Art Museum
I wasn’t going to blog on the art museum, but writing about the history museum got me thinking about our trip to the Art Museum. I read someone else’s blog about how great our docent was, and I completely agree. I wholeheartedly agree that the docent’s information about the works of art, their history, how they came to be in this museum, and where and when they were created in the artist’s life, was so meaningful. As I wrote in my history blog, I have been to lots of art museums, but always with my dad, who could give us similar background explanation for the paintings and pieces of art. I guess those experiences have spoiled me, as I find it hard to appreciate art without the social background information. Maybe this shows my interest in social studies – the art has to be relevant to me or I don’t remember it!

My parents often asked me and my brother when we were growing up, “how many different things could we find in a painting?” They normally did this with a still life, or Dutch or Italian art. I think this is a great exercise for kids to increase their skills of observation. These types of paintings show items used by people at the time, and experiences that are timeless. I think this helps kids make connections between their lives and what was happening hundreds of years ago. When these connections are made, it makes learning social studies far more interesting to students (and to me!).

I loved the idea of the art boxes, especially with younger students. This way they can interact with art, but can be in their classroom and see how the art integrates with other subjects. The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC has hundreds of large (10 x 13) reprints of their most famous paintings, that we could use to make our own art boxes. I am excited to use this exercise in my own classroom.