More than a field trip.When funding was made available for two of my elementary visual arts visual arts npl → artes fpl plásticas visual arts npl → arts mpl plastiques visual arts npl → classes to take an art-based field trip, I took advantage of the opportunity to strengthen my overall art program. Thinking beyond the narrow confines of "art field trip" and by tapping into community resources (museums and public art), the trip became a rich and enjoyable extension of classroom learning. The results proved more positive than I could have hoped or imagined. Step I: Identifying the Community Resources The City of Fort Worth can be defined by its distinct Western heritage and strong traditions in collecting masterworks of art. Two museums, the Amon Carter Museum The Amon Carter Museum is located in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established by the generosity of Amon G. Carter to house his collection of paintings and sculpture by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. When the museum opened in 1961, its first director, Mitchell A. and the Sid Richardson Collection of Western Art, exemplify this spirit through their strong collections of American art American art, the art of the North American colonies and of the United States. There are separate articles on American architecture, North American Native art, pre-Columbian art and architecture, Mexican art and architecture, Spanish colonial art and architecture, . Additionally, downtown public art includes three major murals by Richard Haas
Step II: Planning Planning for these tours of downtown artwork required attending to diverse details several months in advance. The museum educators at the Carter and Richardson were the first contacts on my list. In close collaboration, the museum educators and I determined dates for the visits, schedules, and learning objectives to be addressed in the galleries. Specific gallery activities, we decided, would center upon no more than one or two artworks and would include interactive discussions followed by a written activity. The next step was planning to visit the outdoor murals. No museum educators oversee the murals, therefore, all instruction became dependent upon me. Logistics of moving students through a busy downtown area had to be considered along with learning objectives and activities that would actively engage students with thoughtful observation and interpretation of the large artworks. I decided that best use of our time at the murals would include taking visual notes to be used for discussion, written activities, and reflection when we returned to campus. Step III: Preparing Students For some of the students, this trip represented their first visit to an art museum or to see public art. Two videos were shown in the classroom to prepare them for these new experiences. One video, Just Look: An Introduction to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, provided insights into museum manners. Excerpts from another video, Painting the Town: The Illusionistic Murals of Richard Haas, prepared students to see the murals. Using art reproductions similar to the type of artwork that they would see during the art visit, students were guided through a variety of interpretative in·ter·pre·ta·tive adj. Variant of interpretive. in·ter  pre·ta discussions and written activities in the
months prior to the visit.
Step IV: The Visit In the galleries of the museums, docents and students had lively interactive discussions about artworks that depicted aspects of American history as seen through the eyes of master artists such as Charles Russell Charles Russell may refer to:
Following the gallery visits, students toured the Haas murals: a trompe l'oeil trompe l'oeil (trôNp lö`yə): see illusionism. trompe l'oeil (French; “deceive the eye”) facade covering a multi-story government building, storefronts that portray shops from the 1800s, and The Chisholm Trail Chisholm Trail, route over which vast herds of cattle were driven from Texas to the railheads in Kansas after the Civil War. Its name is generally believed to come from Jesse Chisholm, a part-Cherokee trader who, in the spring of 1866, drove his wagon, heavily loaded Cattle Drive, a trompe l'oeil mural mural Painting applied to and made integral with the surface of a wall or ceiling. Its roots can be found in the universal desire that led prehistoric peoples to create cave paintings—the desire to decorate their surroundings and express their ideas and beliefs. that recounts an important event in Western history. Unplanned discussions and debates between students, as well as an impromptu A Windows query and reporting tool from Cognos with support for a large variety of databases. It is capable of generating cross tabs for spreadsheets such as Excel, Lotus for Windows and Quattro Pro for Windows. chorus of Deep in the Heart of Texas, had passersby stopping to listen as the students investigated the murals. Step V: Post Visit After our visual arts excursion into the local community, students returned to the classroom with renewed enthusiasm for art. Armed with information gleaned from masterworks of art--including poems and notes--these students quickly recalled historical facts and demonstrated a synthesis about how and why artists visually record history and document life's events. Evaluation Beyond the in-depth art learning by students, other positive outcomes resulted from these art visits. Teachers who assisted with chaperoning were exposed to the benefits of quality arts-based teaching and all have since requested future collaborations between their own subject area and art. Additionally, museum educators have expressed their pleasure in working with students who were prepared in advance of their museum visit. Future collaborations with the local museums will grow, including teacher training. In Closing Possibly the best way to sum up these art visits is with a quote from Liena, a sixth-grade student as she boarded the school bus to return to campus. "I wish the bus would turn into a time machine so that we could go back and repeat the whole day," she said. Applause and cheers arose from other students and teachers as we totally agreed with Liena. Resources Amon Carter Museum www.cartermuseum.org Sid Richardson Collection of Western Art www.sidrmuseum.org Richard Haas, Inc. www.richardhaas.com Just Look: An Introduction to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Painting the Town: The Illusionistic Murals of Richard Haas, 1990. Santa Monica Santa Monica (săn`tə mŏn`ĭkə), city (1990 pop. 86,905), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1886. Tourism and retailing are important, and the city has motion-picture, biotechnology, and software industries. , CA: Direct Cinema Ltd. Take Five Study Prints: Murals 2000. Aspen aspen, in botany aspen: see willow. Aspen, city, United States Aspen (ăs`pən), city (1990 pop. 5,049), alt. 7,850 ft (2,390 m), seat of Pitkin co., S central Colo. , CO: Crystal Productions. NATIONAL STANDARD Students know that the visual arts have both a history and specific relationships to various cultures. Pamela Stephens is an art specialist in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District (HEB ISD) is a K-12 public school district based in Bedford, Texas (USA). The district serves the city of Bedford, most of the cities of Euless and Hurst, and small parts of North Richland Hills, Colleyville, Fort in Bedford, Texas Bedford is a suburban city located in northeast Tarrant County, Texas in the "mid-cities" area between Dallas and Fort Worth. The population was 48,390 as of a 2005 census estimate. Bedford is part of the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District. . |
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