I get a good feelin'...ABOUT ART!

The day I realized it was okay to go crazy for art.

So...I love art history.  Love it.  

When I go to museums and galleries, I literally want to jump for joy, pump my fists in the air, clap...just express my love for art. And I never did.  I always kept that inkling to run and do a cartwheel to myself.  Until a little over a year ago.

I was selected to attend the Robert Rauschenberg Power of Art workshop in DC...I think it was 2009?...anyway, side note, teachers- look at this link, they select about thirty art teachers from across the nation for this, it is A-MA-ZING...

Ok, back on topic...excited about art...so one perk for me was that my friend Lauren lives near DC so we got to spend some time together when I wasn't in my workshops.  One of the the things we did?  Visit the National Gallery of Art.  
And, I guess I couldn't hold it in any longer.  I started doing jumps.  Actin' silly.  Just trying to express how excited I was to be around all of this art history.  Lauren commented that it was the most fun she had ever had at an art museum.  It was for me too!

So I kept that memory in my back pocket...til I went to Minnesota last year...and saw Claes Oldenburg's 'Spoonbridge'.  And...I just had to...leap.  (pic is in the slideshow) John was there and took the picture....then again on my recent trip to Chicago, I felt compelled to do the same thing.  Only...I was by myself.  So I took my pictures.  It was fun.  I did get a few folks to take pics for me, and it was just...fun.  

Here is my idea.  I teach in a rural area.  Many of my students have not ever been to a gallery or art museum.  Now, I am a grant writin' diva, but I can't always secure funds for field trips, and certainly not for all of my students.   When I show art  and talk about artists with their lessons sometimes it is hard to make that connection because they don't always have the prior knowledge.

So what if they saw the same artwork...and their art teacher was in front of it, lookin' all silly?  Or excited?  Yes m'am.

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I am using the slideshow to the right to introduce my opening Art History overview lesson with my students in grades 6-8.  (Basically, the each grade level has a different focus, in sequential order by grade level, on the art history timeline.)  This was a fun way to show that I love art history, it can be fun...and to give them a connection to the work.

When we learn about Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, they will remember, 'hey, I saw Mrs. G actin crazy, and this picture was in front of her.'

Anyway...just an idea I had.

And I also had the idea that maybe I will have them do their own 'reaction' pics to the art from their art history project...thinking green screen...gotta talk to my friend Mr. Nottage on this one...