A New Way of Seeing Things: SEEC Part 3

Kristin Reiber Harris

This is Part 3 (Part 1, Part 2) of a series of articles about the recent seminar Play: Engaging Young Learning in Object Rich Environments at the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center in Washington, D.C. 

I am a veteran art museum hopper. Growing up in Washington, DC I was spoiled with access to an extraordinary universe of art, most of it free. I have had the great fortune to visit art museums nationally and internationally but Washington remains a geographic center of my museum art world. There have been times on a blitz art museum swing I have hit 3 or 4 in one day. I am the first to admit that I don't always linger as much as I could like, even in exhibits that I find incredibly stimulating and informative. One such example was Gravity's Edge at the Hirshhorn. I loved the exhibit but did not linger over each piece as much as I might have liked, distracted by so much to see and do.

Hirshhorn Museum from Sculpture Garden  Credit:Public Domain  Gryffindor

How is SEEC's seminar Play:Engaging Young Learning in Object Rich Environments relevant to this discussion about gallery hopping? One of our activities the first day of the event was instrumental in helping me understand how I might be able to not only engage young children with museum objects but also approach an exhibit with a different point of view that expands my own observations.

The Power of Choice activity started with a questionaire about how we wanted to frame our visit to the Museum of African Art. The objective was to learn about the IPOP approach to learning styles. This segment of the program was directed by Museum Education Specialist and SEEC staff member, Sara Cardello. Our choices for point of entry were: look for art made from the earth; look for clues about this person; look for art with the same color and look for things that make noise. By making these choices we were self-selecting into groups. Sara would later explain that IPOP refers to idea, people, object and physical as descriptions of learning styles and how IPOP relates to our interest in children and museum objects.

No hesitation for me, I knew I wanted to look for objects "made from the earth". I am currently incorporating a selection of wonderful preColumbian ceramic pieces in my app project in development, I Can Do That! This earthenware sculpture, with it's joyful gesture and big smile, is a wonderful example of objects I am using in my animated interactive project. It has an appeal for all ages.

Ritual Dancer Ocarina, Vera Cruz, Walters Art Museum Credit: Creative Commons

Looking forward to finding equally exciting objects at the Museum of African Art, I joined the "made from the earth" group and Sara directed us to the Disney-Tishman African Art Collection Highlights exhibit for our investigation. One of the first objects I saw was the wonderful headdress.

National Museum of African Art  Credit:Fair Use Education

I knew right away my mind set of "made from the earth" meaning only clay was flawed when a fellow seminar participant tried to find the iron that was listed as one of the materials in the work...rightly identifying it as "from the earth".

This stone head from Sierra Leone was the first object I found that came close to my original search criteria. 

Male Head, Sierra Leone 15th to 17th century  Photo Credit: KH

This commemorative ceramic head is in the adjoining case. I thought I had found my "made from the earth" object. 

Terra cotta head, Ghana 19th century  Photo Credit:KH

In the course of enjoying the objects in this room, made of wood, metal, beads, and numerous other materials, it became clear that there was in fact NO object that was not "of the earth", human beings included. This may seem silly and painfully obvious. However, there was something about this process of discovery with a specific objective that made this experience relevant in a new and dynamic way to me.

I benefited from having a task that highlighted for me a preconceived idea that was affecting how I was interacting with these objects. On one hand, in order to solve the "problem" I needed to be a careful observer. On a higher level, I needed to rethink my assumption to more accurately solve the problem. I was not able to glide in and out of the room with only a cursory interaction with these wonderful objects. 

I can see how this approach can be a useful tool in engaging a group of preschool children with any group of objects. What makes noise? What do you think that noise would sound like? How many things in this room are red? orange? Different learning styles will reveal different preferences, but all are avenues for access to the objects.

Since that activity, my sister and I visited a once in a lifetime exhibit of Andrew Wyeth paintings at the National Gallery of Art. I told her about my experiences at the SEEC seminar and we decided to think about identifying five images in the Wyeth exhibit and arranging them in a narrative, as a different was to approach the exhibit. Frankly, this exhibition is so mesmerizing that I needed no trick to linger and absorb these amazing paintings. There are many threads of stories in the work but just basking in the genius of Wyeth was enough for the first visit.