Meg’s Mused and Confused, always more

Posted by Meg Gianetti on March 1st 2011 | 0 Comments

Tags: museum

Meg’s Mused and Confused: Students at an Exhibition

Asking adult visitors if they have any questions during or after a tour can sometimes result in complete silence but not so with younger students, they always have questions and the following are some I recently received from a fifth grade class at Clinton Elementary after they attended one of our American History Tours, Through Their Eyes:

“If you were a boy under seven years of age woul

John Singleton Copley, Thomas Aston Coffin, 1758

d you have to go everywhere in a dress?” This question was in reference to our portrait of Thomas Aston Coffin by John Singleton Copley painted in 1758. It’s always fun to discuss this painting by referring to the ‘child’ in the portrait, never using the word boy. The discovery comes when the students are introduced to the ‘child’ by name, and the boy in the blue dress becomes one of those paintings that students never forget.

“Does a focal point always have to be brighter than the rest of the painting?” Now there’s a student who was really listening! By teaching the students how the composition of an artwork communicates the artist’s idea, the students develop observational skills that will help them for the rest of their lives.

“Are those all of the historical paintings you have at the museum?” This student was most likely referring to the fact that during a museum/school tour they only see a very small portion of the permanent collection at MWPAI. In this case we feel “less is more” spending about 10 to 15 minutes with each artwork for a thorough viewing experience as opposed to rushing them through all of the galleries attempting to see as much as possible.

“Why was the picture of the American Revolution done 10 years after the American Revolution was really going on?” This is a great question because it gives the docents a chance to explain that oil paintings could take weeks and sometimes years to complete; this can be a difficult concept for students to understand with all of today’s instant technology.

And finally after an explanation of how and why some engravings are made of famous artworks so that prints could be distributed to the public, one elementary student responded to our docent, Anne Redfern “Isn’t that plagiarism?”

I have to admit that I’m partial to the kid’s comments because they always speak straight from the heart and I hope when they grow up they don’t lose their inquisitive minds. Speaking of which, I love questions and I would love to hear any comments you may have about our collections. I may not have all the answers but I can assure you that I can draw from an abundance of resources from our highly informed museum staff and our extensive MWPAI art library.