Using Galleries as a Resource for Curriculum Development

WEEK 4 (May 18 visit - alternative to VAG class trip)

Van Duesen Botanical Gardens - Architecture, Outdoor Sculpture, 

Patterns in Nature and indoor photo exhibit.

      

 

I visited Van Duesen Gardens and documented their sculptures just before my concussion, so I decided to use that as my gallery visit for this assignment. I like the questions posed on the sheet from Jan and think some of them could be really useful in terms of looking at outdoor sculptures. Also an obvious choice for Van Duesen would be to do some cross-curricular work with environmental art and eco-art. Some of the questions that I found would focus student’s attention and contextualize the work would be: 

What do you think of the curatorial choices in the sculptures? Why do you think the curator has made these choices?What works stood out for you and why? Were there any surprises?How might I guide a group of students through the exhibit?

For this last question I was thinking that it would be engaging if students did rubbings of sculptures to learn about texture, pattern, rhythm and balance, and materials. They could create a little booklet of their studies. Through research I found out that there is an interesting process of making nature journals which is slightly different from most art journals, and there are quite a few examples on line. This can involve saving some of the plant samples found on the ground and drying them and pasting them into the journal. I think they could also be incorporated into mixed media pieces eco-art sculptures, fabric pieces or used in collograph printmaking.

I love the idea of getting the students out into nature while interacting with art. The rubbings are a good way to remove the student from being a passive observer and inviting students to smell and touch and interact with the plants and sculptures in a way that doesn’t damage them.

The rubbings and journal could be used as formative assessment, which could be used to create some kind of art piece in the classroom that can be assessed in a summative way. Extensions could be that students could work in a series, or work with new materials or large scale. Adaptations could include small group work and partner work so that students can wander in the garden freely but with a buddy system for support and focus. I found out this year there is something called “Nature Deficit Disorder” where kids are suffering from stress related to being indoors too much and not in nature. This is the first generation ever in the history of mankind where this has happened. I want to help to balance that out as much as I can in the schools, and viewing outdoor art is a great way to do it.