Elizabeth Catlett:Kinship
A combined lecture and poetry reading program explored Elizabeth Catlett’s work while engaging the audience in discussions on art and racial issues.
Poetry and Proseat the Rollins Museum of Art
The Rollins Museum of Art connected with third- through fifth-grade students from a local elementary school by hosting an on-site poetry and collage project that encouraged them to reflect on the idea of place.
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Transportation
partner
Rollins Museum of Art at Rollins College
location
Winter Park, FL
About
In collaboration with administrators and teachers at Hungerford Elementary School, the Rollins Museum of Art hosted Poetry and Prose at the Museum. This event allowed the museum to establish a more meaningful connection with its community members. By spending time with local students and encouraging them to participate in on-site art projects, the museum successfully engaged them in a conversation about place. This conversation was made more complex with the inclusion of artworks by Richard Diebenkorn, George Henry Durrie, and Rachel Rose, which were on display next to works from the museum’s permanent collection. After the students had a guided tour of the exhibition “The Place as Metaphor,” they were given a page out of National Geographic and asked to create a poem with words from that page. When students left the museum, they worked with their art teacher to create collage pieces of a similar nature in the classroom. By providing hands-on activities related to the artwork on view, the museum encouraged students to reflect on the possibilities and meanings of different environments, including their own.
Intended Outcome
The Rollins Museum of Art intended to reach roughly 238 students with this project and hoped to foster a relationship with residents of the Eatonville community—a connection that had not yet been formally explored.
Actual Outcome
In its final stages, Poetry and Prose at the Museum reached 158 students. This program helped the museum establish a more robust and reciprocal relationship with its local neighborhood and community members. The outcome proved the benefits of interdisciplinary interaction with artwork and intergenerational conversations.
Advice Post Project
To foster conversations and creativity among K–12 populations, position contemporary artworks in conversation with older pieces. By allowing students to connect with contemporary art and encouraging them to engage with the artmaking practice themselves, the Rollins Museum of Art helped students interact with art of the past through a lens of their own. After establishing a relationship with the art on display, students were more likely to form meaningful connections to the idea of place, whether the place was familiar to them or not.
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Elizabeth Catlett:Kinship
A combined lecture and poetry reading program explored Elizabeth Catlett’s work while engaging the audience in discussions on art and racial issues.
Tertulia Nights: Dance and Storytelling Performance
The monthly Tertulia Nights program featured a groundbreaking performance by Pioneer Winter Collective that explored themes of identity, inclusivity, and memory through dance and poetry, attracting a diverse audience.
K-12 Field Tripsat the Dennos Museum
The program provided free transportation for K-12 students and teachers to visit the museum, fostering educational engagement with the exhibition.
Learn MoreAbout This Activity