Tag Archives: Georgia O’Keeffe

Teaching through the Prism: Who Got Science in My Art?

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This is the first installment in the Teaching through the Prism series, anticipating our upcoming national forum on Arts Integration, June 23−24. Learn more here.

Third grade student at Turquoise Trail Charter School in New Mexico studies the details of a rock that she will synthesize into a series of abstract artworks, part of a project blending art and geology curricula. Photos: Lynn Grimes

Many of us find that chocolate mixed with peanut butter is pure joy. What if art is our chocolate?  And K−12 education—language arts, math, science, social studies—is the peanut butter? What happens when you blend them? Curious?

Case in point:  this young girl using a jeweler’s loupe at Turquoise Trail Charter School in New Mexico, one of our national partnership schools. She uses the loupe to carefully observe a rock’s size, texture, color, and weight, recording her observations as a geologist would. She is asked to scrutinize even harder, following Georgia O’Keeffe’s call to look closely at the overlooked. Then she applies O’Keeffe’s principles of “selection, elimination, and emphasis” to synthesize her scientific drawings into an original abstract artwork.

Want to impress your friends with your education reform prowess? Talk about the power of “arts integration,” this mix of art and other curricula, to engage students and teachers. Need to back up the touchy-feely with facts? Browse through the President’s hot new report on the benefits of arts integration.

Suzanne Wright, Director of Education

Slow Art Day: Sharing Impressions

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Arthur G. Dove. Red Sun, 1935. Oil on canvas; 20 1/4 x 28 in. The Phillips Collection

Last weekend, a group celebrated Slow Art Day at The Phillips Collection. It was a new experience for all of us, and it led to fun questions and insights, sometimes about pieces many of us had breezed by before.

Here’s how it worked: Alex Pergament and I were the hosts, so we chose nine artworks and marked them on a map. Participants visited each piece in small groups or on our own, in whatever order we felt like. The only rule was that we were to spend five to ten minutes with each piece.

I thought that would feel too long, but once I settled in and started looking at a piece and talking it over, the time flew by. We spent ten minutes with The Road Menders by Van Gogh before we knew it. And we had to hurry away from As Time Goes By by Hodgkin to be on time for lunch. Continue reading →