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My Masterpieces 2015: The Huntington
Education Oct 21, 2015
Course One: Coctel de Camaron. Photo by Brianna Chu / Beacon Media News
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Jen Olson, the program’s creator, in front of a Mary Cassatt painting with My Masterpieces students. – Courtesy Photo
By May S. Ruiz
A group of lively 1st graders enters the double doors of The Huntington’s Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art. As they are ushered into the foyer, all eyes alight upon Mary Cassatt’s 1897 painting, Breakfast in Bed. There is an audible gasp and a collective exclamation – “It’s Mary Cassatt!”
That this sense of awe, mixed with recognition, comes from 1st graders is why Guy Fish, Senior Manager for Art Education at The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, thinks Pasadena Unified School District’s (PUSD) and Pasadena Educational Foundation’s (PEF) My Masterpieces Program is in itself a treasure. He says, “That’s exactly what we’re trying to do! The program inspires passion and a love for art.”
Mr. Fish explained The Huntington’s collaboration further, “We were one of the co-developers of this pilot program; it is unique in its goal of stirring emotion, fostering knowledge and advancing understanding of the arts among schoolchildren. We are scaffolding and building these kinds of relationship with artwork. And we take seriously our charge of laying the Humanities foundation for young kids. We have a very important role to play; imagine if we didn’t do this and these kids go on to the 2nd grade program without this starting point.”
According to Mr. Fish, The Huntington’s focus for the one-hour field trip is to teach children the value of a museum experience. Each class is divided into small groups and a docent introduces the children to Henry and Arabella Huntington’s life as they tour the mansion. Docents for the My Masterpieces Program are specially trained on how to make the visit fun and interesting.
My Masterpieces students in the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art at the Huntington. – Courtesy Photo
To prepare the kids for their tour, teachers discuss in class the three paintings that they will see at The Huntington. They talk about these pieces of art and by the time the children come here, they’re already seeded with curiosity to see the actual painting – their visit adds another layer of meaning to the lesson.
“As our students are 1st graders, we focus on the theme of caring, while showing them the principles of line, shape, color and texture. Every artwork we choose to analyze portrays how this message is exemplified. One of the paintings they study is called The Clavering Children, a work of 18th-century English painter George Romney. It encapsulates the basic concepts of art – warm and cool colors, line, texture and shape. It also shows a boy and a girl caring for each other and their animals … something most kids would relate to,” Mr. Fish further elaborated.
Another piece of artwork children look at during their field trip is called The Last Gleanings, an 1895 oil on canvas masterpiece created by French painter Jules-Adolphe Breton. It depicts a harvest scene, one of several paintings Breton produced that illustrates his love for the countryside. To PUSD’s 1st graders, the painting shows caring for the land.
But it is American painter Mary Cassatt’s 1897 Breakfast in Bed that makes the biggest impression in these young children’s minds. An oil on canvas work showing a mother with her young child, painted in light colors; it is one of a recurring theme in Cassatt’s body of work.
Huntington Art Docent, Maria Sweeney, in front of our Sam Francis painting with My Masterpieces students. – Courtesy Photo
Early this year, The Huntington inaugurated the new Visitors Center that features four multi-room classrooms, among other things. According to Mr. Fish, they are thinking of adding a new component to their My Masterpieces program in January making use of those classrooms. He’s currently working on a plan to expand their program beyond kids analyzing artwork, but maybe creating their own. They now have the facilities to make that happen.
An award-winning program, My Masterpieces received the prestigious CAMMY Award from the California Association of Museums in 2012. In 2010, it was also recognized by the California School Board with the Golden Bell Award. It was established during the 2008-2009 school year as a collaboration between teachers and various cultural organizations to bring about a high level of engagement among students.
It is this spirit of collaboration that proves My Masterpieces to be a worthwhile endeavor for The Huntington. As Mr. Fish explained, “It reinforces our commitment to our long-term partnerships; our work has matured into a deep relationship with PUSD. It also allowed us to systematize our school engagement. It was the springboard for The Huntington’s Teacher and School Programs, which developed the curriculum that supports the Common Core standards. The art course offered by the My Masterpieces program isn’t far from the project-based learning promoted by the Common Core. Using the resources available at The Huntington, teachers from K-12th grade choose from 12 programs to provide students appreciation, engagement, and understanding of various subjects.”
The Huntington’s My Masterpieces field trip occurs during regular public viewing days. Visitors from far-flung countries as well as local tourists, together with PUSD’s 1st grade students, spend their day admiring the wealth of treasures this beloved institution has to offer. Arabella Huntington would have been delighted to know that Mary Cassatt’s Breakfast in Bed elicits as much appreciation from the youngest guests as from learned art aficionados.
To read previous coverage of “My Masterpieces,” click here.
My Masterpieces students in the main hallway of the Huntington Mansion. – Courtesy Photo
May S. Ruiz’s My Masterpieces is a series celebrating education in the arts. To read the next entries, please click below:
