Crosscurrents of American Art

Description

From the National Gallery of Art website:

"This seminar will explore American art of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, emphasizing the country's rich and diverse visual heritage. Instruction will focus on the Gallery's collection of American paintings, which are closely allied to European traditions of fine art.

Through lectures, gallery talks, discussion groups, and hands-on activities, participants will study portraiture, historical and commemorative art, scenes of everyday life, still life, and landscape, including works from the uniquely American Hudson River school. John Singleton Copley, Benjamin West, Thomas Cole, George Catlin, Winslow Homer, and Augustus Saint-Gaudens are among the artists in the Gallery's collection whose work will be considered.

Supplementing the study of American paintings will be an examination of ceremonial and utilitarian art objects. Textiles, pottery, and furniture—including pieces created by enslaved and free blacks—will highlight regional preferences in design and material, while performance of Native American stories will emphasize the importance of the oral tradition across tribal boundaries.

The seminar highlights the social and cultural context of art and demonstrates interdisciplinary teaching strategies. Participants will explore connections to literature and music and visit other local cultural institutions. Activities are designed to meet teachers' personal and professional enrichment needs."

Contact email
Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
National Gallery of Art
Target Audience
K-12
Start Date
Cost
$200
Course Credit
"One semester hour of graduate credit will be granted through the University of Virginia's School of Continuing and Professional Studies for successfully completed lessons. Credit fees total $258 for Virginia residents and $573 for out-of-state residents. A letter grade based on the curriculum project will be registered with the university."
Duration
Six days
End Date

Crosscurrents of American Art

Description

From the National Gallery of Art website:

"This seminar will explore American art of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, emphasizing the country's rich and diverse visual heritage. Instruction will focus on the Gallery's collection of American paintings, which are closely allied to European traditions of fine art.

Through lectures, gallery talks, discussion groups, and hands-on activities, participants will study portraiture, historical and commemorative art, scenes of everyday life, still life, and landscape, including works from the uniquely American Hudson River school. John Singleton Copley, Benjamin West, Thomas Cole, George Catlin, Winslow Homer, and Augustus Saint-Gaudens are among the artists in the Gallery's collection whose work will be considered.

Supplementing the study of American paintings will be an examination of ceremonial and utilitarian art objects. Textiles, pottery, and furniture—including pieces created by enslaved and free blacks—will highlight regional preferences in design and material, while performance of Native American stories will emphasize the importance of the oral tradition across tribal boundaries.

The seminar highlights the social and cultural context of art and demonstrates interdisciplinary teaching strategies. Participants will explore connections to literature and music and visit other local cultural institutions. Activities are designed to meet teachers' personal and professional enrichment needs."

Contact email
Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
National Gallery of Art
Target Audience
K-12
Start Date
Cost
$200
Course Credit
"One semester hour of graduate credit will be granted through the University of Virginia's School of Continuing and Professional Studies for successfully completed lessons. Credit fees total $258 for Virginia residents and $573 for out-of-state residents. A letter grade based on the curriculum project will be registered with the university."
Duration
Six days
End Date

Writing to the Visual Prompt: Observation-based Strategies

Description

From the Corcoran website:

"Deepen your understanding of the purpose and intent of interpretive labels through the four ways they may be used in teaching: identification, idea and concept generation, information gathering, and visual focus. This workshop employs label writing exercises using original artworks to sharpen observation skills and develop analytical writing skills adaptable to any grade level."

Contact email
Sponsoring Organization
Corcoran Gallery of Art
Phone number
202-639-1774
Target Audience
K-12
Start Date
Cost
$12, $8 for members
Duration
Three and a half hours

Clarice Smith National Teacher Institute

Description

From the Smithsonian American Art Museum website:

"Join colleagues from across the country for a unique opportunity to collaborate with art experts and leading technology professionals. Through gallery talks, lectures, discussion groups, and hands-on activities, you will learn to incorporate technology to enliven your core subject teaching. As part of an interdisciplinary team, you'll share models for integrating art across the curriculum using Web 2.0 applications, such as podcasts, wikis, and blogs."

"Institutes are open to educator teams of two to three members, from the same school or district, each representing a different subject area (i.e., social studies, language arts, science, math, etc.). Each applicant must be a full-time grade 4-12 teacher."

For more on the Smithsonian American Art Museum, refer to NHEC's Museums and Historic Sites listing.

Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Target Audience
4-12
Start Date
Cost
$200 (per person)
Duration
Five days
End Date

Clarice Smith National Teacher Institute

Description

From the Smithsonian American Art Museum website:

"Join colleagues from across the country for a unique opportunity to collaborate with art experts and leading technology professionals. Through gallery talks, lectures, discussion groups, and hands-on activities, you will learn to incorporate technology to enliven your core subject teaching. As part of an interdisciplinary team, you'll share models for integrating art across the curriculum using Web 2.0 applications, such as podcasts, wikis, and blogs."

"Institutes are open to educator teams of two to three members, from the same school or district, each representing a different subject area (i.e., social studies, language arts, science, math, etc.). Each applicant must be a full-time grade 4-12 teacher."

For more on the Smithsonian American Art Museum, refer to NHEC's Museums and Historic Sites listing.

Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Target Audience
4-12
Start Date
Cost
$200 (per person)
Duration
Five days
End Date

Clarice Smith National Teacher Institute

Description

From the Smithsonian American Art Museum website:

"Join colleagues from across the country for a unique opportunity to collaborate with art experts and leading technology professionals. Through gallery talks, lectures, discussion groups, and hands-on activities, you will learn to incorporate technology to enliven your core subject teaching. As part of an interdisciplinary team, you'll share models for integrating art across the curriculum using Web 2.0 applications, such as podcasts, wikis, and blogs."

"Institutes are open to educator teams of two to three members, from the same school or district, each representing a different subject area (i.e., social studies, language arts, science, math, etc.). Each applicant must be a full-time grade 4-12 teacher."

For more on the Smithsonian American Art Museum, refer to NHEC's Museums and Historic Sites listing.

Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Target Audience
4-12
Start Date
Cost
$100 (per person)
Duration
Four days
End Date

The Ashcan School

Description

From the National Humanities Center website:

"'How did the ethnically and culturally diverse urban environment of early twentieth-century America find its way into art? How did artists see the new immigrants who flooded into American cities from 1890 on? What kinds of visual languages did they draw on in approaching a subject that had been generally off limits to painters of the previous generation—the urban poor? This workshop will look at how the Ash Can artists built on older visual and art historical traditions, while also considering what was new about their work. It will also consider the subject matter they shared with the popular culture of early twentieth-century films, graphic journalism, and cartooning. Using a variety of perspectives, this workshop will consider the role of the visual in exploring the defining challenges of a pluralistic urban democracy in the new century."

Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
National Humanities Center
Target Audience
"K-12 U.S. History and American Literature teachers"
Start Date
Cost
$35
Course Credit
"The National Humanities Center programs are eligible for recertification credit. Each workshop will include ninety minutes of instruction plus ninety minutes of preparation. Because the workshops are conducted online, they may qualify for technology credit in districts that award it. The Center will supply documentation of participation."
Duration
One and a half hours

Civil War Art

Description

From the National Humanities Center website:

"The Civil War destroyed the institution of slavery and transformed the United States socially, politically, economically, and artistically. Not only did the subject inspire some of the nation's best painters, sculptors, photographers, and illustrators, it also changed the face of town and countryside as monuments to soldiers and statesmen of the Civil War era spread across the landscape. This workshop will pay close attention not only to the imagery of battle but also to the social and political issues which shaped the image of the war and which in many respects continue to shape us today. How did artists come to grips with the new realities of warfare and the unprecedented scale of death it caused? How did the new media of that era (especially photography) change the way that war was represented and understood? What insights did artists offer into the social and political changes happening both on the homefront and battlefront? Did the memorialization of the war in public art create new understandings of the conflict or perpetuate old myths?"

Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
National Humanities Center
Target Audience
"K-12 U.S. History and American Literature teachers"
Start Date
Cost
$35
Course Credit
"The National Humanities Center programs are eligible for recertification credit. Each workshop will include ninety minutes of instruction plus ninety minutes of preparation. Because the workshops are conducted online, they may qualify for technology credit in districts that award it. The Center will supply documentation of participation."
Duration
One and a half hours

Sandpainting of the Arrow People: Keeper of Hidden Things, Revealer of Faith

Description

From the Department of the Interior Museum website:

"Emily Palus, National Curator and NAGPRA Coordinator for the Bureau of Land Management, will explore the many stories of the Sandpainting of the Arrow People rug and discuss how the textile represents the transition of Navajo weaving from a local craft industry to a national art market and the historical evolution of sandpainting imagery from sacred to secular."

Contact name
Diana Ziegler
Sponsoring Organization
Department of the Interior Museum
Phone number
202-208-4743
Target Audience
General public
Start Date
Duration
One hour

Indians, Corn, and the American West: Maynard Dixon's New Deal Mural for the U.S. Department of the Interior

Description

From the Department of the Interior Museum website:

"Erika Doss will highlight the complexities surrounding government-funded art projects during the 1930s and discuss how American artist Maynard Dixon negotiated with New Deal tastemakers in his depiction of modern American Indians and the American West. In 1937, the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture, a New Deal arts program, commissioned a two-panel mural for the Bureau of Indian Affairs offices in the Main Interior Building. Dixon was asked to depict 'themes taken from the activities' of the BIA. Following the lecture, visitors are invited to view Dixon's Indian and Soldier and Indian and Teacher murals in the Main Interior Building."

Contact name
Diana Ziegler
Sponsoring Organization
Department of the Interior Museum
Phone number
202-208-4743
Target Audience
General public
Start Date
Duration
One and a half hours