Help Kids See A Story in Art

I am a docent at the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College in Lynchburg, VA.  The Maier is nationally recognized for its collection of 19th and 20th century American art. The Maier began collecting in 1920 and has several thousand paintings, drawings, prints and photographs. Each year the museum hosts every 2nd and 5th grade student in the Lynchburg City School system. These visits alternate grades by semester, but this year we are doing all of them in October and November.
  

Portrait of Mary Elizabeth Morgan
George W. Fitzwilson

Over the three years I have been a docent at the Maier, I have enjoyed crafting and refining my approach to sharing the experience of the Maier with the students.  Some things never change.  However, new inspiration and being alert to what the kids respond to keeps the experience fresh and interesting for me.

As an educator I am really coming around to the idea that my job is to ask questions and facilitate a conversation more than it is to lecture information.

1.  Sharing My Enthusiasm

I love art museums.  I grew up in the DC area and have been a frequent visitor of the Smithsonian and all of the area art museums, with a special fondness for the Freer Sackler complex of Asian art.  

Lynchburg is very lucky to have the Maier Museum.  It is a beautiful building in the great tradition of art museums that reference Classical architecture.  I think this is important because as you enter you move into a space that is conducive to reflection and contemplation.

As I greet the students when they first arrive, I welcome them and invite them to savor an experience that is uniquely different from their every day lives. 

Marsh Wren (from The Birds of America)
John James Audubon

2.  Art at the Museum vs. Art on the Internet

A new thread of engagement with the 5th graders this year is to ask if they have looked at paintings, photography, etc. online. Of course they say yes.  My next question is what will be different about seeing art at the Maier today as opposed to seeing art on a computer. I have only done this twice but have been pleased that it generates thoughtful responses that indicate an high level of perception.  They are aware of color shifts, that things look different in real life and even that issues of texture and scale are frequently obscured or non-existent in online viewing. 
  
Don't get the me wrong.  No one is happier that huge volumes of art are available online. The more art museums that put their archives online the happier I am. The more artists put their work online the happier I am. Developing media literacy does dictate that we address these issues to understand the strengths and weaknesses of online access.   
 
3. Getting the Kids Engaged with the Artwork

Sure, it's an afternoon away from school, and that in itself is exciting.  So part of our job is to get them to relax and really look at the work on the walls.  Here are some of the ways I try to do that: 

4.   Every Picture Tells a Story

This is one of my core concepts in talking to kids about art.  As human beings we are hard wired to storytelling as listeners and crafters of stories.  To see the story in a work of art requires a level of engagement. You have to look carefully at what's there in order to discover the story.  This approach has been successful in generating some lively discussions about various artworks.

The Shrine of the American Dream
Edgar Endress with Brooke Marcy, Marco Moreno Navarro and Chris Rackley

On view now is The 101st Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art. The Shrine of the American Dream, by Edgar Endress in collaboration with Brooke Marcy, Marco Moreno Navarro and Chris Rackley has been a gold mine of opportunity to talk to the students about stories in art.  This work, which consists of 300 panels on recycled wood, features illustrations of failed patent applications from the early 19th century.  What in the world do these inventions do? I ask students to pick out their favorites and discuss what they think the devices were designed to do.
 

Mrs. Scott's House
Edward Hopper

Hopper's landscape generates lots of questions about who lives in this house.  Some children find this inviting and others find it ominous. Launching the Boat encourages speculation about what these men are doing and where they are headed. 

Launching the Boat
Gifford Beal

5.  If You Were the Artist

Another new approach this year is to ask the students to imagine that they are an artist and have them pick out the image they would be most proud to have created.  The first sets of responses to this question were answered with selections of work that reflected a favorite location.  In this case it was the beach or a pastoral scene of the Italian countryside with a small village off in the distance.

Portrait of Anna Vaughn Hyatt
Marion Boyd Allen

My last 5th grade tour was especially interested in this painting, Portrait of Anna Vaughn Hyatt by Marion Boyd Allen.  The students had worked with clay and seemed to feel a connection to this artist and her work.

 6.  What Tools Do You Use as an Artist

This line of questioning provides the opportunity to talk about the tools that artists use to make their art.  The Maier has two canvases that the students can touch and of course it's a big hit.  Both are acrylic paintings on rather small stretched canvases. One has a very rough texture and the other very smooth. I like having them feel the sample paintings and identify work on the wall that would feel the same, if they could touch it. It's also a great time to have them feel the similarity between the canvas of the painting (felt from the back) and their jeans.

7. What am I learning?

As an educator I am really coming around to the idea that my job is to ask questions and facilitate a conversation more than it is to lecture information.

8. Docents/Teachers, Help Me Out

What kinds of experiences have you had with kids this age as a docent?   Teachers, what do you expect/want your kids to get from their visits to art museums?