KDH VISITS THE HIGH MUSEUM OF ART
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
KDH had been anticipating our High Museum of Art outing for some time. To prepare ourselves for seeing Physic Garden by Molly Hatch, one of our planned art stops, we did magnetic painting on paper plates, put them on our bulletin board creating a large picture with our plates. Several children drew cars and vans, as riding with our friends is always a highlight of a class trip.
On the day of our trip,the children came into KDH filled with excitement. While we davened, the parents and Morah Shoshi put car seats and boosters into vans and cars. As we drove past Piedmont Park and then up Peachtree Street to the High Museum we noticed the tall buildings, the car statue and the Federal Reserve Bank.
At the Museum we were met by Greg Harris, Associate Curator of Photography (and Emmett's dad), and Deirdra Alexander, our art teacher and guide for the morning.
Our first stop was at Physic Garden where Shayan called out excitedly, "There are the plates. We have that picture on our bulletin board!" We sat on the log bench opposite the large “plate painting” to discuss with Deirdra proper etiquette in a museum. You can ask each KDH child what museum hands are!
We then took the elevator to the Photography Gallery.
Greg pointed out two photographs which were chosen because of their special effects and appearance with light and shadows: Lightning Field by Hiroshi Sugimoto and Baby by Adam Fuss. Greg explained that Lightning Field was taken while the artist used a special machine to create lightning. The lightning produced the white on the photograph. Harper and Menny thought the picture looked like a feather and a tree. Then Emmett acted as our docent and described how Baby was taken with special cyanotype paper and the baby in the water. We saw shadows in that picture.
Next we went to see Untitled by Anish Kapoor, a huge stainless steel concave dish with a myriad of fractured reflections.
It was fascinating to see the many different reflections on its large shiny surface. Deirdra gave us mirrors and paper to create our own art while we sat on the floor in front of the dish. We walked across the gallery and listened to the voices of the people standing in front of the piece. It was science and art together because the beautiful concave dish made the sound travel across the room so we could hear!
Moving along to the next exhibit we saw Clouds designed by Roan and Erwan Bouroullec and made from Trevira CS with elastic bands. Deirdra pointed out to us how the colors look different depending on how the light hits different parts of the art work and where we stand. She gave us pieces of construction paper which we folded and put together to mimic this piece of art. Some of the children remarked that it reminded them of Magnatiles.
Deirdra then took us to see the paintings Port of London, Night by Maximilien Luce and Houses of Parliament in the Fog and Autumn on the Seine, Argenteuil both by Claude Monet. We noticed the sun and moonlight reflected on the water in the bottom of the paintings. The paintings were made using pointillism, something we will try in our classroom. Deirdra handed out more mirrors and paper so we could create more reflections.
Walking through the galleries to our next stop we saw lots of art made from recycled materials.
For our final stop, we went to the art classrooms for our own artist creativity time. There were white mat boards and lots of different-shaped white papers, white straws and pipe cleaners and tacky glue waiting for us. Deirdra showed us how to glue the papers and other objects to the mats and to observe how the attached objects made shadows on the mat board. It was exciting to see the children engaged and creative!
Our Reflections...
The day after the outing, we asked the children their impressions of our outing. Eliza liked the Baby photograph because she said, "I like babies!" Rafi enjoyed the art that we made; he made a skate board and obstacle course. Gabi mentioned the car ride, the fact that his mother came along and the plate art. Emmett thought making our art was the best part of the trip. He also mentioned the plate art and how much he enjoyed explaining how the Baby photograph was taken. Avraham Chaim went in Emmett's car which he said was fun. He also enjoyed the big mirror and thought talking in front of the mirror and hearing us on the other side of the room, saying, "Yes" was the highlight of the outing. Eli Lipskier liked making art - a house with a window and a cupcake with candy in it. He thought Baby was fantastic and also going in his mother's van and sitting next to Morah Ruth in the van was fun. Menny enjoyed the big picture in black and white with the feather and tree. He also liked that his mother came along. Dalia found the big mirror most exciting because she saw everyone reflected in in. Going in the elevators and seeing the beautiful buildings added to her enjoyment. Eli Sollish likes going on trips and this was no exception. Harper loved the paintings made with dots where the artist showed the moonlight reflecting on the water. Sylvia really liked the huge mirror and using the mirrors from Deirdra. Leah thought making the art was best and going in Eliza's car was fun. Maddy admired the big mirror, Baby photograph and going in the Lipskier's big van! Annabel enjoyed the photographs - the electricity and the splashing around baby one with the shadows. She also thought the elevator was fun - especially going to the top floor. Logan liked the Baby photograph, the big mirror and hearing the voices across the room. Shayan enjoyed the van ride, seeing the dot pictures, folding the colored paper to make his own art and the mirror. He recommended that we go on more outings!
We documented our trip on our bulltetin board!
