GROW at the Nasher

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Odd Jewels Tour, Part One

In November and December, the third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders explored the gallery adjacent to the Kathryn Andrews: Run for President exhibition. Special exhibition artists are often invited to select works of art from the Nasher's collection to be on view during their exhibition; in this case, Kathryn Andrews selected all the works of art on view in this gallery. While talking about her selections, she referred to them as "odd jewels." At the beginning of the tour, we discussed the meaning of the words odd and jewels and kept those words in mind as we viewed different works of art.

Visit 2 Vocabulary:

enlarge / agrandar

plane / el plano

dream / sueño

relationship / relación

context / contexto

The students began the tour by writing a poem about themselves, which they read to a partner.

3rd grade

4th grade

5th grade

Below are a few examples of the students' poems.

Next, the students divided into three groups. Each group was assigned to one of the following sculptures and used the same template to write a poem about the artwork.

Constructed Head No. 2 by Naum Gabo

Head of a Woman (Tête de femme) by Pablo Picasso

Running Man at 2,550,116 by Jonathan Borofsky

3rd grade

4th grade

5th grade

Working individually or in groups, the students adopted the perspective of the figure in the sculpture. They wrote poems that not only described what they saw in the sculptures, but also imagined thoughtful, funny, and wistful personas for these figures.

About Constructed Head No. 2 by Naum Gabo

About Running Man at 2,550,116 by Jonathan Borofsky

After sharing our poems, we looked for commonalities between the three sculptures - what is the relationship between the sculptures? All three artworks show human figures. They also all have one or more flat planes. Can you find other similarities?

We also discussed how artists sometimes enlarge a small sculpture into a larger version. For example, Pablo Picasso created a larger version of Head of a Woman (Tête de femme) out of gravel and concrete, on view in the Nasher garden. Naum Gabo first designed the Constructed Head No. 2 in 1916, which he enlarged 59 years later to the almost six-foot tall stainless steel version that is in the Nasher collection.

3rd grade

4th grade

5th grade

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Run for President Tour, Part Four

For the fourth- and fifth-graders, the Run for President tour concluded at a series of works by Kathryn Andrews that combine images of men dressed like hobos with a variety of political and advertisement campaign buttons. The students discussed which buttons were persuasive and why. Later, they created their own campaign buttons for a presidential candidate of their choice. Some students chose to promote a parent, while others promoted themselves. At the end of the tour, all students received their own Bozo clown nose.

4th grade

5th grade

2nd grade

3rd grade Serious Bozos

3rd grade Silly Bozos

4th grade

5th grade

Bozo must have made quite an impression. After the tour, a second-grade student made a Bozo drawing for Ms. Cianciulli to hang in her classroom.

Thursday, February 2, 2017

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

3rd grade

4th 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!