School+Tour+Themes

Contained on this page is information about our school tour themes. Each link allows you to download one of our School Tour Guides. These guides are not intended to be scripts, but rather tools to help you craft your own tour around the various themes we've developed (with input from teachers and docents). Please be cognizant that teachers must often prove to their administrators that field trips are educational and link directly to the standards being taught. Please review which standards each theme covers and try to incorporate as many as you can into your tour (be aware that some standards are skills to help students build critical thinking while other standards are facts). We have divided our tours into three categories.

// Please pardon our dust - this page is currently under going renovation. //




 * Narrative: Telling America’s Stories **

// Picturing America // There are different ideas about what America is. How have artists represented America in their art? Docents often ask students what their “picture of America” would look like if they were creating their own work of art. Examining an array of artworks that offer varied pictures of America helps students realize that “America” can encompass a wide range of ideas and images.

// Young America // How can art be used to explore American history from the time before Europeans arrived until the Civil War? Through artworks, students will explore the history of our formation as a nation, including colonial life and the American Revolution, Native American and Hispanic cultures, the westward expansion of the United States including the idea of Manifest Destiny, and the impact of nineteenth century technology.

// Civil War, Civil Rights, and the African American Experience // How does art help us understand the African American experience and the broad impact of the Civil War on American culture? This tour covers the period from the Civil War into the 21st century and offers students ways to see how artists represent the changes and challenges of an increasingly diverse America.

// *Immigration and Migration // How have immigration and migration – both voluntary and involuntary – affected American culture and the experiences of the people living there? This thematic tour explores people on the move, examining the immigrant experience, migrations from east to west, from farms to cities, and from south to north. Not all migrations are voluntary, but all have consequences both personal and cultural.

// *Power and Perseverance // How have Americans without power been resilient or persevered when challenges arose? How do artists engage with issues of power, or the lack thereof? This tour asks students to think about how people persevere in the face of challenges. Who has (or had) power in America and who does (or did) not? Understanding that power can be economic, physical, social, cultural, and political, how do artists engage with the issue of power? How do artists themselves persevere?

// *Artists and Social Change // How do artists harness the visual to reflect and promote social change? This tour examines how artists promote awareness of social issues through their work. At what historical moments have some artists taken on this task?


 * Identity: A Multiplicity of Voices **

// The American Mosaic // How does art reveal the shifting attitudes as well as experiences of the many different cultural and ethnic groups in the United States? This tour incorporates art that was created by and/or depicts Americans of varied cultural backgrounds, such as African-American, Latino, Native-American, and Asian-American heritage. This tour can also explore art that reveals the history of women in America over time.

// Varied Voices, Varied Perspectives // What roles do cultural, racial, and/or gender identity play in an artist’s work? This tour incorporates art that was created by and depicts Americans of varied cultural backgrounds, such as African American, Latino, Native-American, and Asian-American heritage. We may also explore art by women, or male artists’ depiction of women, and the history of women in America over time.

// Sense of Place // How do artists depict the relationship between where people live and who they are? By looking at landscapes, seascapes, and cityscapes, students will explore how regional differences influence art and culture.


 * Looking, Thinking, Analyzing **

// *What is Art? Choices Artists Make // How do artists craft their visual messages and what choices do they make to get their ideas across? Artists may make specific aesthetic choices in order to communicate social, political, or cultural ideas. How do artists construct their visual messages through subject, media, and presentation?

// To See Is To Think // How do artists craft their visual messages and what choices do they make to get their ideas across? Why do people make art? What can we learn by looking closely? Students decode artworks to find hidden messages, gain critical-thinking skills, and build self-confidence to read visual materials. Media, techniques, and vocabulary are introduced.

// *A Picture Tells a Story // What stories can students find embedded in works of art? How can we “read” a work of art? How can students “read” a work of art to find the stories embedded within? Students will discuss narrative, character, and plot, analyzing visual clues that inform their choices.

// *Immigration and Migration, Power and Perseverance, Artists and Social Change, What is Art? Choices Artists Make, and A Picture tells a Story will require training. //