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Pictured above: Bedroom Painting No. 7, 1967–69,
by Tom Wesselmann (Philadelphia Museum of Art: Purchased with
the Adele Haas Turner and Beatrice Pastorius Turner Memorial
Fund, 1972-156-1). Art © Estate of Tom Wesselmann/Licensed
by VAGA, New York, NY.
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The Philadelphia Museum of Art, in partnership with The Barnes
Foundation, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, the Institute
of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, and
the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts has developed a
new initiative called Art Speaks! This partnership engages
the Philadelphia School District’s 14,000 fourth graders
around art appreciation, visual literacy, information literacy,
and communication skills, through onsite museum experiences.
Museum educators from the five participating institutions
worked closely with school district officials to create the
Art Speaks! curriculum, which introduces fourth graders to
art museums and art concepts while reinforcing reading, writing,
and creative thinking strategies that are embedded in the
school district’s literacy and visual arts curricula.
Fourth-grade teachers receive supplemental teaching materials
to assist in planning a free class trip to one of the five
participating institutions. Teachers are given a manual, activity
sheets, and other resources for writing and discussion activities,
an orientation DVD to play for students, and five teaching
posters and a CD-ROM that will introduce one work of art from
each institution. These works are: the ceremonial teahouse
Sunkaraku, designed by Ogi Rodo (Philadelphia Museum
of Art); Henri Matisse’s painting Seated Riffian
(The Barnes Foundation); Faith Ringgold’s story quilt
Tar Beach 2 (The Fabric Workshop and Museum); Alexander
Calder’s sculpture Jerusalem Stabile (on the
campus of the University of Pennsylvania); and Winslow Homer’s
painting Fox Hunt (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine
Arts).
Works of art naturally foster conversation, creative thinking,
discussion, and even friendly debate—all hallmarks of
the literacy concepts fourth graders are learning in school.
As students gear up to visit a visual arts institution (a
first for many participants), Art Speaks! enhances their knowledge
of art and artists and reveals how the literacy skills they
are practicing in school come into play in real life situations.
The initiative focuses on the ability to “describe,
compare, discuss, interpret, and express” by having
students write about their knowledge using various forms (e.g.,
postcards, journal entries) before and after the visit. Students
complete an evaluation matrix after the visit, and these evaluations
have shown a significant improvement in student writing after
the onsite museum experience.
“Art Speaks! is a milestone collaboration,” said
Marla Shoemaker, senior curator of education at the Philadelphia
Museum of Art. “Never before have five art institutions
in the region worked together on a project like this. The
children in Philadelphia’s public schools are the future
stewards of our great cultural resources, and they deserve
access now and always to the best of what this city has to
offer. By linking with public school curricula in art and
literacy, museum trips become a serious part of each student’s
education, both as a fourth grade learner mastering reading,
writing, and creative thinking, and also as a participant
in the cultural life of our great city.”
The program serves as a vibrant model of how multiple museums
can work with schools—as well as each other—to
enhance art knowledge and critical skills among broad, previously
unreached audiences.
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