AROUND CAMPUS
Inquiry , Analysis , and Creation in the Guggenheim Collaboration
What do you see ?” “ What are you wondering about ?” asked three second-grade “ docents ” as they stood in front of Alex Katz ’ s Blue Umbrella during a culminating event for parents and faculty at the Guggenheim Museum in December , which also included an exhibit of the boys ’ original artworks in the Museum ’ s Rotunda . The boys , confident and well prepared , were asking the adults present the same questions posed to them during this study — a three-month collaboration that occurred at the Museum and in our school ’ s art studios under the guidance of a museum educator and Saint David ’ s art teachers . Engaged with guiding questions during their sessions , the boys were invited to look closely and also to imagine freely . Inspired by their experiences analyzing Paul Gauguin , Henri Rousseau , Pablo Picasso , Alex Katz , and the iconic spiraling structure of the museum itself , they were then tasked with using their learning to create their own collages , paintings , drawings , and construction projects .
52 • Saint David ’ s Magazine