Every Artwork Tells A Story.

Museum trips can be rewarding events for students during the school year. Planning ahead is the key to their success.

I like to plan a pre-museum lesson and a post-museum critical essay or project. This allows students to observe fine art, learn museum manners, and apply their knowledge of ideas, artists, and concepts to real situations.

What Does the Museum Offer?

Most museums have docents on their staff who are trained to guide groups of students through the galleries with specific thematic criteria. A museum with a docent staff will be the easiest for both you and your students. These programs are highly effective in that they are focused on age and activity appropriate discussions for each group.

I especially enjoy taking my students to The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. It's one of Baltimore's newest museums and the only one that supports a wide variety of naive or visionary art. Most of the exhibiting artists have had little or no formal training in art and are motivated solely by a vision. Visionary artists are often self-taught. Some of these artists may not even consider their work to be art. They are intuitive people who make things in an intensely personal way. For my elementary students, the chance to see how "people just like them" have expressed their visions is exhilarating. "If they can do it, then so can we," is often what I hear. To see artwork in a museum by artists who are not considered masters gives students a boost they sometimes need.

Art That Inspires

I base my follow-up lessons on the notion that visionary artists see their creations as a fulfillment of a spiritual or personal vision or dream.

My goal is for the students to see that these are works of expression. I want to inspire my students to have a vision and realize that they are capable of creating their own messages by following their dreams and listening to their hearts.

On one such trip to the museum, the emphasis on having a personal memento incorporated into an artwork was perceived as a method to create art. So as a class, each student brought in a small object or something that was especially meaningful to them. Each child incorporated their "object" into an old picture frame.

Sharing a Vision

Initially the act of bringing together all of these pieces seemed enough to deem the post-museum project successful. But as we critiqued the work later, we all agreed that although the personal objects were all individually enjoyed, the frame was not unified as a whole.

The students decided to create a more harmonious work by writing a short sentence as to why their objects were memorable to them. Upon completion of the statements, the students agreed that their vision was one that celebrated "The Creative Soul of the Fourth Grade Artists."

We exhibited the artwork schoolwide for the rest of the year. Many other students expressed interest in creating an artwork for themselves or as a class.

I believe that the process through which the students were led allowed for them to relax, have fun, and take risks in the creative process while remaining in the safety of a cooperative group effort.

The green monkey is cool because it's cute 

The marble looks awesome because colors are blended.

The handle to the door at my old house which I liked.

The missile shows that I like to blow up things and use nuclear missiles.

--Gabe

NATIONAL STANDARD

Students understand there are various purposes for creating works of visual art.

Victoria Weaver is an elementary art teacher at Sandymount Elementary School in Carroll County, Maryland.