My trip to the Art Institute

Since the May 2009 grand opening of the Ryan Education Center/Crown Family Educator Resource Center I have been back many times especially with my own kids and or field trips with my students. It is located on the first floor of the modern wing. It is a large space for children to learn and explore. This art space allows children to absorb art in their own way at their own level. Free to all, The Ryan Education Center has a wide spectrum of activities for learners of all ages. It has many resource rooms and classrooms where art activities and events are offered throughout the year.
The staff in the Ryan Educational Center is there to help you engage your children in art. They teach tips and techniques that will help young visitors make the most out of their museum visit and enrich their encounters with art, both in the museum an at home.
Being a teacher for the last 11 years has been a great job, but teaching art to elementary and middle school aged children has been a dream of mine for many years. I find that art teachers today and current art curriculum deals with children using crayons and glue. I strongly believe that introducing art early is the best way to get children interested in art as well as getting them comfortable with creativity, culture, and art history. You wouldn’t believe how many 5th graders do not like art, because they know don’t know anything about it. I am always the teacher who organizes field trips for my students so when this new addition to the Art Institute opened I was thrilled. Children always love a new experience, especially one that is different, interesting, and engaging.
This new ‘state of the art’ educational facility features five classrooms, three large studios, a Family Educator Resource Center, a Family room and an Orientation room. The Crown Family Resource Center is for any teacher, librarian, parent and educators of all kinds! This new center houses larger workspaces, an expanded library of art and art history books, art curriculum materials, art project ideas, exhibition catalogues, gallery activities, interdisciplinary lesson plans, periodicals, research files, teacher manuals and videos. The ‘family room’; or to me what looks like a play room, is set up for kids to play with things such as; blocks, puzzles, games, books, computers, and interactive art manipulatives. In one of the classrooms they have kid friendly art easels, art tables and even a storyteller on hand to talk to children of all ages.
I visited recently with my 4 year old son who was able to do many fun things in the play/family room. He used the computers to match shapes and colors. He was able to design his own colored jewels on a shelf on one program and match shapes of original pieces or artwork on another. He computer programs were surprisingly easy enough for pre-schoolers to explore. I was happy to see that there is even flat screen TV’s in this room with continuous displays of artwork. While at the Art Institute I also went down stairs and showed him the miniature rooms that he enjoyed. He thought they looked like dollhouses. Downstairs by the miniatures my son saw the medieval suits of armor, which was his favorite part! ¬
There are classes and programs for all ages. I plan to take advantage of the “mini masters” educational art program offered for 3-5 year old on select Saturdays. It looked very interesting. These programs explore works of art using stories, games, hands on art activities and a brief gallery visit. Then they go into the studio and create a work of art to take home. Upcoming classes are: Animals in African Art, Musical Me, and Shape and Color.

Donatello's David - Chapter 19

According to Cole and Gealt the most famous sculpture commissioned for personal enjoyment is Donatello’s David. It was probably made in 1440 for Cosimo de’Medici (98). This figure was the most advanced, sensitive and beautiful; it’s portrayal of the nude human body (98). This life size sculpture was the first so be seen in the round since the ‘ancients made the human form their principal subject over thousands of years before (99). Cole and Gealt state that it “stands before the viewer independent of any justification except itself, and unabashedly nude” (98).
The statute is bronze and 5’ 2 ¼”. It is in Florence, and although I have been to Italy I did not see this statute.
It is believed that it stood in the atrium of the Palazzo Medici. David was probably situated so that he functioned as both private and a public image (100). David’s nudity underscored his moral victory; he won because God was on his side.
The base was inscribed:

“The victor is whoever defends the fatherland.
All-power God crushes the angry enemy.
Behold, a boy overcomes the great tyrant.
Conquer, O citizens!”

The boy is nude and only wearing a strange hat and tall boots. He is standing on a giant’s severed head and the helmet of the giant is going up David’s backside of his leg. The stance is non muscular; and he looks about 13 years old. He holds a feminine quality about him. The long nose looks straight and feminine. It looks as though his hair is long and he is holding something in his hand.

Stockstad states that “Donatello excelled for three reasons: his constant exploration of human emotions and expressions; his vision and insight in representing the formal problems inherent n his subjects; and his ability to solve the technical problems posed by various mediums, from bronze and marble to polychromed wood” (631).
The inscription suggests that he celebrated the triumph of Goliath.
Donatello ‘demonstrated his familiarity with antiquity, his understanding of narrative, and his knowledge of the human anatomy’ (100).


Art Of The Western World, Bruce Cole and Adelheid Gealt
Art History, Marilyn Stockstad