“From underpaintings that reveal new insights about an artist’s true feelings, to hidden details and even in-jokes, technology is rapidly changing the way we see art. Here, The Creators Project collects seven fascinating and ground-breaking discoveries that were once shrouded from both art history and the visible world.”
Image via BBC News
8 TEDx Talks on Museums to Inspire Change and Spur Creativity
Day With(out) Art 2016 at the Palmer Museum of Art, co-sponsored by the Penn State Commission on LGBTQ Equity.
“The Commission Reads programming will continue with the shrouding of the iconic “Paws at the Palmer” on Dec. 1 as part of “A Day With(out) Art/World AIDS Day” to commemorate the impact of HIV/AIDS on the art community. Founded by Visual AIDS, “A Day With(out) Art” is focused on remembering the lives and work of artists who have died of AIDS, and increasing awareness of caring for those living with AIDS, as well as increasing understanding of HIV.” http://news.psu.edu/story/439648/2016/11/30/clgbtqe-launches-commission-reads-initiative
Penn State News: http://news.psu.edu/story/218019/2003/11/24/palmer-museum-spends-day-without-art
https://www.instagram.com/p/BNekqAcgohX/?taken-at=189953
Palmer Museum Of Art Covers Bronze Paws In Observance Of World AIDS Day
Photo caption: Dr. Kletchka in the Drs. Albert and Lorraine Kligman Print and Drawing Study Room with 2015 SICA participants Julia Nelson, Sheryl Depp, Jan Riggio, Misty Hoover, and Austin van Allen. A regular participant in SICA, Ms. Hoover passed away unexpectedly this summer.”
From art museum education, to studio experience, to educational practice, and the evolving disciplines of child and youth culture, to histories of art education, and arts-based research, there are many facets to an Art Education degree in Penn State’s School of Visual Arts.
Classrooms are only one of many spaces where art education happens—art museums are another. Art museum educators facilitate connections between community members and works of art through opportunities for interpretation and engagement, helping make it possible for people to experience art in ways that are personal, meaningful, and relevant. If you have ever visited a museum with your school; attended a lecture, gallery conversation, or performance; made a project in a class or workshop; or read/listened to gallery guides, chances are an art museum educator was involved in your experience.
“As a practicing art/museum educator and scholar, I am interested in the spaces where theory and practice intersect,” said Dana Carlisle Kletchka (’10 Ph.D.), curator of education at the Palmer Museum of Art and affiliate assistant professor of art education. “Specifically, I consider the ways in which professional development (PD) for art teachers is conceptualized and carried out in the art museum context and ultimately how PD may form communities of practice for art museum educators and teachers, how teachers implement their understandings in their classrooms, and how such experiences change participants’ pedagogical understandings and strategies.”
Carlisle Kletchka says she is also interested in unpacking the historical, social, political, and identity-based discourses that shape the field of art museum education—specifically the positionality of art museum educators and visitors within institutional contexts—as art museums experience a vast paradigmatic shift. “Lastly, I am interested in investigating ways in which social media, digital devices, and three-dimensional fabrication are changing the nature of interpretation and engagement in art museums,” she said.
Kelsey Rieger, Masters student in the Art Education program, came to Penn State in order to broaden her understanding of how the arts can inform and expand our opportunities for learning outside of the traditional classroom setting, and was specifically interested in the contributions of the Palmer Museum of Art to the University Park campus and State College at large. “Working both professionally and academically with museum experts like Dr. Carlisle Kletchka is proving to be an invaluable opportunity,” said Rieger. “During my time in the Penn State Art Education program I am hoping to better situate my practice as a museum educator within the larger context of art education in order to continue addressing the needs of my community through public arts institutions.
To learn more about Penn State School of Visual Arts’ Art Education program, visit sova.psu.edu/arted.
From The American Alliance of Museums’ Center for the Future of Museums:
“Now more than ever, we need to be talking about and working towards social justice and equity within our museums. In the spirit of fearlessness and courage, the Minneapolis Institute of Art provided the space for museum professionals across the country to craft a vision for 21st century museums, their workers, and their visitors. The vision is encapsulated by a project called Museum As Site for Social Action, or MASS Action. The goal of this three year project is to create an immersive, action-oriented, living toolkit for radical museum praxis. We aim to promote new ways of framing museum work with decolonization, anti-oppression, community-building, social justice, and shared authority as our guiding principles.
“Museums typically plan the live programming associated with a big exhibition well in advance. Cave’s show, developed on MASS MoCA’s side by Markonish, has been more than three years in the making. But aside from a performance at the opening party and a gallery concert by vocalist Helga Davis scheduled for the space on Oct. 28, Cave and the museum waited for “Until” to be completely installed before recruiting artistic collaborators.”
Museum-goers during the opening weekend for “Until” at MASS MoCA. (Courtesy Douglas Mason/MASS MoCA)
http://www.wbur.org/artery/2016/10/27/mass-moca-nick-cave
Video: https://www.facebook.com/Nick-Cave-Visual-Artist-299253877181/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE&fref=nf
YOU BYUN
This summer I was contacted by a group from the PA Department of Labor that works with Penn State Outreach to teach high school seniors with blindness and low vision how to live and study in university environments—how to find classes, navigate a large campus, access services, and live independently on campus. They initially found me through an article that detailed the Palmer Museum of Art’s use of iBeacon technology for wayfinding and orientation, but after meeting with the group, we decided to work more closely together and co-construct the visit with members of the Summer Academy. I went through the low vision/blindness training offered to camp counselors and carefully selected works of art that were colorful, large, and visually appealing so that the students could access them visually and conceptually, then worked with the museum registrar with to identify works of art that could be held or handled.
After revising my pedagogical approach several times and honing my visual description skills, the Summer Academy faculty, resident assistants, and students came to the museum for their experience. The students were amazing—so excited about a new adventure, absolutely aware of their surroundings, questioned EVERYTHING, wanted to tell me about their lives and their experiences, and used their iPhones to adapt to the art museum environment in ways that I had never seen before. We managed together to make sense of objects that are primarily interpreted through the one sense that they did not have full access to. They familiarized themselves with the “touchable” objects and told each other what they were, what they felt like, what they smelled like, how big they were, what their surfaces were like, and whether or not they liked them.
Summer Academy Article in Penn State News
We traveled to the Frost Entomology Museum after the conclusion of our time together and they had an altogether different hands-on experience (live bugs!!), but we are already planning another visit with the Summer Academy students next summer. I can’t wait.
“Essentially, the personalized visit is becoming the emblematic museum experience of our time.”
A visitor at the Frye Museum in Seattle (photo by Joe Wolf/Flickr)
Orientation for TEDxPSU
Dana Carlisle Kletchka, SoVA professor, alum, and curator of education for the Palmer Museum of Art, is among the list of notable speakers for the 2016 TEDxPSU conference. The conference will be held in the Schwab Auditorium on February 28 at 10:00 a.m. Kletchka’s talk is entitled, “A Reconsideration of Art Museums in the 21st Century.”
TEDxPSU was brought to the Penn State community in 2010. The mission of the event is to bring together innovative and thought-provoking individuals from the Penn State community and the world to share ideas worth spreading. Using a blend of live talks and pre-recorded videos, TEDxPSU unites the University community and kicks off a dialogue about the challenges and opportunities facing our society.
TED started in 1984 as a small nonprofit conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, and Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader to include science, business, the arts and the global issues facing our world.
TEDxPSU stage
https://sova.psu.edu/story/sova-professor-and-alum-dana-carlisle-kletchka-speak-2016-tedxpsu-conference
The talk may be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTdZn78u6pI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTdZn78u6pI