Tag Archives: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Learning about Mandalas

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art invited my class to go on a journey with them at the beginning of the school year. They were among a few other students in New York City given the privilege of visiting an exhibit that has since been taken down, entitled: Mandalas: Mapping the Buddhist Art of Tibet. While they viewed the art, they were given headphones that were attached to a computer. A trained music technician was able to see their brainwaves and connect their “mindfulness” to the affects art was having on the brain.

Mandalas: Mapping Buddhist Art of Tibet, was a strange opportunity. Strange because I had never studied Tibetan art. I knew little to nothing about mandalas. The whole walk down into the art show felt as if I was in a time machine walking slowly into the 70’s. There was color and movement all around me and every adult there was promoting peace and mindfulness.

It was also an unique experience because it gave my students time to engage in social emotional learning (they played a lot of mind games with the museum educator, Drew), time to make art and music (while viewing the art, they wore huge headphones which in turn picked up their brainwaves and those brainwaves made music), and time to talk of science and technology (looking at their brainwaves, they knew when they were calm).

The exploration of the artwork featured in the exhibition exposed me to what some might say is- mindfulness. I always associated mindfulness with my body being still but it’s your mind being still while participating in activities around you.

The artwork featured in the exhibition, the classroom visits from Drew as well as being able to listen to their brainwaves, exposed my students to self-awareness and self-management. I was able to use what I learned with them as a creativity tool and a way to approach self-awareness.

A little after my students ended their partnership with the Met. I went to a Steven Banks concert for my birthday and in the rotunda there was a beautiful mandala. The vibrant mandala was created by students and teachers alike with pictures and tiny square papers attached on the outside. This lead me to research group mandalas which I came across plenty. I took photos and told my students about my weekend. As I guessed they were not interested in my stories about the Kenari Quartet. They stared at the picture of mandala and tried to name all the objects they found.

Before they could even ask, I answered the question that was in their head: yes, we will create our own group mandala.

Research gave me insight on how to incorporate mandalas into my lessons. During homeroom, they created fun and simple mandalas before they started their day. Some were about kindness towards earth while others were about kindness towards themselves.

They also created group mandalas during Social Studies as a history project. They each picked their own topic and wrote a paragraph about why it should be included in a class project. Next, they focused on their historical event and drew it. Afterwards, they created artist statements.

Currently, I am including the brainwave experiment into their lessons for April. Understanding how the brain works is important for children as well as adults. If a child understands his/her brain then he/she can understand how learning happens. Understanding leads to better moments in the schooling process.

A special thank you to my Met family: David, Drew, Kirsten, Lauren, and Jason for your support and patience with my kiddos.

Below are the mandalas they created….along with the numbers of pi which are throughout the hallways in my school!

  

Handel: Made in America

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A pun.

A secret.

An exposure of the truth.

Terrance McKnight told the story of classical music through the eyes of a Black man in America. He told us about being handled in America. It was apropos and could only be told so eloquently through him.

Attending this show with my students and principal was something special. While I sat still, not wishing to miss a note, a thought fluttered across my mind about a book my students finished reading this week. In the prologue of Heart and Soul, Kadir Nelson writes that our precious stories of heritage are only told once. He urges the reader to listen attentively.

McKnight’s narration of growing up in Mississippi and venturing into music outside of the church and the Black community gave me the same message. Listen real good, he seemed to be saying, cause if you miss this beat, it won’t be played again.

My eyes quickly darted across my row of students. Some of them were sitting at the edge of their seats. I wondered what they were really looking for and if they were still excited to be there. The Voices of Harlem were humming, lining out the Word. I knew they knew nothing about that. Even McKnight defined it to help the audience understand. But they sat still with anticipation.

The one closest to me whispered questions they had during the show…

Why is she wearing all white?

Was the mob that killed his Grandfather the KKK?

Then answers were passed down.

Some parts I refused to whisper about. Be still and then you’ll figure it out.

I overheard my students talking about Margaret Bond’s arrangement of “I, Too“. I didn’t read ‘I, Too” in the class; however, I learned from their whispering that they were reading Langston Hughes outside the classroom. 

I looked at them when McKnight spoke to the audience about “tuning it out” He urged them not to listen to voices of doubt that came from outside or within. My students were not moving but sitting as still as they could. When I caught one student’s eye, she smiled. I knew she understood.

Ms. Hurley, she whispered, will we get to meet him after the show? She asked.

I don’t know darling. But don’t talk during this part. This is a Negro spiritual. The choir was now singing The Drinking Gourd and I had never heard it. I only read the words in old books that were passed down to me. It didn’t sound like call and response as I imagine it would. Dr. Thomas’ arrangement made Merriweather glow in supreme delight.

At the end of the night, my students met Mr. McKnight who told them now it was his turn to visit their school.

Ms. Edwinda….again

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Ms. Edwina, what can I say?!

She is a force to reckon with.

I was walking in the Met when I noticed Ms. Edwina sitting on the bench in the Greek and Roman Art wing. She wasn’t doing much. Just watching people walk back and forth. It was a Friday and the place was packed with children.

I had just bumped into one of my former students, Syriana, who was roaming around with a summer camp decked out in purple tee’s.

Syriana! Is that you?

Hi Ms. Hurley!!!

I was surprised to see Syriana because I never saw someone who I knew in the Met. When I looked ahead and walked closer I couldn’t believe my eyes. Ms….Edwina?!

When I saw her, I waved excitedly. I couldn’t believe I ran into someone from my own community! Not only that, but an elder! Ms. Edwina (who I blogged about before) has the persona of Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. I met her while attending Fordham University. We crossed paths so much she started to talk to me. She would compliment me on my outfits and how I carried myself – every time she saw me. Which meant a lot. She didn’t know her words meant so much. She was always cheerful. She spoke with hugs and each hug went a long way.

Once we crossed paths and she complimented me on my black and white outfit – that I felt totally good in. She got to me before my secret crush got to me, who didn’t think I looked great at all. Funny, I can still remember his words.

Really, Lilly? I can’t believe you are even wearing that.

What do you mean, Really, Lilly? What’s wrong with my outfit?!

He stopped talking to me when I demanded what was the matter. Not that what he thought mattered anyway.

I sat next to Ms. Edwina.

Omg, what are you doing here?

I come every year, Child, to check out the Met Gala.

The Met Gala?

Yeah, The Met Gala. She looked me in the eye. Surly you know what the Met Gala is?

Yeah, I do. (I wasn’t about to say no- after she said, Surely you know…)I had clips of news paper images in my head. That was what knew of the Gala.

….Well, every year after the event is over, they showcase the outfits for the public to see. Did you see the exhibition?

No, I noticed the ad in the phamphet but never thought about seeing it myself.

You should go! It is so good!!

Okay, are you going back-

Nope. I am resting these here legs chile.

I sat beside her and asked if she saw any other exhibition. I had just gotten emotional in the Afro-futuristic Period Room and wanted someone to share my sentiment with. But she hadn’t.

She continued, I walked into a wrong room by mistake!!

Oh, which room was that?

Her response was so funny, I asked her if I could record it it share with you!

History all jugged up

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I am standing in front of Simone Leigh’s Large Jug in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It is included in an exhibition entitled, “Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina”.

This exhibition opens up a different jug of worms. While most slave narratives of 19th Century speak about the Atlantic Slave trade and the presence of Africans in the cotton fields, viewing Hear Me Now makes the viewer think, well, what else did Africans / African Americans contribute too? What other narratives are they apart of that we know very little to nothing about? It remind us that the slave was not confined or small at all, instead, he had a large presence and was in every walk of life.

While the entire story is told from many view points, the one artist that walks away with you is Dave. Mr. Dave Drake. He found a way to live on forever through his pottery by using the very thing that could have gotten him killed, visual literacy.

Above to the left is the jug that I couldn’t stop circling around. It reads:

nineteen days before Christmas- Eve- Lots of people after its over, how they will greave,

I wonder…. how in the world did he get away with a quote like that? He seemed to share the same status as Fredrick Douglass; yet, he was enslaved!

Douglass escape slavery in 1881. Drake’s pottery was issued in 1858. This means that way before Frederick Douglass wrote his speech, ‘What, to the slave, is the fourth of July‘? Drake was already addressing the same topic throughout his pottery.

Lesson plan idea: Visit exhibit with students and allow them to write ‘what if’ stories for Dave. Allow them to create stories to fill in some of the missing pieces of Dave’s story that we do not know…