Works from Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Phillips’s Walls

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Installation view of BiH Voices: In Conversation with The Migration Series. All photos: Laura Hoffman

In October 2015, Phillips educators spent two weeks in Bosnia and Herzegovina facilitating workshops with emerging artists, students, and educators using Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series as a catalyst for conversation about the power of collaboration and storytelling through art (see pictures from their visit in earlier blog posts). Last week, we hosted a reception for the artworks resulting from these workshops, which will be on view through March 13.

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Phillips Director Dorothy Kosinski introduces the exhibition

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Installation view of BiH Voices: In Conversation with The Migration Series

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Deputy Assistant Secretary Hoyt Yee, US Department of State

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Installation view of BiH Voices: In Conversation with The Migration Series

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Minister Counselor (DCM) Adnan Hadrović, Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Washington, DC

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(Left to right) Minister Counselor (DCM) Adnan Hadrović, Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Washington, DC; Director Dorothy Kosinski, The Phillips Collection; Deputy Assistant Secretary Hoyt Yee, US Department of State

Dispatches: Collaboration in Trebinje

Phillips Educators Rachel Goldberg and Andrea Kim Neighbors are in Bosnia facilitating workshops on Prism.K12 and Jacob Lawrence with students, emerging artists, and teachers.

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Artists collaborate during a workshop in Trebinje

Reflecting on our few days in Trebinje, it’s amazing how quickly time flies! Artists in Trebinje created personal responses to Jacob Lawrence’s The Migration Series and then collaborated in groups of four to tell a story using a theme that was common among them. Some told stories about community and travel, while others explored issues of identity and fear. We held an exhibition opening reception at the Cultural Center and were thrilled at the turnout! Artists talked with family and friends about how much they enjoyed having the opportunity to meet new people with shared stories and common interests, and to work and learn in new ways. I’m going to miss this wonderful community of fun and experimental students, but I’m also looking forward to our final workshop in Sarajevo!

Rachel Goldberg, Head of K-12 Initiatives

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Artists collaborate during a workshop in Trebinje

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Artists, family, and friends at an exhibition of the work resulting from workshops based on Jacob Lawrence’s The Migration Series

Teaching through the Prism: What Does Arts Integration Look Like?

This is the second installment in the Teaching through the Prism series, anticipating our upcoming national forum on Arts Integration, June 23−24. Read Suzanne’s first post here.

Next week at our Teaching through the Prism of Arts Integration Forum, we’ll be screening a brand new video featuring our year-long project, Teach with O’Keeffe, working with art museums and classroom teachers from New York to New Mexico, and of course Washington, DC. Seeing the experiences of the students (“If I have a connection to something visual… then I will enjoy it,”), teachers (“Arts Integration peaks student interest,”) and administrators (“I believe that art brings out critical thinking,”) emphasizes what we’ve noticed about the impact of arts across the curriculum: it encourages innovative teaching, deepens personalized learning, promotes learning through multiple learning styles, and advances 21st century skills such as creativity, critical thinking and problem solving.

My favorite line of the movie: Erin Fitzgerald, a middle-school language arts teacher from New York City says, “Arts Integration. It’s not an add-on!” She really knocks it out!

Suzanne Wright, Director of Education