Woodson on Wheels

Sometimes it feels like sneaking away from the office. Often, it doesn’t feel like work at all. No, I’m not referring to a business lunch (alright, milkshake) at the Mint Café, nor the frequent shopping trips for art supplies. The midday getaway is more commonly known as “after-school outreach,” when I load up my car with artistic accouterments and drive to area elementary schools.

After-school outreach is a big part of a Woodson Art Museum educator’s job. Many Wausau elementary school students attend after-school programs, and coordinators enlist Museum art educators to participate. Most of my after-school outreach work is with students in kindergarten though third grade. “Animal Illustrators” has been an especially popular program this school year and was one of the first projects I became familiar with when I joined the Museum last fall. Geared toward students ages six to nine, “Animal Illustrators” is described to parents and educators as follows:

“Each week the group explores the works of a different children’s book illustrator. Students are read a story and discuss the book’s illustrations. Inspired by the techniques and materials of the artist, students try their hand at that art technique and make their own illustrations. Some of the illustrators that students illustrations. Some of the illustrators that students become familiar with are Denise Fleming, Eric Carle, Lois Ehlert, Steve Jenkins, and Robert Sabuda.”

Our young animal illustrators make collages, à la Hungry Caterpillar illustrator Eric Carle, using colorful tissue paper and slick stick crayons. Students also make paper with our mobile paper lab (yes, it’s as involved as it sounds). The paper lab is the student’s favorite and requires the use of a shop vac, iron, paper pulp, screens in wooden frames, and, of course, decorative stuff. What’s homemade paper without glitter?! The heavy-duty equipment like the iron and shop vac are operated by adults, but the young paper artists leave the 90-minute program with a complete understanding of how artist Denise Flemming creates her charming book illustrations.

Pop Art is the subject of the art-history-based, after-school program for older students (grades 3 – 5), who are exposed to the diverse artistic styles of Claes Oldenberg, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jasper Johns. Food sculptures, printmaking, benday-dot design, and acrylic painting are some of the processes students experience. I took a picture of one student’s life-sized paper-and-tape sculpture of a Thanksgiving-style turkey (inspired by Oldenburg’s store food displays) and enjoyed it as my cell phone background image for weeks.

Although Pop Art and Animal Illustrators are programs Woodson Art Museum educators have ready to take on the road, we also create new programs and community collaborations throughout the year. One such collaboration recently took place in the Edgar School District, where fellow educator Jayna Hintz and I helped create an enchanted forest in the school cafeteria in preparation for a production of “The Tortoise and the Hare” with the Missoula Children’s Theater Company. When Edgar teachers told us their vision to transform school space to include a huge tree surrounded by forest creatures and decorative vines, we embraced the challenge wholeheartedly. Chicken wire, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, and hours of laughter later, we were all happy with the results, and the toughest critics – the students – were excited, too.

Every outreach experience is different. In the Mosinee High School gym last week, Jayna and I chatted with high school juniors about careers in museums and the non-profit world. A group of Mosinee high school students will visit the Woodson Art Museum on April 18 for Careers in Action Day, when they will shadow staff and experience a “behind-the-scenes” look at an art museum.

The caffeine-filled, mini-roadtrips with fellow staff members are always a time for bonding and brainstorming in the car, as we take our work on the road, ready and eager to share art with students.

It’s No Mystery – Teens Are Super Sleuths

Teens who attended the Mystery Party Friday night at the Woodson Art Museum delved into role-playing improvisation and honed their sleuthing skills as they tried to solve the crime of the evening – the disappearance of a pink dinosaur guest.

If you’ve ever played the board game Clue™, you’ve got the idea.

Upon entry, each teen received a description of a character to portray and spent the first hour circulating and learning about the fossil and dinosaur hunters, paleobotonists, and other characters assembled.

They chatted as they rolled ink onto fossil impressions and then stamped and rubbed paper to create ink prints. They interacted as they pressed fossils into clay and then poured plaster into molds to make casts. They questioned one another as they munched on grapes, pita chips and dip, cookies, and cheese cake.

Then guests were plunged into darkness. When the gallery lights came back on just moments later, the guest list had been reduced by one. Pinkasaurus had vanished.

Whodunit? Who caused the extinction of this particular pale-hued dinosaur?

Teens’ interrogations to uncover motives then kicked into high gear as they clustered around costumed Teen Art Council members who portrayed the core cast of characters for the evening:

• Pinkasaurus and (after its disappearance) a coroner’s assistant, played by Katie Koenig
• Detective Gary Westion, played by Alex Hintz
• Coroner Dr. Mourir, played by Charlotte Baker
• Miss Susie Sunshine, played by MacKenzie Neuner
• Fashion journalist Nikki Jewell, played by Hailey Muetzel
• Ivy Lee, played by Kelsey Jane Holdridge
• Dinosaur hunters, played by Dillon Quintana and Nicole Linnell

After presenting evidence he’d gathered and found on various suspects – a torn fossil permit, plant leaves, a cork from a bottle of poison, and a zipper tab from a leather purse – Detective Gary Westion announced that Miss Susie Sunshine, despite her perky personality, was indeed the culprit. Her motive? Pinkasaurus’ distinctively colored hide, which Miss Sunshine wanted to use for a new line of fashionable purses.

With suspicions confirmed and the mystery solved, guests turned their attention to entering a drawing to win iTunes cards, Noodles & Company dinner certificates, candy eggs, water bottles, and a dinosaur puzzle ball.

Several sixth-grade students, who’d been encouraged to attend by D.C. Everest Middle School science teacher Tammy Koenig, clamored for more information about how to get involved with the Museum’s Junior TAC next fall. Many said they loved the mystery party theme.

Several TAC members said that as they plan themed evening teen events to complement future exhibitions, they’ll be eager to revisit the mystery party theme concept.

Next on TAC’s agenda is SPACE: Art Exhibition for Teens. Area teens, 13-18, are invited to submit digital images of artwork in any medium through March 31. An online public vote, April 10-20, selects about two dozen artworks for display at the Museum in May.

Be sure to cast your vote at www.lywam.org and stay tuned for more great TAC-planned events!

Thirty-five Years and Going Strong

In April 1979, during my interview for a position at the Woodson Art Museum, I had a brief glimpse of that year’s Student Art Exhibition as it was being sorted and packed for return to the dozens of art teachers who entered their students’ work. I stood awestruck in a room surrounded by paintings, pottery, photographs, and sculptures. Clearly, the students and teachers took pride in their efforts.

 

A few years later (yes, I got the job), I became the coordinator of the yearly event. Since then I have met hundreds of students and art teachers. What remains clear is the commitment of teachers to the creative process. Each year, as I stand in the galleries following the installation, I am again astounded by the insightful self-portraits, colorful oil paintings, funky ceramic pots, and experimental photography, celebrating successful collaborative efforts.

 

The Woodson Art Museum also plays an important role in this process, providing the venue that displays these creations. Each March, the Student Art Exhibition graces several galleries at the Museum, joining the nationwide celebration of Youth Art Month. On Saturday, March 3, parents, grandparents, siblings, and extended family joined the young artists and teachers for an art-filled celebration. Dozens of people strolled through the galleries, each unmistakably proud of “their” artist’s work.

These images provide a glimpse of the artwork of incredibly talented students. Nothing replaces a firsthand experience, so make sure to stop in soon and enjoy. This year’s exhibition is on view through April 1, 2012.

 

Celebrate Youth Art Month

March is Youth Art Month and the Woodson Art Museum is celebrating in many ways.

Last weekend, the Museum hosted a reception for the opening of the 35th annual Student Art Exhibition showcasing artwork of north central Wisconsin students in grades 9-12. Visitors congratulated and supported the next generation of artists and enjoyed their creative efforts. Be sure to see the students' artwork, on view through April 1.

Also this month, 715 Wausau 4K students visit the Museum to see Dinotopia and engage in an art-making experience. Dinosaur shapes come to life as the students individualize them with vibrant colors. These student artworks will be on display during a 4K Family Night, March 13, from 6-7:30 pm. 

Museum educator Catie Anderson and I celebrate Youth Art Month by taking art on the road, literally, as we head off daily to Edgar schools in the Museum’s white van, loaded with supplies. Catie and I and our intern, Michelle Stone, are overseeing after-school outreach, March 6-9. Their daily art-making efforts with pre-K through eighth-grade students and their families focus on creating an entrance for the Missoula Children’s Theater production of the Tortoise and the Hare to be presented at the end of March.

I continue to take art on the road when I transport the north central region students’ artworks to Madison on March 18 and help hang an exhibition in the Capitol Rotunda. The exhibition organized by the Wisconsin Art Education Association to celebrate Youth Art Month remains on view through March 30.

The Youth Art Month celebration extends throughout the spring at the Woodson Art Museum. The Museum’s Teen Art Council is organizing SPACE: A Teen Art Exhibition. Teens are invited to consider what space means to them and how they would express the concept of space in an artwork. Space has many definitions and teens are being asked to interpret the word through their artwork.

All entries must be submitted by March 31 and will be posted online anonymously. Two dozen artworks will be selected by an online public vote, April 10 – April 20. SPACE: A Teen Art Exhibition will be displayed at the Woodson Art Museum May 1 – June 3. A reception for artists, friends, and family will be held on Friday, May 11, 6 – 8pm, to celebrate the creative efforts of the artists as well as the organizational efforts of the Teen Art Council.

Keep celebrating, supporting, and encouraging the value of art education for children of all ages throughout March and beyond!

Honey, I Shrunk the Staff! Adventures in Museum Audio Tours

Have you used an audio tour to enhance your visit to an art museum?

In 2007, the Woodson Art Museum purchased MP3 players, headphones, and began using free audio-editing software to offer visitors insights into changing exhibitions.

Visitors embraced these self-touring units and today our audio tours are an integral component of our educational message. Although this system has served us well over the years, we are exploring options for upgrading the Museum audio tour program.

In June 2011, we met with museum technology consultants Kris Wetterlund and Scott Sayre of Minneapolis-based Sandbox Studios to discuss possible enhancements. Kris and Scott shared information about audio tour systems they developed around the country and helped us understand options. Last month, we joined Kris and Scott in Minneapolis to visit and talk with staff at three museums and to learn about their self-guided audio tours.

Informal discussion at the American Swedish Institute.

We met with Nina Clark at the American Swedish Institute, where visitors use cell phones to call an 800 number to access the museum’s audio tour. At the Walker Art Center, visitors also use their cell phones to learn about works on view. We spent time with Sarah Schulz, director of education and curator of public practice, who answered many questions.

Sheila McQuire, manager of learning resources at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, introduced us to the MIA’s hand-held audio devices that allow visitors to learn about hundreds of works in the collection. These same devices are available for special exhibitions, too. Or, before your visit, tour information can be downloaded to a computer and uploaded to a mobile device. Sheila also showed us how MIA docents use iPads with group tours.



Woodson Staff behind the giant folding table and chairs by Robert Therrien, No Title (Folding Table and Chair, Dark Brown), 2007, near the entrance to the Walker Art Center’s Lifelike on view through May 27, 2012.



In short, this quick visit was a most worthwhile outing for the Woodson staff. The knowledge we gained in Minneapolis will guide us as we enhance our audio tours going forward. Stay tuned!