A powerpoint for a presentation at the 2014 National Art Education Association Conference (NAEA) in San Diego. Describes work done in the studio classrooms at the Indianapolis Museum of Art

1. 100 Languages in the Museum Studio Classroom
Cara Lovati clovati@imamuseum.org
Coordinator of School Collaborations
Indianapolis Museum of Art

2. 54,000 Objects
130 Years
152 Acres
275 Staff
414,000 Visitors
About the IMA
2 Historic Home Estates
Art, Nature, Design

3. Audience Engagement vs. Education

4. Project Beginnings

5. The Hundred Languages
No way. The hundred is
there.
The child
is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.
A hundred
Always a hundred
ways of listening
of marveling, of loving
a hundred joys
for singing and
understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
They tell the child:
to discover the world
already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.
They tell the child:
that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.
And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not
there.
The child says:
No way. The hundred is
there.
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.
The child has
a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred
more)
but they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
separate the head from the
body.
They tell the child:
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and at
Christmas.

6. So, what did we do?

7. Our Muses: The Portland Children’s Museum

8. Draw a picture or write about what you
made today:
My Sculpture is a summary of when you
really want something and you finally
achieve it even though it was risky you
were able to overcome many obsticales
during trying to like my mouse he got the
cheese and got past the pit of snakes and
hes happy!
9-23-12 Iseyda L. Age 10
Our Muses: The Portland Children’s Museum

9. Our Muses: The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
Playscape Gallery

10. Our Muses: The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
Playscape Art Studio

11. Our Muses: The Opal School
Portland, OR What can cardboard and tape do?
What stories live inside of these materials?

12. Our Muses: The Opal School
Portland, OR
How can you capture the feeling of wild using line, pattern, shape, and texture?
What happens when lines meet on paper?
What might happen with these colors today?

13. IMA Studios (on a good day)

14. Learning Environments
Classroom Art Room IMA Studios
“Home Base” where
students spend most
of their day
Students make things
here, and usually visit
once a week
Drop-in art making,
classes, field trips,
camps, project prep,
for everyone
Personal spaces for
students (desks),
display of work
STORAGE (materials
and projects), display
areas, flexible
furniture
Options for every
type of program
~25 ~25, per class period 25-60
Grade level Grade level, per class
period
Many
6 hours, 30 minutes 30-55 minutes 30 minutes- 7hours
Many Art Art and more…
Probably Hopefully Nope

15. GOALS:
• Clean and organize
• Display student work
• Inspire curiosity about materials and the
process of making
• Start a larger conversation with my colleagues
Phase 1: Small-scale, low cost

16. IMA Studio Displays (Before and After)
Before After

17. IMA Studio Displays

22. Viewfinders
School
Program
Makeover

23. Before After
Viewfinders Activity Prep

24. Viewfinders Activity Prep (aerial view)
After

25. Viewfinders Activity Prep (student work space)

27. GOALS:
• Bring more natural materials into the studio
spaces (space renovation, update furniture)
• Create a rotating and ongoing display of student
work
• Develop consistent, supportive studio language
guide for IMA staff and Teaching Artists
• Bring Reggio Emilia inspired spaces to the
galleries
• Bring Reggio Emilia inspired spaces to our
grounds and gardens
Phase 2: Things to come

28. Documentation and Display
What shape tells your story?
How would YOU describe YOU using shape, number, word?

29. Inspiring Questions
What are the opportunities of open-ended questions?
How might questions inspire your students’ curiosity?
What stories will our students tell, if we ask?

30. Our Muses: The Opal School
Portland, OR
How can you capture the feeling of wild using line, pattern, shape, and texture?
What happens when lines meet on paper?
What might happen with these colors today?

31. Questions?

32. Artist Statement: I felt some kind of music sparking in me that went along with the
painting and I just painted along with the song. I put lots of pictures in my head with a
big orchestra song thing. Fase to Fase (Face to Face) by Hattie, Grade 2