Art Deco of the Palm Beaches [FL]

Description

Art Deco of the Palm Beaches seeks to preserve and share the Art Deco architecture and 20th-century design and artwork of Palm Beach and West Palm Beach, Florida. Art Deco was a reaction against the Art Nouveau movement of the 1890s, which emphasized curvilinear design. In contrast, Art Deco emphasizes linear qualities and "harsh" geometries. Cultural design influences include Japan and the Aztec and Mayan Empires.

The organization offers lectures and customizable tours. Lecture topics include non-local Art Deco works.

Hillwood Museum And Gardens [DC]

Description

Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens consists of a historic home and surrounding gardens. The Georgian mansion was originally designed in 1926; and was purchased by Marjorie Merriweather Post, heir to the Post cereal fortune, in 1955. The extensive gardens reflect a variety of influences and include a Japanese garden, one of the last remaining examples of the type of oriental gardens influenced by the reintroduction of the Japanese culture to America during the 1950s. Today the estate has one of the most comprehensive collections of eighteenth and nineteenth-century Russian Imperial art outside of Russia, as well as an extensive collection of eighteenth-century French decorative arts. Highlights include a diamond crown worn by Empress Alexandra at her marriage to Nicholas II; Beauvais tapestries designed by François Boucher; two Imperial Easter eggs by Carl Fabergé; La Nuit by William-Adolphe Bouguereau; and a collection of costumes and accessories worn by Mrs. Post or her family. Many artifacts can be viewed in the mansion.

The estate offers an introductory film; period rooms; exhibits; Acoustiguide tours for the home, gardens, Russian collection, and French collection, as well as a tour designed for children; guided tours of the mansion and gardens; self-guided written tours; custom tours; sign language, oral, or cued speech interpreters—with advance notice; Braille information guides; a resource area; and a non-circulating art research library. The website offers digital access to the collections.

Liberty Museum and Arts Center [NY]

Description

The Liberty Museum & Arts Center Building was first constructed as a hotel in 1894. The Poellman House, as the hotel was known, contained 30 rooms with baths, steam heat, all "sanitary arrangements" and a first class Café and Bowling Alley. The hotel closed in 1936. The Liberty Museum has a dual mission of presenting creative arts as well as programs of local and regional history. Themes which have been previously covered include Catskills resorts, Main Street, and the history of Route 17.

The museum and art center offer exhibits, art classes, lectures, cultural programs, and programs designed for children.

Maryhill Museum of Art [WA]

Description

The Maryhill Museum of Art represents the completed vision of the museum's founder, Samuel Hill, a wealthy turn-of-the-century businessman—housing a collection of art ranging from early 20th-century European works to an extensive Native American collection.

The museum offers art exhibits, tours, school programs, summer programs, and periodic presentations. The website offers visitor information, information regarding upcoming events, a calendar of events, information on all current exhibits, and resources for teachers including lesson plans and worksheets.

Bucks County Historical Society and Museums [PA] Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/08/2008 - 13:33
Description

The Bucks County Historical Society seeks to make the presentation of historical information both engaging and relevant to everyday life. To this end, the society operates the Mercer Museum, Fonthill Museum, and Spruance Library. The Mercer Museum, housed within a 1916 structure, presents pre-Industrialization artifacts of daily life. Exhibit topics include illumination, medicine, tinsmithing, transportation, and dairy farming, among more than 60 early American trades. The Spruance Library is housed within the Mercer Museum. The 1912 Fonthill Museum is a historic home. Once home to Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930), anthropologist, antiquarian, archaeologist, and designer of renowned Moravian tile, the Byzantine, Gothic, and Medieval structure is now furnished in period style. Many of the pieces are original to the site and their locations within the home.

The society offers exhibits, period rooms, guided tours of the Fonthill Museum, curriculum-based programs, curriculum-based traveling trunks, curriculum-based outreach presentations, concerts, workshops for children and teenagers, summer camps, Act 48 workshops, research library access, collections access, and research services. Reservations are strongly advised for the Fonthill Museum. The Mercer Museum is approximately 65 percent wheelchair accessible. The Fonthill Museum is wheelchair accessible on the first floor only. Collections access is by appointment only. A fee is charged for research conducted upon request. The website offers pre- and post-visit materials and an online catalog.

Picturing America Program Unveiled at White House

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The National Endowment for the Humanites recently launched Picturing America at the White House. The initiative offers 40 images of American art for use in social studies and history classrooms to K-12 schools and public libraries. Educational materials include an illustrated, 119-page teachers resource book as well as the web site containing additional information and lesson plans.

Images range from early North American archaeological artifacts to contemporary work and illustrate key eras and events in American history. Grant Wood, Normal Rockwell, Gilbert Stuart, Winslow Homer, George Catlin, and N.C. Wyeth are among featured artists. The 20 two-sided laminated posters are free and do not have to be returned. To apply to get these materials you have to represent a US school or library and complete an application on-line.

Applications are due by April 15, 2008. The press release of the White House launch summarizes the program. Further information and application procedures appear on the Picturing America website.

Analyzing Composition in Paintings

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s site provides a nice straightforward explanation of how to analyze the composition of historical paintings. Using Emanuel Leutze’s famous painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware, the site explains how artists use various elements of composition like lighting to convey particular messages about the events depicted in paintings. For lesson plans on how to interpret historical paintings check out this site.

The Civil War in Art: Teaching and Learning Through Chicago Collections

Article Body

The Civil War in Art: Teaching and Learning Through Chicago Collections includes two useful analysis guides: one for art and one for primary sources. The art analysis guide—developed for the TERRA Foundation for American Art—includes questions that can help students learn to use both aesthetic analysis and historical context to interpret art.

The one-page primary source analysis worksheet, uses the acronym ICE AGE to prompt analysis activities. Students Identify, Contextualize, Explore, Analyze, consider Gaps, and Evaluate. Each of these activities includes questions to guide students through interpreting textual and visual historical evidence. Like the TERRA art guide, ICE AGE asks students to inform their understanding of a primary source by considering its creator, historic context, and relationship to other pieces of evidence.