I thought that I would take it since I had no idea where I was going.  Turns out the school was just a mile down the road and I ended up driving myself the rest of the week.  We were provided with a 'light' breakfast of pastries, bagels and fruit each morning.  Yum, but lacking the protein that I usually try to eat.  I ended up getting a jar of peanut butter to smear on my bagels each day.

Our instructor, Dr. Michael Bieze, came to get us and brought us up to his classroom where we would spend the week.  There were only 6 of us, 2 studio art teachers, 2 art history teachers and 2 English teachers, so it was a nice, small group. We got our materials, which included the 13lb. current version of Marilyn Stokstad's Art History. We spent the day discussing expectations and getting to know one another.  We looked at slides and I suddenly felt like I was in school again.  A little bit older and achier (have I mentioned the enormous hill I had to climb to get to my car and all the stairs at the school?  No? I'm not as perky as I used to be.  Let's just leave it at that).

On day 2, we went on a field trip to the High Museum to see The Girl With A Pearl Earring and other Dutch Masters exhibit.  Sigh.  Who doesn't love a field trip?  My heart leapt a little bit when we got there.  We spent the morning wandering around the museum.  It is easy to forget how beautiful and intense it is to look at art in person.  I feel so lucky to be teaching in a time where it is so easy to find a work online and project it to share with my students. It's just so convenient.  But, you just don't get the same feeling that you do when you can see the depth of color in person, the texture that builds up from layer after layer of paint, the true size of the works, to walk around a sculpture, to look behind a tapestry.  Sigh.  I was in Heaven.

The Shade ~ Rodin Located on the lawn outside the museum, this piece was donated to the High by the French government to honor the 106 Atlanta Arts Patrons that perished in a plane crash while on a trip to Paris.  Surrounding the sculpture is a wall that bears the names of the men and women that died in the disaster.

House III ~ Roy Lichtenstein 

                                                               

Mobile ~ Alexander Calder

The Girl With A Pearl Earring exhibit will be at the High until September 29.  If you are planning a trip to Atlanta, please be sure to go.  And if you are driving, in the words of my niece Paula, 'Drive it like you stole it!'.

Dr. Beize drove us around Atlanta in his little beemer after we left the museum, pointing out all the amazing architecture in the city.  If anyone is looking for a business opportunity, buy a couple of 10 passenger vans, brush up on Atlanta architecture and start yourself a tour company.  There are no 'formal' architecture tours which is surprising for a city with such a rich architectural history.

The next couple of days were spent going through the vast amount of works that we need to present to our students to prepare them for the AP Art History exam.  I took the exam when I was in high school, way back when it first started and I don't remember it being half as intense.  Most of the art that we looked at was familiar and I loved every minute of being in that class.  We learned the structure of the exam, how to write questions and what the readers are looking for.  One of the other art history teachers from Spartanburg, SC shared his list of works that he teaches his students, which was so helpful.  Dr. Beize is probably one of the most knowledgeable art history instructors that I have ever had.  His love for the subject was evident and I was so excited to be in the class absorbing as much as I could.  I have copies of exam questions, Dr. Beize's syllabus, his list of works and so many materials that should set me up to win right out of the gate.  The AP exam will be changing in the next couple of years, limiting the canon of works on the test to 250.  If I remember correctly, the Summer Institute is planning a trip to Tuscany next summer where instructors will learn the new test and be immersed in the Italian countryside.  I am going to do everything that I can possibly do to go on that trip, even if I have to eat nothing but red beans and rice for the next school year. 

I will tentatively be teaching this class on line in the spring.  My district is trying to come up with ways to offer more diverse classes to our students and it seems that online learning is the way to go.  I am so excited about sharing my love of Art History with the students in my county.  I am a little bit anxious about this whole online thing, but I guess it will be good to get outside of my comfort zone.  I am also taking an online class this summer to learn how to teach online classes.  I feel confident that our intrepid instructor will have us ready by the spring to bring all of these amazing opportunities to the kids in our district.  It's exciting!  And it's scary.  But I think that is a good thing.

My only problem is trying to figure out how in the world I am going to get my students to visit some of the amazing art that we have here in the area.  We will need to go to The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art and The Mint Museum of Craft and Design and The Mint Museum and The Ackland Art Museum and the NCMA and The Weatherspoon and...Sigh.  There has to be a way.

Projected and print images are fine, but to really fall in love, you need to see it in person.