Today’s
morning visit to blog land left me thinking about the impact of art on our
lives. Thank you, Steve, at Shadows and Light .
His visit to a Georgia O’Keefe exhibition and
his reminiscences of following her work reminded me of putting up calendar
prints of her art in my classroom.
I taught
English, but I made a practice of posting art prints and posters around my
classroom over the years. Once in a while I’d use them as a jumping off point
for writing. For instance, I had a modern art poster that consisted of only
circles and lines in primary colors. One of my favorite assignments was when we
read The Great Gatsby and I’d task the kids with describing how that
poster represented the book and the characters in it. If they'd actually done the
reading, they'd write about the divisions between the characters, the boundaries
of class and money, or even simply the iconic light on the dock across the bay
from Gatsby.
I also hung
art around the room for me. If I was having a bad day, I could look over those
inattentive heads, take a cleansing breath, and lose myself for ten seconds in
water lilies at Giverny or out on that sailboat in Homer’s Breezing Up.
The
other motivation was more altruistic. I still can see the print of Van Gogh’s
bedroom that always hung in my room when I was a little girl. Now when I come across it as an adult, I always
travel back to that yellow bedroom in Virginia
where I woke up to the picture of that bed and that chair so long ago.
My hope was
that as the kids stared blankly back at me, their minds wandering, the pictures
I’d hung above the blackboard would be imprinted in their drifting thoughts. After
180 days of facing that image it would become theirs, too.
One day in the future they’d come
across it in a magazine, or better yet, a museum, and recognize like an old
friend.
I do love the way you think.
ReplyDeleteArt has been a gift in my life. Nearly as much as reading. And, at the end of the day, writers are another kind of artist.
I did exactly the same thing in my classroom over the years, for much the same reasons! I always figured if they weren't paying attention to me I'd give them something worthwhile to stare at.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the link to Steve's blog.
Exactly my thinking, Cynthia. I figured at least they'd come away with something.
DeleteAnd yes, Steve's an interesting guy to follow.
I'm sure that your students were left with some ideas from the art around your classroom. I did the same thing. I had many posters that I changed regularly. Yes, sometimes they were used for writing topics. When I retired I took one day to spread the posters around the room for people to help themselves. Most of it disappeared.
ReplyDeleteWhat a good idea, Red. I wish I had thought of that when I retired.
DeleteWe spend all those years accumulating stuff - how great to pass it on to someone else to enjoy.
I have some strong memories of pictures from long-ago classrooms, because I was fortunate to have teachers like you. It's true that I can see a certain picture and it brings memories alive. :-)
ReplyDeleteI don't remember any pictures hanging in any of my classrooms. How neat that you had Van Gogh's bedroom hanging in your bedroom when you were young. This is my first time seeing it.
ReplyDeleteWe had geographical maps and math times tables charts hanging in our classroom, also a picture of Queen Elizabeth. nothing that would qualify as art :(
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout-out! I think it was a wonderful idea to hang art in your room -- as you said, not only for yourself, but for the kids who were undoubtedly absorbing it. I took a Georgia O'Keeffe calendar with me to Morocco when I moved there in 1992 for the Peace Corps, and those prints hung in my room for two years. I like to think maybe they made an impression on some of the local Moroccans who might not have seen them before. Art crosses boundaries and builds bridges!
ReplyDelete