Middle/High School
The Trout Gallery Education Program partners with local agencies and schools to provide area middle and high school students with programs based on a wide range of exhibitions. Programs are interdisciplinary, designed to teach visual analysis skills, and include large and small group discussion. All programs are free of charge and funds are available to pay for bus transportation (inquire when reserving). Teachers may request a specific approach to content based on the focus of a class. Examples of approaches include:
- Visual Literacy
- Art as Cultural Context
- Art as Conceptual Framework
- Art as Primary Text
ONGOING PROGRAMS
Bilingual, ESL, and Language Learning
The Trout Gallery offers award-winning programs that combine art and language to promote language acquisition and cultural appreciation. Language learning programs are available in French, German, Spanish and Italian. Please contact us to learn more about bilingual tours, ESL offerings, and language learning programs for your group.
Note: For Spring of 2021 The Trout Gallery offers Edpuzzle programs in Spanish at the beginning, intermediate and advanced intermediate levels for the exhibitions Horace Pippin: Racism and War and Kara Walker: Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated). Contact Heather Flaherty for more information.
SPRING 2021
While The Trout Gallery is closed to off-campus visitors this semester, teachers may sign their class up for an educational Zoom program led by Education staff and Student Assistants. Programs are taught using digital images of works in the collection and include virtual tours of upcoming exhibitions. In the Spring, we will offer the following Zoom programs, which are tied to current and upcoming exhibitions.
March 1-May 1
5-8
Exhibition: Horace Pippin: Racism and War, Sept 25, 2021-Feb 20, 2022
Program: Mr. Prejudice: Composing a Message in Art
Description: In 1943 Horace Pippin created the painting Mr. Prejudice to protest the unfair treatment of African Americans who served during World War I and World War II. When they fought abroad, these soldiers helped bring freedom, equality and justice to American allies. However, once they returned from serving their country, African Americans found that they did not experience these same rights at home. Students will analyze Pippin's painting to explore how Pippin carefully employs composition, scale, color and symbolism to create a message about racism in America.
LEARNING STANDARDS
- Grade 5 Social Studies: 5.1.5.C, 5.2.5.A, 5.2.5.C
- Grade 6 Social Studies: 5.1.6.C, 5.1.6.F, 5.2.6.B
- Grade 7 Social Studies: 5.1.7.C, 8.1.7.B, 8.3.7.A
- Grade 8 Social Studies: 5.1.8.C, 5.2.8.B, 8.3.8.C
- Grade 8 Language Arts: CC.1.2.8.G, CC1.4.8.V
- National Visual Arts Anchor Standards: Re 7 & 8, Cn 11
9-12
Exhibition: Horace Pippin: Racism and War, Sept 25, 2021-Feb 20, 2022
Program: World Wars I and II: The African American Experience*
Description: This program will introduce students to the painting Mr. Prejudice, created by the soldier-turned-artist Horace Pippin in 1943. Through a study of Pippin's wartime experiences and a close reading of World War I and World War II propaganda posters, students will explore the careful recruitment of African Americans for wartime duty. They will then examine the V is for Victory campaign and subsequent Double Victory Campaign in light of the reality African American soldiers faced upon returing to the homefront. Students will apply this knowledge to a careful analysis of Mr. Prejudice in light of its historical moment and discuss parallels with the contemporary Black Lives Matter movement.
*Mounted replicas of World War I and II posters are available for loan if teachers would like to extend the lesson as part of this program.
Exhibition: Kara Walker: Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated), Sept 25, 2021-Feb 20, 2022
Program: The Art of Re-Memory: Kara Walker, Silhouettes, and Representing Slavery*
Description: The contemporary artist Kara Walker has garnered international fame for powerful works of art that confront America's history of slavery and racism. In this program, students will analyze how Walker challenges, re-frames, and adds new perspectives to a popular illustrated history of the civil war through the addition of silhouettes. With sharp parallels to works by authors such as Toni Morrison, Walker's images represent a response to the question of how contemporary artists represent histories of trauma and violence when they themselves were not present for their unfolding. Students will discuss the impact of works that represent slavery and the implications of audience responses to these works.
*This exhibition contains mature content. Teachers are encouraged to preview images to determine appropriatness for students.
9-12
April 15-May 15
Exhibition: In Light of the Past: Experiencing Photography 1839-2021
Program: But What Did They Do With It? How Photographs Were Used Throughout History
Description: This program provides students with a brief history of photography told from the viewpoint of the individuals who owned, collected and used photographs in their daily lives. While some photographs were experienced in ways intended by their makers, other responses reflect individual creativity and cultural norms of the day. Students will explore the relationship between the form and function of photographs through an analysis of individual photographs and their function in the social world. Students will be invited to share photographs from social media and the web as a means of "writing" the final chapter of this history.
To make a reservation or for more information contact Heather Flaherty, Curator of Education: flaherth@dickinson.edu.
