Briana, I am personally glad you agree. I think,
really, that is the problem. I am ADHD (card
carrying, thank you). With that diagnosis brings the
extra gift of passion. I can sit there and suck up so
much by looking at a really good piece of art. But
the art is not going to tell me about itself. It's
not going to tell me its suttle nuances. Someone will
have to teach me that.
Think about our educational system. So little is
afforded to the arts in the public school system. One
would like to think that folks in college would take
more art classes, but at the cost of ones education,
its pretty implausible for a lot of people.
Two of the classes that really impressed me over time
were art history and appreciation and a freehand
drawing class I gave myself as a gift because I
couldn't draw. It was a reward for pulling straight
As in my classes (especially the sciences I took).
Which brings me to two more suggestions one could do
to teach about art and make it more engaging for
patrons.
Stippling is fun and cheap. With those nubbed pencils
and scrap paper, especially in a museum where there
are impressionist works of art, folks could be taught
to stipple. It wouldn't take a lot of time, and it
might make them appreciate the art they see more.
Another inexpensive art sampling they could be offered
is chalk. The one thing I did best (with my no art
self) was chalk. I actually got high marks in this
one.
Teach about perspective (this one I couldn't get, but
I had trouble with geometry, too).
Share about chiarascuro. Make it come to light
(sorry, pardon the pun).
Talk to the folks about draping and what it takes to
make a fabric on a flat piece of canvas look as though
it is standing up.
With respect to the magnifying glasses, as I said to
someone else, they can be used to more closely examine
what it took to make the whole of the picture from the
sum of its part, but it can also help to make the
titles and descriptive text more legible.
For the young folks on list, for goodness sake, don't
use a little tiny font to cram in more words. Someday
the eye fairy will bop you over the head as you use
those poor eyeballs for 40 years, and you, too, may
become presbyopic (having nothing to do with religion,
but oh, God, would you like your eyes to work as well
as they did before you needed glasses). You've got to
use a bigger type for your regular patrons to see, not
to mention those with sight impairments.
Anyway, here are a few more suggestions offered to
help.
PS We're STILL raining. We've got history in the
making out here. Those with history museums can
create exhibits about the great city of LA that washed
away (sigh).
--- Briana Flinchbaugh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I have never posted to this list before, but this
> discussion thread is
> fascinating to me. Indigo, I think you have hit the
> nail on the head. As a
> graduate student in Museum Education, I have spent a
> lot of time looking at
> the ways in which various types of museums attempt
> to educate and engage the
> public. I grew up going to art museums and when I
> entered this degree
> program, I thought that I wanted to work for an art
> museum. However, I have
> come to believe that there ARE some fundamental
> problems in many art museums.
Indigo Nights
[log in to unmask]
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
|
