July #Phillips95 Challenge: Dream Big

Posted on July 22, 2016 by Experiment Station

Marc Chagall, The Dream, 1939. Gouache on paper, 20 9/16 x 26 3/4 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, Acquired 1942

This month’s #Phillips95 challenge celebrates Marc Chagall. Chagall was known for his highly expressionist and colorful paintings that combined elements of Cubism, Symbolism, and Fauvism. He saw his work as “not the dream of one people but of all humanity.” While scholars have written endless volumes on him, we’re looking to you to simplify things!

YOUR CHALLENGE: When you look at The Dream, what is the one word that comes to mind? Comment on this blog post or any of our social media posts with one word you think best encapsulates the painting and be entered into a drawing to win a Phillips prize pack (including two tickets to the museum and goodies from the museum shop!).

Acting Out Arts Integration

Posted on July 20, 2016 by Experiment Station

Teachers spent time learning about Jacob Lawrence and practicing playwriting in the galleries where The Migration Series is on view.

On July 7 and 8, teachers from schools in Washington, DC, and Prince George’s County spent two days at the Phillips working together to discuss and practice strategies for arts integration. The experience not only incorporated lesson planning, but it brought the group together to form a teacher cohort community. With a focus on Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series, the focal point of an exhibition this fall, the cohort used playwriting to navigate Lawrence’s work. From playing theater games to writing their own monologues, the cohort practiced ways to bring stories to life for their students with the help of playwright Jacqueline Lawton.

Left: Former Phillips’s Curator Beth Turner video conferenced with the cohort to provide behind-the-scenes information about Jacob Lawrence and The Migration Series. Right: Teachers use artworks and photographs to tell stories.

The two-day institute also familiarized teachers with Prism.K12, the museum’s teaching tool to create arts integration for any subject. As they brainstormed ideas of how to incorporate Prism.K12 arts integration strategies and playwriting in their classrooms, they also used social media as a way to share their thoughts with one another and the greater educator community. Teachers are already sharing classroom tips and will document classroom process; follow along in Twitter and Pinterest with #PrismK12 and #MigrationExperience for more!

Teachers explored theater games to build community and boost creativity!

Laura Hoffman, Manager of K–12 Digital and Educator Initiatives ran a “Social Media Bootcamp” for teachers.

Artist as Poet: The Purest Red

Posted on July 19, 2016 by Experiment Station

On July 21, 2016, Deputy Director for Curatorial and Academic Affairs Klaus Ottmann shares an overview of Karel Appel: A Gesture of Color. In anticipation, we’re sharing examples of Appel’s poetry paired with his artwork on the blog.

Karel Appel, Wounded Nude, 1959. Oil on canvas, 72 x 95 5/8 in. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

In my inner life exists a desire
for the purest red
my nervous system is red
my tissues are red
my entire being is red
the primal animal lies
on the beach
as a broken red sun
drenched with dark red blood

Karel Appel, “Ode to Red”

Karel Appel, Floating like the Wind, 1975. Oil on canvas 78 3/4 x 102 3/4 in. Private Collection © Karel Appel Foundation, c/o ARS New York, 2016

Never heard the sound of her voice
floating over the desert
full of space nostalgia and loneliness
where yellow camels stare into infinity

Karel Appel, “Fata Morgana”