Multicultural Stories: 1001 Inventions at Nat Geo

An important job we have as educators/parents is to help children get as wide a view of the world as possible to balance our natural ethnocentrism. Here in Lynchburg, VA I have been very impressed with Randolph College's commitment to "cultivating a global perspective in a liberal arts setting".  Randolph currently has an initiative to move from tolerance for diversity to "intercultural competence". These are exciting and worthy goals for any institution. Museums can and do play a major role in introducing cultural assets and explaining their significance.
   
Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation (FSTC), a British non-profit educational organization has created the exhibition 1001 Inventions to this end. The exhibit introduces the Golden Age of Muslim Civilization, highlighting the groundbreaking scientific and cultural achievements of the the 7th to 17th century in the Muslim world.  1001 Inventions is currently (until February 3, 2013) on view at the Washington, DC headquarters of the National Geographic.   The exhibit is geared toward children but engages all ages.


One of the most interesting objects in the exhibit is a large reproduction of the automatic clock designed by Al-Jazari 800 years ago.  Al-Jazari was an inventor, engineer, mathematician, artist and scholar. His work, including this clock were instrumental is setting the stage for both modern automation and robotics.   He is best know for The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices published in 1206.  In it he describes 100 mechanical devices and provides blue prints for their construction.

Al-Jazari's clock is run by water in an elaborate series of mechanisms that function inside and outside of the elephant. This video animates the workings of the clock.  This monumental clock is 20 feet tall. 

One of the most interactive components and one kids particularly enjoyed was a projection on a large wall. The projected image featured Abbas Ibn Firnas. Firnas is attributed to be the first man to make a scientific attempt at flying. Firnas is shown with his winged invention jumping from a tower and in "flight".  The viewer standing in front of the wall powers Firnas's flight by flapping their arms. An animated replica of the viewers motion is also projected on the wall. The longer and stronger the flapping, the more yards Firnas flies. 

I learned lots of interesting factoids.  Cat gut was first used in surgery during this time and it is still used today.  Fatima Al-Fihri founded the world’s first modern university in 859 CE.  It is still in operation today. A Muslim scientist Alhazen is considered the first to come up with a scientific description of a camera obscura or room sized pin hole camera. Knowledge of various architectural features such as arches were brought back to Europe from the Crusades. One display suggested that the shape of the Arabic numerals were devised to correspond to the appropriate number of angles, ie one had one angle in the symbol that represents one, two had two angles etc.

This pdf for middle school students is a worksheet for students to fill out at the exhibit. It provides an overview of the range of topics addressed in this stimulating, informative experience. 1001 Inventions has traveled to numerous locations around the world including the California Science Center in Los Angeles, the New York Hall of Science, the London Science Museum and the Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul.

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?

NYC: Art on the Streets of Bushwick

Last weekend I was in Brooklyn visiting my daughter who recently moved to Bushwick. She is starting a graduate program at CUNY. My primary objective was to visit her and see her new digs, but hoped that I could talk her into a visit to The Century of the Child at MOMA. (next post)

Raised subway track over Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn.

A wonderful surprise was the discovery of the mural at the corner of Knickerbocker and Woodbine right by her apartment. A little research informed that it was painted by professional artists and students in 2007.  It still shines.

Mural runs right to left along two streets around Bushwick High School

Cities are composed of neighborhoods that transition and Bushwick has a history of changing populations. This mural was conceived to help the present kid-population see a bright future for themselves and get a feel for the history of their neighborhood.  

"Let's take a Walk through time."

Joe Matunis, from Los Muralistas de El Puente spear-headed the project with twenty students from the Academy for Urban Planning in Bushwick. Enjoy the images that add such color and energy to the neighborhood.  I was very pleased to see how pristine the mural is so many years after it was made (2007).

 We were lucky to have bright, warm sunny weather for our visit.  Bushwick is a bustling urban environment not at all devoid of color and visual appeal.  However, that said it all paled in comparison to the vibrant color and imagery of this wonderful mural that stretched along a wall two blocks long.

Bushwick was heavily damaged in the riots and fires that followed the blackout in 1977, as this part of the mural documents. What followed was even greater hardship and poverty in the area.  The last 10 years have seen investments by the City and State of New York in the area through the Bushwick Initiative.

The objectives of the creators was more than just decorate the neighborhood.  There was a real interest in not only referencing the strong Latin tradition of murals but to also inspire the viewers of their work.

This view of the corner give you a good idea of the impressive sweep of this mural in two directions.

Corner of Knickerbocker and Woodbine

This last snippet invites us all to express ourselves, something done quite eloquently in this mural.