Tag Archives: Bronx museum

At the Bronx Museum with Artist Chris Cook

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The fourth and fifth graders took a trip to the Bronx Museum. It was a wonderful joyous event. They visited many different museums throughout New York City but never visited a museum to meet up with a friend of their teacher.

Mr. Cook and I met a couple of years ago in Brooklyn at Prospect Park. I traveled there to see Art in the Park. When I arrived, I ran into his friend on a bicycle who told me I was going the wrong way. He slowed down and bicycled-walked with me ( I know that’s not a word but it should be!). He slowly rode while I walked keeping up the conversation. He didn’t even stumble as I would have on a skinny wheel bicycle.

“It sounds like I need to introduce you to my friend Chris. Y’all would get along.”

When we arrived the event had already started.

Afterwards, he introduced us and Chris and I have been working together ever since. He visited the school several times creating a wonderful relationship with the children. When I told the children about the next trip, they were overjoyed to hear that they actually knew the artist.

We arrived an hour early and took a walk to the Andrew Freeman home. Mr. Freeman owned the baseball team, the Giants, during the early 20th century. His dilapidated house-home sits there with very little going on with it besides remodel promises from the city.

By the time we circled the Block, it was time to view Mr. Cook’s work.

Students meet Mr. Cook at the Museum

After the museum preliminaries, Mr. Cook started off with fun questions to get them thinking.

Next Mr. Cook and I took turns teaching about other artist who were in the same exhibition.

Work by Kim Dacres
Students creating work

After spending some time on Kim Dacres’ work, the students created self portraits using pencil and feathers.

Self Portrait by Charleigh
Self Portrait by Courtney
Sanaiah
Yahaira
Logan
McKenzie
Self Portraits by the fourth grade
Work by Syd Abady

We also viewed work by Syd Abady and saw moving images from another artist. These works the students spoke about.

When it was time to view Mr. Cooks work, I taught first. Once again beginning with open ended inquiry.

Students viewing Mr. Cooks work

After they explored his work, he spoke openly about the creation process, the ownership structure, and the political messages.

Work by Chris Cook

After viewing and discussing his work, students created their own newspaper or magazine cover addressing an in issue their community using neon colored index cards.

Students examples of Cover Pages for Magazines or Newspapers

When it was time to leave the students were complaining that they still had more questions for Mr. Cook. The most popular question was- how did he get his art into a museum? But some other questions were: Why is Mr. Cook’s work being taken down? What will the museum show next? How you make art out of materials when there are no materials?

The time we are living in is somewhat blissful. My students had so many opportunities and great ones lately and I don’t know if they understand that it’s not only apropos but unprecedented and unbelievable.

Visit to the Bronx Museum

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A week before the children went to the Bronx Museum. I spoke to them about a possible visit.

We started off by first talking about pastels. I didn’t teach them the entire summer and by the time I joined the program, they were already used to drawing classes via youtube videos. The day I came, they were about to watch a you-tuber explain how to draw with pastels.

I used that as my opportunity to teach them about art history. I taught them how to appreciate spaces that showed art and artist who used either pastels or paint.

Three days before the trip to the museum, I introduced Jamal Shabazz and told them it was his work they were going to see. They watched Legendary Photographer: Honor and Dignity, a clip on youtube of Sahabazz talking about his work and his career. I also made sure they knew that he was inspired by someone they knew, Gordon Parks (a founder of the school they attended). This bit of information made them excited.

On the day of the trip, there was a great stir about whether I should take three little boys who were full of energy. They had a rough time following directions all morning. I made the decision to allow them to attend the trip after remembering how excited they were when they learned about Shabazz and how vital it was for them to see images of people who looked like them in a museum. It was their first time ever visiting a museum!

All 17 children and 5 adults arrived at the museum. We met our educator outside.

We were early and the educator seemed disorganized.

We stood at the museum main reading panel. I always instruct the children to read each panel in museums instead of just walking and looking. However, the educator, dissuade them. She begin to ramble about how long it was and how we didn’t really have to read it… At one point it was like she was begging us not to read it.

During the reading, even the three busy ones listened. The educator cut everyone off after the first paragraph and then escorted the children upstairs to an art room.

She gave everyone a drawing board and spoke in depth about pencils. She had everyone try different types and then lined everyone up and told them to take one pencils and their pad. Next, we returned to the Jamal Shabazz show and she had the group sit down and draw a photograph.

She waited and they drew. Finally, everyone did a show and share. Well, really, no one showed. And no one shared. She asked who drew each picture and then spoke about the pictures. Not really allowing the children to speak about the work.

Around this time, the children began to lose patience.

Next, she told the children to go look at the rest of the exhibit… to Find a photograph and draw it. We were the only ones in the museum and I didn’t stress noise level. I also didn’t give the children any rules of how to behave (outside the talk they were given before we left the school). As I usual, they waited for the educator to give more clear directions.

She didn’t give them three minutes to follow that instruction. She changed her mind.

Actually, let’s look at some of his work together. The younger ones no longer paid attention and continued to view what they had started looking at. Here is a mini video:

She ushered the group into another gallery and we went back upstairs.

Upstairs she told them they were going to use water color. She took out huge water color sheets and asked me if I thought they could share. I told her I wouldn’t mind cutting the sheets in halves so each student could have their own.

The students painted and we returned to the school.

After the Visit to the Bronx Museum

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Before leaving the Bronx Museum, the museum educator said,

Your students are my last group for the summer. They are such a great group. They are unlike other students I worked with in the Bronx. I have had students who showed zero interest in art. People assume I have fun and it’s easy-going as an artist here but working with youth is getting more difficult.

She walked us to the elevator and added,

The Bronx Museum is going through a fight about space since the building didn’t really belong to them. I’ve been her for a long time but I am not sure what is going to happen.

Oh, that’s going on here too!?

Yep.

Here, please, lastly, she gave me an evaluation sheet, fill this out for me.

Why do museums do that? Why do they ask the teachers to fill out evaluation forms as if the children are non-existent? If she would have asked my students to fill out an evaluation form, she would have gotten the whole truth.

On the way back to the school, I couldn’t help but think of how I would have lead my students through the Jamel Shabazz exhibit.

It was almost strange how her entire pedagogy was all-together off. My students were very interested in the material we came to see, because I taught them many lessons before we went. However, when we got there, the artist wasn’t at all engaging.

Instead of telling her much, I decided while on the way back to the school, I will conduct two restorative circles to hear their feedback then I will end the day with an art activity that the museum should have done.

I conducted two restorative circles. I turned the classroom into a museum exhibit.

The first assignment I completed with my students was with the teens. It was during this time, that I learned that some thought the show was boring and some were looking forward to actually meeting Jamal Shabazz. When I asked them how they would have showed the work, they mentioned that a video to see Shabazz speak would have been nice and even a zoom call with the artist for question and answer. They admitted that they didn’t see the connection between the pencil excise, the watercolor and the photographs.

(The educator told me she loved to just let children do art… “they are thinking about what they saw and somehow it would come out in their watercolor”…)

The second restorative circle was with the younger children. It began after their lunch period.

I gathered old photos from my photo albums and my darkroom days. I placed them on the wall and allowed the students to get as close to the photos as they wanted. I split them up into groups then the groups into pairs. Each student had a few minutes to draw a quick sketch of any image on the wall and when I told them to switch, each student had to give it to a friend who in turn looked for the image they drew.

During this exhibition, they laughed and talked about art. They asked questions and showed they were very capable of viewing art and engaging in conversation about the art itself.

I knew my students. They were unhappy, insulted I might add, that they went to the museum to see work by an artist they studied before hand and the museum educator was not equipped to engage in dialogue with them. I could have asked to give the tour myself but assumed she was well versed in the subject matter more than me. When I realized she wasn’t, I tried to give her pointers but she quickly placed paper and paint in from of them and told them to paint anything. All the while, telling me how worried she is about the program closing.

Colored Wall

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There’s two places I want to go, I want to go to the Bronx Museum and to that colored wall across the street from the museum.

I said that to my dad who was walking along the Grand Concourse with me. He had just taken care of important business and I was with him for moral support- and to take a picture when ever I could.

As soon as we left the museum, we headed to the wall. But there was one issue- who will I photograph? Who will be my subject?

Well, I didn’t have to worry about that for long. I looked up and in the front of me walking and laughing were 5 young Latino men. I ran up to them and asked them if they would pose for me…

The leader of the pack, Flexx, automatically said yes…and I automatically liked him. The rest of them were a little concern about their image but soon gave in; however, Flaco had to be coaxed to take a photo. Flaco seemed shy but there is one picture you will see of them hitting on girls who were passing by, look at Flaco’s face! He doesn’t seem that shy.  Here are their names:

Flexx- the royal blue hoodie

Flaco- the yellow hoodie

Goose- the red hoodie

Geo- the navy blue hoodie

K- the black hoodie

The Colored Wall

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The one in the Yellow name is Flaco.

When I approached them and asked if I could photograph them, Flaco was the first one to say no. He seemed very shy. In this picture, his friends are encouraging him to smile.

Look at his big smile.

The Colored Wall

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As you can see, the one in the blue hoodie was the one who gave me the most inspiration. I love people on earth like him!

His name is Flexx.