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Museum
Educator-led Programs
Pre & Post Visit Resources
Please Touch The Art
Special Education
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Program
Description and Frameworks
Program
Outline
Key
Terms and Concepts
Classroom Activities
Print and Web Resources
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here for printable version of all resources listed above
Program
Description and Frameworks
Get to know the Museum's diverse collection of fine art and artifacts through a multi-sensory experience. Discovery how paintings, sculptures, and other objects were made and how they were acquired by the Museum.
Location: Fine Art Galleries
Length: 45 minutes
Grades: All grades, Special Education
Please fill out a pre-visit questionnaire to insure that we will be prepared to meet the needs of your students.
Massachusetts
Frameworks
Visual Arts:
Standards 1, 5, 6, 7, 8
| 1 |
Methods, Materials, and Techniques: Students will demonstrate knowledge of the methods, materials, and techniques unique to the visual arts.
| | 5 |
Critical Response: Students will describe and analyze their own work and the work of others using appropriate visual arts vocabulary. When appropriate, students will connect their analysis to interpretation and evaluation.
|
| 6 |
Purposes of the Arts. Students will describe the purposes for which works
of dance, music, theater, visual arts, and architecture were and are
created, and, when appropriate, interpret their meanings.
|
| 7 |
Roles of Artists in Communities. Students will describe the roles of artists,
patrons, cultural organizations, and arts institutions in societies of the past and present.
|
| 8 |
Concepts of Style, Stylistic Influence, and Stylistic Change: Students will demonstrate their understanding of styles, stylistic influence, and stylistic change by identifying when and where art works were created, and by analyzing characteristic features of art works from various historical periods, cultures, and genres. |
New
York Standards
Visual Arts:
| 1 |
Students will make works of art that explore different kinds of subject matter, topics, themes and metaphors. Students will understand and use sensory elements, organizational principles and expressive images to communicate their own ideas in works of art. Students will use a variety of art materials, processes, mediums and techniques, and use appropriate technologies for creating and exhibiting visual arts works. |
| 2 |
Students will know and use a variety of visual arts materials, techniques
and processes. Students will know about resources and opportunities for participation in visual arts in the community (exhibitions, libraries, museums, galleries) and use appropriate materials (art reproductions, slides, print materials, electronic media). Students will be aware of vocational opportunities available in the visual arts.
|
| 3 |
Students will reflect on works of art. Students will learn about the visual characteristics of the natural and man-made environment and the social, cultural, psychological and environmental dimensions of the visual arts. Students will learn about the ways in which a variety of ideas, themes and concepts are expressed through the visual arts.
|
Program
Outline
Introduction
A Museum Educator will greet your group and introduce you to the Museum and to the Please Touch the Art Program.
The Museum's Art
A brief discussion of the different ways in which the Museum has acquired art work, relating the concepts of purchase, donation, and commission to student experiences like giving a drawing to a friend or buying a poster.
Calder's Moving Sculptures
Students are introduced to the artist Alexander
Calder, his mobiles, and his push and pull toys. Students interact with toy and mobile replicas, and discuss characteristics of Calder's work that they notice, including his choice of colors, subjects, and style.
Sculpture
In the Ellen Crane Sculpture Gallery, students are given samples of sculptural materials like marble and bronze, and challenged to identify the sculptures in the gallery made from that material. The activity is followed by a brief discussion of how each material is transformed into a finished sculpture. The group then focuses on a single sculpture, using close observation skills to uncover the story it has to tell.
Painting Methods
In a painting gallery, the group considers the steps in
the process of creating a painting, from the first idea to the final stroke. Students will be able to examine and touch materials like bare canvas, paint brushes, prepared canvas and a finished painting.
Paintings and the Senses
Using fun, sensory props, the group explores ways in
which paintings can create a whole world of textures, sounds, and smells. Students immerse themselves further into one or two selected paintings to imagine what it would be like to be in that painting.
Conclusion
The program concludes with a discussion of the pieces students most enjoyed and final questions.
Concepts
Covered
Note: Concepts covered will vary to meet the needs of each group. To ensure that your educator is aware of your group’s specific needs, please fill out a pre-visit questionnaire before your visit.
- Though it can be tempting to touch artwork, it is important to remember not to touch the art. When we touch paintings and sculptures, the oil, salt, and particles of dirt that are always on our hands (even after we've washed them) are left behind on the art and, over time, will damage the art. Let us know ahead of time if any students are visually impaired. Accommodations can be made for those students to touch select pieces using gloves.
- Even without touching the artwork, we can imagine the sounds, smells, and textures by looking closely.
- Not all art is still and silent; some artists create moving sculptures, like
Alexander Calder's mobiles and toys.
- Art can tell a story.
- You can about a piece of art in a Museum by reading the label. Labels usually include the title of the artwork, the name of the artist, the year the piece was made, and the materials used to make it. Sometimes even more information is included.
- Artwork comes to be in a Museum in a number of different ways. The Museum can buy it from the artist or someone else who owns it; someone can donate it to the Museum; it can be borrowed; the Museum can ask an artist to create something just for that Museum.
Key
Terms Used During the Program
Note: The terms used will vary to meet the needs of each group. To ensure that your educator is aware of your group’s specific needs, please fill out a pre-visit questionnaire before your visit.
- Abstract
art that focuses on shapes, colors, and patterns more than making a realistic copy of a subject. Art can be abstract to different degrees.
- Marble
the object that is moved when work is done.
- Mobile
a sculpture with moving parts..
- Painting
a two-dimensional or flat artwork created by applying paint to paper, canvas, wood, or another surface.
- Pastel
a soft drawing tool, available in many different colors; pastels can make bold colors and lines, but can also be smeared to create soft, smoky effects.
- Print
a piece of art made by pressing a piece of paper and an inked plate together to create an image.
- Realistic
art that shows its subject just as it is seen, often making it look three-dimensional.
- Sculpture
any art work that is three-dimensional rather than flat (like a drawing or painting).
- Subject
a person, place, or thing shown in a piece of art.
- Texture
the way a surface feels to the touch.
Pre
& Post Visit Activities
Curate a Mini-Museum
This fun activity will help prepare your class for a visit to the Museum, as students focus on different ways of looking at art. It will also stimulate conversation that will help familiarize students with art terms and concepts, different artistic styles, subjects, and media. Click here for complete directions.
Make a Mobile
 Introduce or review Alexander Calder's mobiles with students before making your own mobiles.
To create the arms of your mobile, use two pipe cleaners. Lay one on top of the other to create an X. At the center of the X, wrap one pipe cleaner around the other so that they are attached.
Take a third pipe cleaner, form a loop, and twist the loose ends around the center of the X.
Bend the tips of each arm upwards. Now you are ready to add shapes to your mobile. Draw, color, and cut out any shapes you would like to hang on your mobile. Use wire Christmas tree hangers for an easy, no-tie way to add your shapes. You can add additional "arms" by attaching more pipe cleaners.
Chocolate Sculpture Pops
Students create chocolate pops to see how cast metal sculptures, like the bronze and aluminum ones at the Museum, are created. Though there are different methods for making molds and casting molten metal, this activity will give students a basic general understanding of the process. Click here for complete directions.
Print Making
Introduce students to the process of printmaking by looking at work by printmakers like Andy Warhol, Toulouse Lautrec, Nancy Graves, Albrecht Durer, or Franciso Goya. Then recycle Styrofoam trays from the grocery store to create quick and easy prints.
Make sure the Styrofoam is clean and dry. Cut off any raised edges to create a flat surface. Use a pen to draw into the surface of the styrofoam. You may want to give students a scrap piece of Styrofoam to experiment with first. Pour an acrylic or thick tempera paint into a separate tray. Roll a brayer (a small rubber roller available at any art supply store) in the paint and roll it onto the surface of the Styrofoam. The paint should coat the Styrofoam without filling the indentations. Place a sheet of paper over the paint-coated tray, press down on the paper evenly, and then peel the paper off.
Experiment with Drawing
Students explore the connections between visual elements, rhythm, and emotion. Give each student four sheets of blank paper and a set of markers, crayons or pastels. Play four selections of music, one-at-a-time, each one with a different mood and tempo. Play each one for a few minutes, give students time to listen first, and then draw in a way that goes with the feeling of the music. Use a different sheet of paper for each musical selection. Then display everyone's work and guess which drawings go with each piece of music. How can you tell?
Suggested
Web and Print Resources
All print resources listed are available through the Central/Western Massachusetts Library System. Use the Berkshire Athenaeum’s on-line catalogue to search for these print resources in Central/Western Massachusetts.
Print and Web Materials For Students
Skill/Grade Level PreK-2
Laden, Nina. When Pigasso Met Mootisse. San Francisco: Chronicle Books,
1998. A humorous introduction to the work of Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.
Yenawine, Philip. Shapes. NY: The Museum of Modern Art, New
York/Delacorte Press, 1991. One of a series of books designed to help very young people develop a basic art vocabulary and build fundamental art observation skills, using an engaging presentation of MoMA's collection. Other titles in the series include Lines, Colors, and Stories.
Skill/Grade Level 3-5
Brown, Laurene Krasny and Marc Brown. Visiting the Art Museum. NY: E.P.
Dutton, 1986. This entertaining illustrated book takes readers along on a family's visit to an art museum, from beginning to end. Readers can follow along to see the reactions of the family members to each piece of art, from ancient to modern.
Skill/Grade Level 6-12
A. Pintura: Art Detective
A film-noir style interactive detective adventure that challenges site visitors to deduce the creator of a mystery painting by considering subject, composition, and style and comparing it with other artwork.
Print and Web Materials For Educators
CATA (Community Access to the Arts
Based in Berkshire County, CATA (Community Access to the Arts) provides visual and performing arts workshops, for hundreds of individuals with physical, mental, and/or emotional disabilities. With a focus on inclusion, CATA provides opportunities to attend cultural institutions and events, creative employment and exhibition opportunities, and partnerships with area artists, cultural organizations, schools, nursing homes, and more.
Great Art Ideas for Special Artists
Part of the Education by Design Website, this section features clearly written information about art materials, methods, and projects that have been used successfully with special needs students ages 5 – 18 with moderate to profound disabilities at the Noble Park Special Developmental School in Victoria, Australia. The pages include images of sample works by students, and step-by-step instructions and advice on how to introduce students to the materials.
Henley, D.R. Exceptional Children, Exceptional Art : Teaching Art to Special
Needs. Worcester: Davis Publications, 1992. Covers drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, and ceramics, as well as considerations like student motivation, arranging the studio space, structuring the art process, and assessment.
Kinderart: Art for Children and Adults with Disabilities
The Special Education section of the Kinderart web site provides art lessons and projects that have been used successfully with special needs students.
Also includes links to other web and print resources on special needs art and special education in general.
Liebmann, Marian. Art Therapy for Groups: A Handbook of Themes, Games
and Exercises. MA: Brookline Books, c.1986. A practical guide that includes
art therapy games and exercises. It opens with a discussion of the theory involved, and guidelines for determining which types of activities are most appropriate for your group.
NIAD Art Center
The mission of NIAD (National Institutute of Art and Disabilities) is to create an environment in which people with developmental and other disabilities can create art, collaborate with other artists and community members, and exhibit and sell their art. Programs in creative writing and visual arts, as well as independent living skills, promote creative expression and independence among participants. Many examples of NIAD artist works, as well as artist bios, are featured on the site.
Rodriguez, Susan. The Special Artist's Handbook: Art Activities and Adaptive
Aids for Handicapped Students. NJ: Prentice Hall, 1984. Over 50 art projects designed for students with various types of social, physical, emotional, cognitive, and sensory challenges and needs in grades K - 12. Includes step-by-step instructions and suggestions for tailoring each activity to individual student needs.
Watt, Fiona et al. The Usborne Book of ART Ideas. Usborne Books.
This beautifully and clearly-designed book provides many ideas for creative art projects that are accessible to people of all ages and skill levels. The projects provide unique approaches to drawing, painting, and collage that emphasize building understanding of fundamental art design concepts and techniques.
 The
Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent Federal grant- making
agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners by helping libraries
and museums serve their communities supports the Berkshire Museum.
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