Run for President Tour, Part Three

Do you recognize the people in this photograph?  Surprisingly, several students recognized the actor Mr. T.

First Lady Nancy Reagan and Mr. T at the White House Christmas Party

During this stop of the tour, the students learned that the woman in this documentary photograph, First Lady Nancy Reagan, invited Mr. T. to the White House during Christmas of 1983.  Why would Nancy Reagan invite Mr. T. to the White House?  The First Lady and the famous actor had something in common - they were both children's advocates.  So, Mrs. Reagan may have invited Mr. T. to the White House with the hopes of bringing more attention to their shared cause. (Remember that the artist of this exhibition, Kathryn Andrews, lives in Los Angeles and is very aware of how much attention actors and actresses receive from fans.) 

2nd grade

3rd grade

We also talked about the concept of a person's "brand."  What do you see in the photograph that is part of Mr. T.'s brand?  His mohawk, the sleeveless Santa costume that showcases his big muscles, and the many gold necklaces, bracelets, and rings. Do you have your own personal brand?

2nd graders showing off their muscles

3rd graders showing off their muscles

Then we turned our attention to the sculpture by Kathryn Andrews in front of the photograph, titled Gift Cart.

Gift Cart by Kathryn Andrews

We talked about the relationship between the photograph and the sculpture, and possible reasons why they were placed near each other.  We also talked about the relationship between this sculpture and the sculpture inspired by the Bozo bop bag seen at the beginning of the tour.

4th grade

As we left the gallery, the students, Mrs. Stegall, and parent volunteers showed off their best red carpet poses.

2nd grade

2nd grade

3rd grade

3rd grade

4th grade

4th grade

4th grade

4th grade

4th grade

5th grade

5th grade

**I had originally planned on exploring the Kathryn Andrews exhibit with four stops in the Run for President Tour.  What I did not anticipate was just how much the students would have to say about the role of the U.S. President, and how strong their opinions would be on who would and would not make a good candidate for President.  In some cases, the conversations on the first two stops were so rich that we found ourselves with little time left on our one-hour tour. Some groups visited the third stop during their first tour, some on their second tour, and some not at all.  But everyone walked the red carpet!  

Run for President Tour, Part Two

To begin the next stop on the Run for President Tour, students began by looking quietly at the following work of art with a friend, then sharing their observations with the rest of the group.

SPIDER-MAN FOR PRESIDENT aka Historical Campaign Poster Painting No. 5 (Backed to Win) by Kathryn Andrews 

2nd grade

3rd grade

4th grade

4th grade

5th grade

5th grade

As students shared the different things they saw, they speculated about what is going on in this picture: Who is this man? Why is he riding on top of an eagle?  Why is he holding a piece of rolled-up paper in his right hand with the words "Republican Nomination?"  Why is some of the artwork red and white, and some of it is blue and black?  What do the words "Backed to Win" mean? Why does the red section appear to be coming forward, with the blue section moving back?  If you are wondering too, ask the GROW student nearest you!  (History buffs may recognize this man as Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the U.S.)

After discussing all that we noticed, students walked to the side and discovered something they could not see from the front: a costume worn in the 2002 movie Spider-man inserted inside of the artwork.

2nd grade

3rd grade

3rd grade

The students considered why Kathryn Andrews, who lives and works in Los Angeles, chose to combine this costume with the image of Benjamin Harrison.  What connections can you find between the two?

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.