Run for President Tour, Part One

All GROW students visited the Nasher for their first tour of the year during October and November, focusing on the timely special exhibition Kathryn Andrews: Run for President. The next four blog posts will take an in-depth look at each stop of the tour.  Each tour was wonderfully unique; the students had strong opinions and astute observations about the topic and artworks, leading to rich conversations and slight variations between activities and artworks visited during the tours.

Visit 1 Vocabulary:

president / presidente

campaign / campañ​​a

narrative / narrativa

relationship / relación​

context / contexto

To begin the tour, we discussed the tour theme Run for President. We talked about the responsibilities of a President and recalled names of former U.S. Presidents. Students were asked to make two lists in their journals: qualities of a good leader or President, and qualities of a not-so-good leader or President.

2nd grade

2nd grade

3rd grade

4th grade

4th grade

5th grade

The students were extremely thoughtful as they wrote their lists. Below are some of the words they wrote in their journals.

Qualities of a good leader

nice, responsible, fair, helpful, smart, good, respectful (these were the most common words - nice was written the most often by far)
kind, honest, friendly, fun, trustworthy, creative
does what's right, does what the Constitution says, keeps people safe
makes the world a better place

Qualities of a bad leader

mean, racist, unfair, bad, selfish, irresponsible, not helpful (these were the most common words - mean was written the most often by far)
rude, judgmental, disrespectful, dishonest, not smart, untrustworthy

doesn't take care of us, doesn't make good decisions, doesn't make good laws
doesn't do what's right

Keeping these qualities in mind, we visited our first artwork and learned that Bozo the Clown, a beloved children's show character, ran for President in 1984 after someone in the media said "put the real Bozo in the White House". This documentary photograph shows Bozo's official announcement launching his presidential campaign. The students debated whether they thought a clown would or would not make a good President. Several students had very strong opinions on this topic!

2nd grade

3rd grade

5th grade

5th grade

We then turned our attention to a nearby sculpture by Kathryn Andrews inspired by the popular Bozo Bop Bag toy.

Bozo Bop Bag toy

"Bozo"™ "The World's Most Famous Clown" Bop Bag with Occasional Performance (Pink Variation) by Kathryn Andrews

We talked about the similarities and differences between the toy and the sculpture, and reasons why Kathryn Andrews may have made certain changes. How many similarities and differences do you see?

2nd grade

4th grade

5th grade

Stay tuned for Part Two of the Run for President tour!

Fall Fun with GROW 2016-17

We had another great fall with the GROW program! 2016-17 marks the fourth year of this terrific partnership between Rosemont and the Nasher Sculpture Center.

The year kicked off with a bang for the second graders at their audition in late October.  The audition occurred during Red Ribbon Week, and students were decked out in their best Western wear to "Give Drugs the Boot."

Students concentrated hard as they answered questions about themselves, wrote a short paragraph about a work of art, and sketched the items on their table.  Later, Nasher staff and Rosemont selected students to begin the 2016-17 GROW year.

Rosemont Family Day at the Nasher 2016

We had so much fun at the second annual Rosemont Family Day!  The bus arrived at noon, full of happy and excited students and families.  Families were able to choose their own adventure: seeking sculptures on the scavenger hunt, playing with Giant Jenga and Magna-Tiles, meeting artist Kyle Hobratschk and learning about the printing process, and enjoying the art on their own and during the fun family tour.

Mrs. Cianculli helps some families get started

Scavenger Hunt

Giant Jenga and Magna-Tiles

Making Prints with Kyle Hobratschk 

Ms. Lawson helps out

Family Tour

Once families completed the Scavenger Hunt, they received a fun prize...

A BIG thanks to our devoted teachers Mrs. Lawson, Mrs. Cianciulli, and Mrs. Rodgers; our watchful chaperones, our hard-working students, and our supportive families.  This past year would not have been possible without everyone's commitment to this wonderful program.  We look forward to seeing you all next fall - in the meantime, have a fabulous summer!

Sincerely,
The Nasher Education Team

See You Saturday At The Nasher!

We can hardly wait to see you this Saturday, May 14 at the Rosemont Family Day at the Nasher Sculpture Center!  Enjoy fun activities from 12:00-2:00pm, including a scavenger hunt, a giant game of Jenga, family tours, and seeing artist Kyle Hobratschk in action! 

 Keep these things in mind as you prepare for your visit:

• Admission is FREE for Rosemont students and their families.
• Meet at the lower Rosemont parking lot to ride a bus to the Nasher no later than 11:30am.
• If you'd rather ride the DART train, get off at the Pearl or St. Paul station and walk two blocks north to the Nasher at 2001 Flora Street.
• Or take the D-Link bus for free!  Click here for schedules and information.
• Click here for driving directions if you plan to drive.
• View a map of nearby parking below.

See you soon!

Parking Map

The Figure Tour, Part Three

We walked down the steps leading to Nasher Hall for our final stop of The Figure tour. Midway down the steps is Accurate Figure by Tony Cragg.  The students started by using their index fingers to trace the outer edges of the sculpture in the air.

3rd grade

4th grade

While tracing the outline, some students noticed the profile, or side view, of a nose, mouth, and chin...can you see them below? (Profile was our final vocabulary word for this tour.)

2nd grade

Next, the students paired up and turned to face each other.  While one partner stood still, the other partner slowly (then quickly) shook his/her head from side to side.  Then they switched so that each student had an opportunity to observe his/her partner's face as it moved back and forth.

2nd grade

This activity helped the students see how this artist included the figure in his sculpture - by rotating the profile shapes of a nose, mouth, and chin, as though a person stood in one spot and turned in a circle - and then stretching it at an angle.  It's a little challenging to see and explain here - make sure you come by and take a look during the Rosemont Family Day on May 14!

We finished our tour with a group picture to commemorate another fantastic year of GROW.

2nd grade

3rd grade

4th grade