Elementary School Art Education || When Children Take the Lead in Exploring Art Museums with Their Adult Partners

National Art Education Association

When Children Take the Lead in Exploring Art Museums with Their Adult PartnersAuthor(s): Carol JeffersSource: Art Education, Vol. 52, No. 6, Elementary School Art Education (Nov., 1999), pp. 45-51Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3193795 .Accessed: 17/06/2014 08:03

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WHEN CHILDREN TAKE

THE LEAD IN

~ At useums with theirAdult Par~tners

BY CAROL JEFFERS

hildren, as well as parents and classroom teachers, typically have had few, if any, art museum experiences, usually consisting of school field trips organized around so-called "walk-and-gawk" tours (Ott, 1980). Under these circumstances, neither children nor adults are likely to envision

themselves having vital, interactive roles within art museum settings, nor to value these settings as "unique educational environments" (Zeller, 1987).

Evident in the literature on art museum education is a call to improve the quantity and quality of visitors' experiences, and as Stemberg (1989) puts it, "motivate people to learn through meaningful [art museum] experiences that involve both thought and feeling" (p. 154). Such experiences are dependent on children and adults developing relationships with art museums. Durant (1996) notes that "for children to develop a meaningful relationship with an art museum, they need to first make some significant connections with it" (p. 24). To get children and pre- and in-service teachers (members of elementary art methods classes) into art museums/galleries where they would connect with the institution, its art, and each other in new, and more meaningful ways, I required the adults to take a child to a museum/gallery where the child effectively served as the tourguide for the adult partner. This article presents a compilation of pre- and in-service elementary teachers' findings, based on reported experiences as learners, action researchers, and participant observers. It adds to existing research on art museum guides or

NOVEMBER 1999 / ART EDUCATION


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docents (Johnson, 1981; McCoy, 1989; Wendling, 1997), and to present another "participatory approach" in addition to those described by Sternberg (1989), Mayer (1974), Ott (1980), and Durant (1996).

This study developed out of a class assignment based on a Deweyian- constructivist approach to teaching and learning (Simpson, 1996). According to Simpson (1996), constructivism "emphasizes the experience of the learner as integral to the making of meaning and problem-solving" (pp. 33- 34). When taking this approach, it is vital to understand the learner's frame of reference and prior experiences, recognizing that new experiences and learning will be connected to and used in constructing the learner's world view. Adult participants were asked to document their child-guide's understandings of museum and art museum rules and beliefs about the role of tour guide, and to record the child's descriptions and interpretations of artworks. They also were to reflect on what they and their guides learned through this shared experience.

PARTICIPANTS Seventeen pre- and in-service

elementary teachers (15 women and 2 men) chose as tour guides 19 children from among neighbors, nieces and nephews, godchildren, and in a few cases, children, stepchildren, or students. Ten boys and nine girls between the ages of 5 and 13 participated in this study. Nine children were Latino, four African-American, three Asian, two white, and one "Egyptian." Like the adults, all children were lower to middle class.

Most children had never been to an art museum, although many had visited natural history or science museums at least once on school field trips. Older children (ages 10-13) had the same amount of prior museum experience as younger children (ages 5-9). Adults also had little previous art museum experience. That there is no direct relationship between age and amount of art museum experience was an unanticipated finding.

MUSEUMS VISITED Participants visited 10 different

museums/galleries, with half visiting the Norton Simon Museum of Art (See Appendix A). The total represents a wide range, including large and small, university, commercial, community, or world class institutions. Adults chose museums for many reasons: location, size (large or small), stature, nature of collections, special exhibits, or for connections to the local community.

What is a Museum ? Children believed that museums are repositories for "old stuff' and "lots of pictures." Several defined museums in terms of previous experiences with science and natural history museums: "museums are where preserved mummies and stuffed animals are kept; they show stuff from the past and from the future-so people who have never seen a bald eagle can come and see one or other stuffed animals" (8-year old boy).

With respect to art museums, younger children seemed impressed with the quantity of objects, whereas older children were more impressed with the variety in museum collections. Older children also realized that rare, unusual, or special objects are in these collections so "all people can have the chance to see them." Several children felt it important that museums preserve and present the past and one 10-year-

old said the objects in museums "all tell different stories" about the lives of human beings. Adults who accompanied child-guides shared many of these beliefs. One in-service teacher wrote: 'We wanted to enjoy the timeless beauty of classical art work in a lovely, relaxing environment."

What are Art Museum Rules? Des- pite limited museum experience, children unequivocally stated the rules when asked: no touching, no loud talking, no running, no eating. One 10- year-old let her adult partner know she was all too aware of rules: 'You don't have to tell me. I know the rules. It's like the library. No this and no that." Children had no difficulty understanding the rules, although some found it difficult to obey "no touching."

What is a Tour Guide? Most children could describe the role of tour guide and what this role entails. Older children described the tour guide as "leader," "one who explains and knows everything very well," and "shows stuff and tells people where to walk." Five- and six-year old children were not asked to describe the role of tour guide. Rather, their adult partners told them: 'You will explain everything you think and feel about the art you see," a directive they readily accepted. The pre-service teacher who took her 5- year-old niece to the Norton Simon Museum commented, "since I had given her complete control, she took it. She knew right where she wanted to go. She was the perfect candidate for the position."

With two exceptions, children were excited about leading adult partners. They were enthusiastic as they took charge, made decisions about where to

ART EDUCATION / NOVEMBER 1999



!

go, what to see, and found their descriptions and interpretations of artworks valued. One pre-service teacher wrote that her 6-year-old guide "lit up like a Christmas tree" once inside the museum, eagerly pulling the adult toward a painting and asking, "can I explain what I see now?" One 10- year-old said, "I had fun. It was nice to be in charge of something for once."

One less-than-enthusiastic 6-year- old needed time to warm to her role. Her adult partner played dumb, acted confused, and provided an "outrageous and way off' description of a painting near the museum's entrance. Her once- reluctant child-guide felt compelled to set the adult straight and take charge.

Adults were amazed by their child- guide's abilities to lead them

systematically throughout the museum and to provide imaginative insights into and new perspectives on the museum and its collections


- X



As her confidence grew, the child asked questions of guards and used the answers to make decisions and formulate her interpretations of installations. On the other hand, an 11- year old gifted and talented girl with extensive museum experience never warmed up to being the guide, and remained "robot-like" in her role. She said she preferred learning about rather than teaching about things.

Before assuming roles as tour guide, many boys first acted as scouts, "scoping out" the museum/gallery. While adult partners waited, they quickly and systematically circulated throughout the room (s), observing each work. Once familiar with the collection (s), the boys then led their adult partners through, describing and interpreting the works. One 13-year old boy, who had scouted and discovered photos of Jewish victims of Nazi death camps, tried to shield his stepmother from the images. Apparently unaware that his protectionist stance involved issues of censorship and sexism, he told her, "these are too graphic for you."

Although they tended not to scout, girls nonetheless were systematic in leading their partners throughout the museum/gallery, often insisting that they see every single work, room, or pavilion. One pre-service teacher reported that her 8-year-old niece spent two hours in the Norton Simon Museum because "she didn't want to miss any rooms."

CONSTRUCTING MEANING ABOUT ARTWORKS

As they worked through the museum/gallery, adult partners used prompts to ask child-guides to describe and interpret artworks: "Can you tell

me about this painting?" "What do you see?" "What story does it tell?" or in a few cases, "What title would you give it?" If a child asked his/her adult partner to explain a work, the adult was

to respond with: "what do you think?" This proved fruitful with an 11-year-old girl who asked what the men were doing in Rodin's Burghers of Calais. When asked what she thought, she replied with certainty, "these men look like they are grieving over something that has happened to them."

_ ART EDUCATION / NOVEMBER 1999



Younger children generally responded to prompts by identifying the colors and materials used in works. One 6-year-old boy related all colors to nature: "it's blue like the ocean," or "light blue like the sky." Several said they liked still life paintings because the fruit "looked good to eat." Children were quite adept at picking out details often missed by the adults. An 11-year- old boy observing a series of photos titled, "One Hour Photo," noticed the movement of the sun throughout the series and realized that it indicated the passage of time. His adult partner confessed she had not noticed the sun and, therefore, failed to grasp the symbolic meaning of the series.

Many children were interested in realism and connected with the narrative qualities of such works. They used detailed observations to develop elaborate scenarios or weave plausible stories about the paintings and sculptures. A 5-year- old girl seemed drawn to a painting of a woman kneeling beside a river in a forest. The child said: "the woman is getting water for her children. They don't have any at home, so she is carrying it to them."

Children's stories often were related to or framed by personal experience and family life, religious training and values, and school curricula. Two different children interpreting Manet's The Ragpicker on separate occasions, made personal connections to the painting. According to a 6-year-old boy: "[The man in the painting] looks like a bum. He is a happy bum. He looks and dresses like Grampy on Saturdays- when he goes and gets cans and gets money for them. Maybe that's what he is doing [in the painting], going to get cans so he won't be a bum." A 10-year- old girl thought the ragpicker, "looks like the man we saw in the park looking for food in the trashcan that my mom

and me gave food to." Looking at Pierre Bonnard's Portrait of Leila Claude Anet, a pair of 9-year-olds said the woman in the painting had just gotten divorced. The boy explained, "she's lonely and sad." The girl said, "she's not eating. That's what my mom did."

Through their religious training, children frequently made connections to artworks. A 7-year-old boy said that a painting with "gold trimming, saints, and angels" by Guariento Di Arpo titled, Coronation of the Virgin, "looks the same as our church." Religious training and related moral beliefs also influenced children's interpretations of art. A 10-year old boy, who especially liked a sculpture of the Hindu goddess, Kumara, because she has six arms, wondered if people long, long ago had six or eight arms and then went through some sort of metamorphosis and began losing them for doing evil. He said, "If people continue being bad, then thousands of years from now, both our arms would fall off." Different children observing Rodin's Burghers of Calais responded with Christian interpretations. A 9-year-old girl said: "these are disciples when Jesus went up (to heaven) that said, 'what happened?; Or, they are Christians that Herod put away and they are calling out in pain." A 9-year-old boy said, "they are angels who have sinned."

Also interesting were children's interpretations of works containing religious themes. An 11-year-old girl, who believed Rubens's St. Ignatius of Loyola depicts a young Pope John Paul II, said: "Look, he has a tear in his eye. He must be confessing his sins. The sky is all gloomy. God is probably disappointed with him." Angels and the allegorical theme of good and evil, or of

good and bad deeds done by "nice," "real," or bad angels, recurred in children's interpretations. One 5-year- old child-guide described Tiepolo's The Triumph of Virtue and Nobility Over Ignorance: 'The angels on top are nice and they didn't do anything wrong. On the bottom, the boy angel is mad at the lady angel because she stole a necklace."

To a lesser extent, school curricula influenced some interpretations. At least one child connected a painting to a recent curriculum unit on the autumn harvest. Looking at Lacombe's The Chestnut Gatherers, a 9-year-old girl said that the figures were Indian maidens helping Pilgrims find new food in the New World. She also felt the artist painted the leaves different colors to show that "all colors can be friends." The adult-and the child's delighted teacher-saw and heard how well this child had mastered, retained, and applied classroom lessons.

LEARNING OUTCOMES In the pre- and in-service teachers'

reports, certain themes emerged involving learning to look and looking closely, and using such looking to gain new insights and broader perspectives. An 8-year- old boy said that he learned "to look at paintings very closely and see things that other people don't quite see." Connecting looking with thinking and interpreting, a 9-year-old said: "If you really look and think a lot, then ideas just start popping in your mind."

Looking and thinking for themselves, children-and their adult partners-actively explored and discovered. An in-service teacher who had presented a reproduction of Picasso's Woman with Book to her fourth grade class thought that two class members who served as her




guides would like seeing the original work during their tour. Instead, her guides were not interested because it had already been discovered and interpreted. These explorer children were more excited about making and interpreting their own discoveries.

As they learned to look, children broadened their perspectives, discovering art in new places, seeing art in new ways. Fresh from her experiences inside the museum, one 8- year-old began to explore the world outside. She pointed out murals she saw on the way home, discovering "art is everywhere, even on buildings."

Several children learned that art encompasses a wide variety of styles and media. "Art is not just watercolors. It involves pencil, charcoal, and pastel," said one child. Another had learned that art also involves stained glass. Summarizing, perhaps, for most participants, a 10-year-old said: "the word 'art' does not only mean paint, crayon, or construction paper. Art means furniture, statues, carvings from marble, wood, or metal. Everyone has their own idea of what art is."

Surprised at first to learn that their perceptions, preferences for, and interpretations of art could be and often were different, children and adults also learned to accept such differences. One adult echoed the sentiments of many: "even though we look at the same pictures, we have different points of view." A mother of a 10-year-old guide had anticipated that her son would recognize and appreciate Rivera's Flower Day because she had a reproduction of the work in their home. When he saw the original, the boy acknowledged it was familiar and one of his mother's favorites. However, it became obvious to the mother that he "really preferred sculptures and three-

dimensional forms," a revelation. Differences in preferences also became obvious following their tours, as children and adults chose to purchase different post card reproductions in museum gift shops.

Broadening their perspectives, some children also learned to see their preferences for art in a new light. A pre- service teacher reported that her 8- year-old guide realized she didn't have to like every piece, "it was okay if she thought some paintings were pretty and some ugly, some realistic and non- realistic." The girl said: "paintings tell different stories to each person who sees them." Then, in Spanish, she offered this wisdom, "solo los que pintan saben," which, according to her adult partner, means: only the artists know why they create their pieces, others can only speculate about what they see. One 10-year-old realized that art is cultural and must be appreciated in context of the culture in which it was made and used. As she put it, "every group of people makes different types of art."

SOME CONCLUSIONS While further research is needed,

this study yielded some useful findings: Children began with clear views of museums, museum rules, and tour guides, which reflected those of adults in their lives. Like the adults, most children expected to experience museums/galleries as if they were "sacred groves" (Eisner & Dobbs, 1988). Once inside these groves, but tasked with unexpected roles as tour guides, children had very positive experiences and found their places and voices. Despite the institutional

messages sent by guards, overwhelmingly large spaces, adult- height paintings, and few child-visitors, participating children learned that they could actively connect with museums and artworks and do so on their own terms. When empowered, children took charge and acted responsibly as tour guide, scout, leader, and explorer. Framed by their experiences with contemporary society, children grasped and constructed concrete meanings about artworks, which they used to interpret a world they understood as black or white, good or evil. At the same time, their experiences with art and its many styles, media, cultural and historical references, and possible interpretations or "stories" seemed to broaden otherwise dichotomous views.

Adults were amazed by their child- guide's abilities to lead them systematically throughout the museum and to provide imaginative insights into and new perspectives on the museum and its collections. They enjoyed seeing through the eyes of the child, found their experiences as active learners rewarding, "special," meaningful, and authentic. They realized that as learners, they were sharing in significant experiences, constructing knowledge with their child-tour guides. What remains to be seen is whether or not such experiences have changed children's and adult's views of museums and what can happen within them, in terms of teaching, learning, exploring, and discovering.

Carol S. Jeffers is professor of art education at California State University, Los Angeles.

REFERENCES

ART EDUCATION / NOVEMBER 1999



Durant, S. R (1996). Reflectance on museum education at Dulwich Picture Gallery. Art Education, 49(1), 53-59.

Eisner, E.W., & Dobbs, S.M. (1988). Silent pedagogy: How museums help visitors experience exhibitions. Art Education,41(4), 6-15.

Johnson, N.R (1981). Aesthetic socialization during school tours in an art museum. Studies in Art Education, 23(1), 55-64.

Mayer, S. (1974). What about museums? Art Education, 27(4/5), 16-18.

McCoy, S. (1989). Docents in art museum education. In N. Berry & S. Mayer, (Eds.), Museum education: History, theory, and practice (pp.135-153). Reston, VA National Art Education Association.

Ott, R (1980). Museums and schools as universal partners in art education. Art Education, 33(1), 7-9.

Simpson, J. (1996). Constructivism and connection making in art education. Art Education, 49(1), 53-60.

Sternberg, S. (1989). The art of participation. In N. Berry & S. Mayer, (Eds.). Museum education: History, theory, and practice (pp. 154-171). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association,

Wendling, L (1997, March). Building children's critical thinking abilities through museum experiences. Roundtable presentation at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago.

Zeller, T. (1987). Museums and the goals of art education. Art Education, 40(1), 50-55.

APPENDIX A Museums/Galleries Visited

(in descending order, most to least frequently visited)

Norton Simon Museum ofArt (Pasadena, CA) Armand Hammer Museum and Cultural

Center (Westwood, CA) Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los

Angeles, CA) Museum of Tolerance at the Simon Wiesenthal

Center (Los Angeles, CA) Downey Museum ofArt (Downey, CA) Armory Centerfor the Arts (Pasadena, CA) Charles and Harriet Luckman Gallery,

Luckman Fine Arts Complex, at California State University, Los Angeles

Fine Arts Gallery, California State University, LosAngeles

Leimert Park Fine Art Gallery, (commercial gallery in South Central Los Angeles)

Museum in Black, (commercial gallery in South Central Los Angeles)

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Article Contentsp.45p.46p.47p.48p.49p.50p.51

Issue Table of ContentsArt Education, Vol. 52, No. 6, Elementary School Art Education (Nov., 1999), pp. 1-54Front Matter [pp.1-3]An EditorialElementary School Art Education [pp.4-5]

What Is Going on in Elementary Art Classrooms? [pp.6-12]Recognizing and Using Higher Order Approaches to Teaching Art [pp.13-18]Linking Brain Research to Art Education [pp.19-24]Instructional Resources: Extending the Theme of Mother and Child [pp.25-32]What Elementary Generalist Teachers Need to Know to Teach Art Well [pp.33-37]Learning to Be a Connoisseur of Books: Understanding Picture Books as an Art Medium [pp.38-44]When Children Take the Lead in Exploring Art Museums with Their Adult Partners [pp.45-51]Back Matter [pp.52-54]

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Elementary School Art Education || When Children Take the Lead in Exploring Art Museums with Their Adult Partners