Last Sunday, I enjoyed a great exhibition titled, 30 Americans, at the Milwaukee Art Museum.  I first learned of this exhibition years ago while preparing an art lesson for the Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington-Normal.

I selected Kehinde Wiley as the artist to focus on and to demonstrate how meaning may be communicated through facial expressions and body language.  I began looking for resources to share with the participating children (ages 5-12), and came across an online video promoting 30 Americans.

Fast forward to a couple of years later and the exhibition is only a short drive from my new home, teaching at Oregon Elementary School.  I was thrilled to see so many artists' work I had studied and admired.  Now I am able to share those works with my students.


My colleagues and I have been reviewing the latest draft of Common Core Art Standards.  One of the priority standards will be to teach students how art may be presented.  I decided to take this opportunity to introduce the concept of curating an exhibition to each sixth grade art class.  These students are already studying Kehinde Wiley for a photo alteration project.

I first defined exhibition and curator for students to take notes in their sketchbooks.  We then watched the following video to give us information about the 30 Americans exhibition.

After the video, I instructed each group of students to look at twelve images from 30 Americans and arrange them on a gallery map.  Each table included a map, exhibition guides and printed images from the exhibition.  I encouraged students to think about the following questions:

• which artwork(s) should visitors see as they enter the exhibition?
• what artwork needs its own space?
• which artworks could be presented next to one another?

Below are images of the classroom setup, student collaboration and response activity

The student reflections poster was also inspired by the Milwaukee Art Museum.  Pictured to the right is a wall within 30 Americans full of visitors' responses to the exhibition.  I asked my students to write down what they thought, felt, liked or learned from this activity.

The reflections are on display next to a student gallery example in the Oregon Elementary School art hallway and is pictured below:

I recently spent a couple weeks in St. Louis, Missouri.  I tried to take advantage of all that the city had to offer.  I met genuinely nice people, tasted amazing food and enjoyed great live music.  Most of my explorations focused on the city's many art museums.  I was able to see works by some of my favorite artists that I had never seen before.  Most importantly, I was able to consider how I will incorporate the artists and experiences into classroom projects and discussions.

The first stop I made in St. Louis was to the Citygarden.  I was interested in seeing the public sculpture of one of my favorite artists, Keith Haring.  I was pleasantly surprised to find several great sculptures by artists such as: Erwin Wurm, Mark Di Suvero, Mimmo Paladino, Jim Dine, Igor Mitoraj, Fernand Leger, Laura Ford, and more.

As a teacher, I want to show my students how art exists beyond museums, galleries and textbooks, and can actually be found everywhere!  A great variety of art can be found in communities big and small.  By showing students these works of art, I hope to facilitate a discussion about art they see in their own communities.

_A few days later I visited the Contemporary Art Museum, (CAM).  I wasn't sure what to expect, but from their website knew that they were exhibiting artists working in the greater St. Louis metro area for the Great Rivers Biennial.  I figured this would be a great opportunity to view art by emerging contemporary artists.

In addition to the biennial, the museum also exhibited monotypes by Oliver L. Jackson.  I was not previously familiar with Jackson's work, but I really enjoyed his abstracted prints and learning about his process.  Printmaking is one of my favorite processes, and one I hope to introduce my students to in the classroom.  I think the monotype is a great place to start teaching kids about printmaking, and allows for a lot of experimentation and creativity.  The abstract works by Jackson may encourage students to consider emotions communicated by color, movement and space.

_Of the exhibited artists in the Great Rivers Biennial, I really enjoyed David Johnson's photography and Asma Kazmi's collaborative project with a St. Louis adult literacy program.

David Johnson's exhibit was titled, Institution Etiquette and Strange Overtones.  For the biennial, he photographed different spaces of the museum, and the private homes of its patrons.  The concept is interesting, but I was particularly impressed by the compositions of each photograph.  He created large format photographs of seemingly ordinary spaces and elevated them to a stunning work of art. 

His attention to architecture and environments would be a great example to share with students.  Many of my colleagues, most notably Jeri Kelly, are interested in introducing photography to students of all ages, and encouraging them to document their community and experience through digital and/or film photography.  I hope to include similar projects with my students as well.

Asma Kazmi's exhibit greatly impressed me from the moment I stepped into the gallery.  As I read more about the project, I became even more interested in her work.  The exhibit was titled, Between Word and Image.  Kazmi worked with individuals of an adult literacy program in St Louis. She encouraged them to communicate their experiences by creating their own visual language.  In the past she has also worked collaboratively with groups in New Delhi, India. 

I think her process has a lot of parallels to the art classroom.  She began by introducing participants to a variety of works by artists and poets, and followed with group discussions.  The participants write out personal narratives in their own unique visual language.  I would like to do something similar with my students, particularly the younger grades as they begin to develop reading and writing skills.

I was most excited to visit The St. Louis Art Museum.  As kids, my parents often took my sister and I to the art museum and the St. Louis Zoo around the time of our birthdays.  It was always a treat to go to the museum and see the Egyptian artifacts.  We loved to see the mummy sarcophagus.

I haven't been to the museum in several years and I was surprised to find such a great collection of modern art.  I was able to enjoy artwork by some of my favorite artists including: Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Paul Cezanne, Marc Chagall and Max Beckman.  The museum's collection includes work by several other famous artists, and great work by artists I had not previously heard of.  I'm always excited to discover new favorites that interest me.

With such a large and diverse collection, the museum can inspire several project ideas and discussions for the art classroom.  Here are just a few that I thought may be useful:

You Can't Lay Down Your Memories Chest of Drawers - Tejo Remy

Think outside the box!  or think outside the furniture chest of drawers at least.  I like the idea of using this artwork as inspiration for students to come up with new, creative, and maybe a little bit crazy ways to design everyday objects. 

How well would this piece function?
What kind of person might use this piece of furniture?
What does the rest of their room look like?
What does the rest of their house look like?
Would you want to put this in your room?
What would you put in the drawers? clothes? toys?
Why do you think the artist designed it this way?
Why do you think the artist titled the piece You Can't Lay Down Your Memories Chest of Drawers ?

Felt Suit - Joseph Beuys  (St. Louis Museum of Art)                  Big Suit - Erwin Wurm (St. Louis Citygarden)

I want to encourage my students to analyze artwork by comparing and contrasting two different artists.  I want students to do more than to just recite facts, but also to make connections between different cultures, time periods, and their own experiences.

Both of these artists created artwork of a similar subject, a suit.  Why do you think they chose this subject?
What does a suit represent?
Beuys's suit is made of felt and Wurm's is made of aluminum.  How does the material of each artwork communicate meaning?
Beuys's suit is displayed in a gallery and Wurm's suit is displayed outdoors.  Does the setting affect how you view a piece of artwork?

Goldfish Bowl II - Roy Lichtenstein

I would like to show students this piece by Lichtenstein to encourage them to explore outside their comfort zones.  Lichtenstein is best known for his comic strip inspired paintings, but here we see a great example of one of his sculptures.

As an elementary art teacher I want to introduce students to a wide variety of two-dimensional and three-dimensional processes.  I believe by providing students with a general understanding of several  different techniques they will have a greater opportunity to become well-rounded artists of the future!








Below are additional artworks I enjoyed while visiting the St. Louis Art Museum:

After visiting The Pulitzer Foundation of the Arts, I walked to the St. Louis University Museum of Art.  I initially wanted to visit this museum for their exhibit of Andy Warhol's Polaroid photographs.

I arrived at the museum just an hour before closing time. which made my visit somewhat rushed, but fortunately no one else was there so I was able to view the work without any distractions.

The Warhol exhibit featured portraits taken with a Polaroid camera.  Warhol used these snapshots to create commissioned paintings in the 1960s.  Many of the people photographed were well known in the art and entertainment industries, but also included wealthy individuals who wanted their portrait painted by Warhol.


Many of the portraits in this exhibition were photographed several times in different poses.  Warhol invited his clients over for lunch prior to the photo shoot so they would become relaxed and comfortable with his assistants.  After lunch they would have their hair and makeup done while Warhol loaded three to four Polaroid cameras with film.  He wanted to be able to take as many photos as needed without interruption.  The client would sit on a chair against a white wall three feet from Warhol's camera.  During the photo shoot, he often captured a variety of human emotions from each client.

Below are a few of the portraits I enjoyed from the exhibition:

Below is a series of Warhol's photographs taken of a man by the name of Frank Andrews.  What does each portrait say about Andrews?  What can you tell by his facial expression?  His pose?  What is he holding in the first three photographs?  What kind of job might Andrews have?  How can you tell?