A Day of Arts Integration at the Phillips

Posted on December 27, 2016 by Experiment Station

Panel 61+

In October, 41 educators from Virginia, Maryland, and DC came together to experience the educator workshop Panel 61+: What Happens Now. Using Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series as a medium for discussion, collaboration, and experimentation, the workshop focused on exploring arts integration.

Panel 61+

In the morning, educators flowed into the auditorium to hear curator Elsa Smithgall and Professor of Modern Art at the University of Virginia, Elizabeth Hutton Turner, give an art historical framework for The Migration Series. “During a time when record numbers of migrants are uprooting themselves in search of a better life, Lawrence’s timeless tale and its universal themes of struggle and freedom continue to strike a chord not only in our American experience but also in the international experience of migration around the world,” said Smithgall, connecting the series to the present day.

Panel 61+

During the afternoon, museum educators returned to the workshop where Phillips staff led a series of breakout sessions demonstrating Prism.K12, the Phillips’s unique set of six strategies for integrating the arts into school curricula. These hands-on sessions provided participants with the tools to incorporate this into their classrooms, from artistically creating the 61st panel of The Migration Series to empathizing with subjects in Lawrence’s works in the galleries to engaging in a lesson-building activity using Jacob Lawrence-themed dice.

Panel 61+

The 2016 Jacob Lawrence Teacher Cohort, a group of local best practice educators trained in arts integration, then took the stage by sharing their own classroom experience with their peers. Before the day was finished, the educators had the chance to browse the galleries and reflect and connect with their colleagues. Participants left the fast-paced, invigorating event equipped with strategies to teach their students about Lawrence’s topical work, the historical context, and its relevance to current times.

Frances Gurzenda, K-12 Education Intern

Your #Panel61 Highlights: Myth of Return

Posted on December 21, 2016 by Experiment Station

In the final, 60th panel of The Migration Series, Jacob Lawrence leaves us with the words “And the migrants keep coming.” The story of migration is ongoing; what would the 61st panel look like today? Featured below are some thoughtful responses to this question by local artists. Submit your #Panel61 on our recently launched Jacob Lawrence website.

Panel 61 submission: Maria-Theresa Fernandes

Maria-Theresa Fernandes
(Above) “This large installation is comprised of 28 panels and shows the various communities that came to the UK, the influence of their culture on the local community, and the richness of what they bringm i.e. food, life, etc.”

(Below) “This work relates to migration and shows the various communities waiting in the queue to be accepted into the country; in this instance, Britain. The work is digitally photographed and manipulated with stitch and collage.”

Panel 61 submission: Maria-Theresa Fernandes

Panel 61 submission: Brian Whelan, “Myth of Return”

Brian Whelan
(Above) “In my painting Myth of Return, the passengers set out with nothing but a good wind in the sails, a single oar, and a light to steer by. All trust is put into the will of God and the new world to come. They carry little more than their songs, poems, a hope, and a prayer.”

(Below) “As a son of immigrants, I am no stranger to a new culture. Spending time in the US with my American wife has given me another address but the drive of my work remains the same: a search for a spiritual and metaphorical home, which finds some consolation and expression in the subjects I choose to paint. These themes are often narratives drawn from life’s comic tragedies, on both secular and religious planes.”

Panel 61 submission: Brian Whelan

Your #Panel61: Shotgun as Artistic Tool

Posted on December 13, 2016 by Experiment Station

Panel 61 submission: Mahnaz Weldy, “Humanity in Pain”

Mahnaz Weldy
In this piece, Humanity in Pain, I tried to show that we all are connected to one another, and if we have any conscious, then suffering of others should pain us all. I aimed to not only paint the pain and suffering, but also the human resilience and strength to survive the unimaginable. My work is a combination of acrylic, collage and chalk on canvas.

jenny-balisle_america-red-white-and-blue

Panel 61 submission: Jenny E. Balisle, “America Red, White and Blue.” 39 x 108 in. Colorplan paper and a Mossberg 500 shotgun

Jenny E. Balisle
The America series investigates diverse cultures and relationships between man-made and natural environments. Fascinated by flight or disorientation, I merge together disparate experiences to create new narratives. Colorplan sheets of cover stock sized 25 x 38 inches were brought to a gun range. Using a Mossberg 500 shotgun as a vehicle of mark making, paper was placed on a target seven yards away. The artwork records how patterns of power and inequality can be spread through distance and speed. It re-purposes a weapon into artistic commentary by altering function to explore identity, ideology, and equality. The paper represents life’s fragility and the pellet pattern explores America’s gun culture and military-industrial complex. The goal is to engage conversation on what it means to be American as a citizen and through a global context. The artwork reclaims social justice and questions what is normal. The orientation of the paper has been turned to face the viewer, confronting and asking by what means and price do we secure freedom for all at home and abroad.