Tag Archives: Museum

The Cons of Visiting the Brooklyn Museum with my Class- and a Surprise at the End…

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A little after I saw the Spike Lee Show and saw it again, I decided I should ask my principal if we could bring our students.

Yes!!

All sorts of planning went into the visit. I wrote out extensive lesson plans, created a slideshow, gave teachers the heads up about which videos and pictures to avoid and visited each class to prepare for this visit.

However, as I sit up at 1:30 in the morning and reflect on my day at the museum, I need to rant.

There were five teachers all together to help students in grades second to fifth. This was perfect because one teacher took students to the bathroom while another diverted some children’s attention away from heavy content and another was able to remind students not to run. However, all teachers should have been well versed with the show by the time we got there and one wasn’t. The one who wasn’t well versed in the show had the most to say to me during the show, while I was teaching:

I saw your class take a picture in front of those signs. Be careful- That sign there says- Bed-Stuy.

Yes, I know. What are you talking about?

You get it? Bed- Study?

No, I don’t get it. Bed- Stuy is a neighborhood.

Oh, really!?

I should add that she is new to the environment and the county, however; when teaching I don’t make any exceptions. She should have been the most silent person. Her comments and impromptu direction of the children made me work extra hard. At one point, she allowed the children into a room to watch a scene from Fight the Power before I could warn, pull children out ( not all grades were allowed in each room) or even say when they should see it.

I told the teachers when to move and what to expect throughout the show. I had to run to her and tell her no!

The older children who read intensively about the KKK were allowed to watch the scene from Black Klansmen. This gave them insight about their world today. However, I prepared them and spoke to them before they entered each room.

I told my students to go in – but she was on the other side telling them to leave:

They will go home and talk to their parents!

Yes, that’s what they should do! Go in!

Watching the video did give them insight. As they were walking out, they weren’t repeating things they often said about Trump nor were they laughing about the situation.

Why didn’t Trump stop those people? That’s the KKK! We saw that cross in the book (Kadir Nelson’s Heart and Soul) Why were they allowed to drive their car into the crowd? Did they go to jail?

The rest of the show I made sure to focus on joyous items. Kehinde Wiley’s painting in the last gallery was perfect to send them away with. They were told to walk into the image. Imagine you are at the investiture of the bishop becoming a duke. Some spoke about dressing fancy and others spoke about wearing a Dodgers number 42 jersey with Jordans.

Next, we visited the store. They were overjoyed to visit the store and I was happy for them. Most of them had $20.00 and no one had less than $10.00.

The museum moved its location and was still unpacking (hopefully). While there were items to buy, there was nothing that would draw the eye of a child on a school trip. Nothing that they could afford. This made the store visit the worst idea as I paid the difference for my students.

All of the toys were $35.00 and above. I tried to tell them to buy the postcards but honestly, even I wasn’t interested in the art on the postcards. They ran to the pens. But- who really wants a pen? Others brought highlighters in a plastic box. There were paint pens that they looked at but the store manager stood by and told them it was not for children. Then I directed them to the journals and magnets from an previous Kehinde Wiley show.

Look, this art is by Kehinde Wiley! They ran to me and asked for the price. Each journal was a different price! The one the girls were drawn to with a lady on the cover was $29.00 so they got the one with a man on the cover for $28.00. The museum gave me a ten percent educators discount (after I asked for it), but added New York State tax and New York City tax and took off 9 cents because we were commuters. This left us at $27.43.

I complained in the store about the prices and asked the workers to please bring this up at the next staff meeting. One worker told me the Met is doing the same thing as If this was an excuse for highway robbery. I never had this experience in the Met.

It just frustrates me to go into a museum and finally see art that relates to me but to visit the store and everything is extremely overpriced! The only memorabilia related to the show they could afford was the journal. None of Spike Lee’s objects were on postcards.

One customer watching said he also noticed that there was nothing for children to buy for the amount they had in their hands. My students each gave me gratitude hugs. I spent over $100.00 paying the difference on journals. One fourth grader whose parents gave her $30.00 was able to afford a Basquiat book which she told me she was buying for her research project. A second grader whose parents gave her 15.00 picked up a mini box puzzle of a pizza. The rest brought a journal and some pens.

For two children who did not come with money (out of 30 children), I purchased different types of post cards for them to choose from and one Journal for myself. As I gave the cashier my card, she put a smile on my face. – I want to buy this for you. The work you do is very important. She then gave me a hug and asked me my name. I was very surprised and taken aback by her humanitarian gesture. Even if she didn’t buy my items, reminding me about the work I do, was what I will remember about the entire trip. I won’t even bring up the teacher’s annoying behavior in the next staff meeting!

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.

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!

A 21st- Century connection between Art and the National Summit on Education

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I found the connection between the National Summit on Education and the art at Utah’s museum of Art seasonable.

While at Utah’s Museum of Art, I came across a huge electrical wall panel created by Elias Sime from Ethiopia.

The plaque next to the ‘ Tightrope: Noiseless 1’ (it’s title) reads: Sime buys his materials at the Merkato In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the largest open- air market in Africa. It can take years for him to accumulate the necessary discarded computer parts to construct an individual work. In this series, Sime recognizes the uneasy balance between the advances made possible by technology and the impact those advances have had on humanity and the environment. Sime says, ” My work reclaims these machines in a tender way, as I am not in opposition to technology. It’s about how to balance it with “real” life. We’ve become off-balance. My title for my series of collages, “Tightrope,” has a double reaming, It’s about this equilibrium, but I also wanted it to evoke a string: if you pull it too tight, it will break.” 

The installation connected strongly with the keynote speakers at the conference. While looking at it, I had no questions, nor did it bring me peace. It was just about being in the moment while also thinking about the future.

Earlier that day, I sat in the Grand America Hotel and listened to Code.org founder Hadi Partovi, finance expert Tim Ranzetta and Professor of Applied Mathematics Dr. Steven Strogatz, map out critical skills for every 21st-Century student’s success.

with Dr. Strogatz
Hadi Partovi
WIth Hadi Partovi

Dr. Strogatz encouraged us to introduce our learners to Data Science which he said was the “modern version of statics, a fusion of many disciplines that give us opportunities touch every field.” Mr. Partovi pushed for us to teach finical literacy, especially to students in high school. As a true educator, he provided curriculum and even offered ways to teach others how to teach the topic. Tim Ranzetta also pushed technology – telling us that the vision of Code.org is that every student learn computer science.

The full video is posted on Youtube:

Almost all artist unknown in Arts of Africa Room

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At Utah’s Museum of Fine Arts on the second floor towards the back is a room labeled Arts of Africa. It looks like a period room. Quite honestly, period rooms can be boredom rooms. But this one was intriguing because almost all of the art in there had no name on it. The artist was unknown for each artifact. Why?

Utah Museum of Fine Air…Arts

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El sol sale para todos, 2021
(by Fully Davila and Evelyn Haupt)
Blackness Brings Forth Life, 2021
(by Vaimoana Niumeitolu)
Mokopuna, 2021 (by Bill Louis)
View of Refineries from 300 N on January 11th by Elisabeth Bunker, 2019
Cara Romero’s Evolvers, 2019
Beaded Mask, 2015 Naomi Bebo

The Utah Museum of Fine Arts is concerned about air, as we all should be.

Visitors walk into a spacious foyer and after check-in, education about Salt Lake City’s poor air quality begins.

The exhibition, curated by Whitney Tassie, is a community cry. The art lifts up the voices of people from all over Salt Lake and beyond.

The first room is filled with air and three murals. Each mural by the local artist evokes memories from the beginning of the Pandemic. El Sol Sale para todos, which translates to The sun shines for everyone is by Zully Davila and Evelyn Haupt, celebrates the transformation of Latina women during the pandemic. Blackness Brings Forth Life is by Vaimoana Niumeitolu, a social activist from Tonga, who also resides in Utah. Niumeitolu seeks to tell the narrative of Utahns during the pandemic and food access. The last mural, Mokopuna, (which translates to grandchild or descendent) is by Bill Louis. It speaks about human protection during the pandemic.   

From Will Wilson’s Triptych
From Will Wilson’s AIR Lab

There are four more rooms, each one adds a layer of community concern. Will Wilson, photographer and trans-customary artist who is a citizen of the Navajo Nation, shares a triptych that conveys a traumatic history of people and land. The wall panel teaches the history of the ‘racist energy production that continues to…harm the…Diné people’. The history dates back to the 1940’s with Uranium mining on the Navajo Nation land. The energy companies tested their bombs and after the cold war, left ‘toxic material to disperse in the air, soil and water.’ Till this day, the people are dealing with this issue.

There is an AIR lab (Autoimmune Response Laboratory) also created by Will Wilson that sits in the middle of the first main room. AIR Lab is a futurist idea mixed with sankofa implications. It’s a replica of a greenhouse, taken from the sacred Diné dwelling, which shows how to remove heavy metals and toxins from the soil (grow the Four Corners potato and certain plant species) .

Across the room, the voices of politicians are heard.

The exhibition builds and tells the viewer how this problem isn’t only Utah’s problem but also an international problem. 

Smog Map by Kim Abeles
World Leaders in Smog, Kim Abeles
World Leaders in Smog, Kim Abeles
World Leaders in Smog, Kim Abeles
World Leaders in Smog, Kim Abeles
Standing in front of the word air. The paint on the wall shows layers of dirty air

There is  a Smog Map next to plates created by Kim Abeles of California. The map and the plates are hosted on a grayish wall (as opposed to the previous art which is on a white wall). Each plate has a world leader (covered in smog) and one quote about the environment. Pictured here are Indian Prime Minister, Modi, Brazilian President, Rousseff, President of South Africa, Zuma and President Trump.

Prime Minister Modi quote reads, “Ultimately, for success, moderating our lifestyle is necessary and possible, for a low carbon future…”

President Rousseff says, “Brazil is one of the few developing countries to commit to an absolute goal for emissions reduction. In spite of having one of the world’s largest populations…”

President Zuma’s quote reads ” Various regions of the world have different views on the issue, simply because they are affected differently by climate change. However, for most people in the developing world and Africa, climate change is a matter of life and death. We are always reminded by the leaders of small island states that climate change threatens their very existence.”

President Trump’s quote reads: ” The United States…will continue to be the cleanest and most environmentally friendly country on Earth…We’re going to have the cleanest air [and the] cleanest water.” 

UMFA Community Members Community Cloud Mobile, 2019-2022
Diego Romero’s American Diastrophism, 2020
Diego Romero’s Girl in the Anthropocene, 2017
Merritt Johnson’s Forest Seed Basket for Present and Future Understanding, 2016

The next three rooms are interactive. In one you look up and see clouds created by UMFA Community Members and below positioned neatly against the wall are books with titles like Some Days I breathe on Purpose: Learning to be a Calm, Cool Kid by Kellie Doyle Bailey and William Bryant Logan’s, Air. There is a room for meditation and Yoga. There are more installations of art like lithographs by Diego Romero and Merritt Johnson’s sculpture of an oxygen tank.

In the middle of both rooms is a film by Julianknxx entitled, Black Corporeal (Between this Air). The room is extremely dark and something about the atmosphere is frightening but sweet. There is a choir that fades in on the huge screen singing one word, breath, mingled with moving images of lovers breathing with and into one another. Without knowing you are thinking about Mr. George Floyd, your mind wanders to memories of the summer of 2020 and the events around ‘I can’t breathe’ cries.   

Michael Rakowitz’s paraSITE, 1998-Ongoing

The last room is also empty except for one tremendous plastic sculpture which highlights the housing situation in America. The Chicago based artist, Michael Rakowitz, turned his focus on the impacts of the health of ‘houseless community members.’ The plaque read ” A 2020 University of Utah study found that nearly 90% of individuals without housing in Salt Lake County had sought medical attention for a condition related to air pollution.” With instructions of how to make one at home…or in the classroom. It tells the viewer, you have read our story and you see how you are intertwined in it, now go back to your community and do something about it.

Working Together

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Last year May, the Whitney had a photography exhibit on the fifth floor of the museum. The rich black and white photos identified Black people and their living conditions during some of the country’s pivotal moments – the Civil Rights Movement, the Black arts movement and the Pan- Africanism movement.

The photos were taken by the Kamoinge Workshop.

You may remember I spoke about the Kamoinge Workshop in another blog post…

Ishita and I met at the Whitney and after having a hard time finding each other in the museum (my phone died as soon as I walked in) we went up to the top floor and ran into friends from the Harlem Studio museum.

We ran into photographer, Ralston Smith and Harlem Studio companion, Tasha Douge and before long everyone was sending fiery artist vibes. It became a fun photoshoot.

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…