Learning Through Art Presents A Year with Children 2018 at the Guggenheim Museum

Exhibition of More Than One Hundred Artworks by New York City Public School Students from across the Five Boroughs Culminates a Year of Collaborative Learning

(NEW YORK, NY—April 27, 2018)—Learning Through Art (LTA), the Guggenheim Museum’s pioneering arts education program, presents the exhibition A Year with Children 2018, on view from April 27 to June 13. The annual presentation, now in its forty-seventh year, showcases select artworks by students in grades two through six from the eleven public schools who participated in LTA during the 2017–18 school year. Representing each of New York City’s five boroughs, more than one hundred creative and imaginative works, including collages, drawings, found objects, installations, paintings, sculpture, and prints, will be on display in the museum’s Tower Level 4 gallery.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

A Year with Children is an annual exhibition that presents art by students participating in the Guggenheim’s Learning Through Art (LTA) program. Originally conceived as Learning to Read Through the Arts, the program was founded in 1970 by Natalie Kovner Lieberman in response to the elimination of art and music programs in New York City public schools. LTA has encouraged curiosity, critical thinking, and collaborative investigation at the museum, in the classroom, and beyond, serving nearly 150,000 children. In the 2017–18 school year, thirteen teaching artists facilitated sixteen residencies in eleven New York City public schools, working closely with classroom teachers to develop projects that promote visual literacy while exploring and making connections with ideas and themes related to the school’s curriculum.

LTA immerses students in the creative process, prompting them to view themselves as artists. At the start of the academic year, each student is given a sketchbook and an artist’s apron, imbuing a sense of ownership over their work. Throughout the program, teaching artists demonstrate practices and explorations similar to those that they use to spark their own creativity. Students’ investigations are also inspired by the Guggenheim exhibitions they visit during the school year. This year, these included Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World, a survey of contemporary art from China spanning 1989 to 2008; Josef Albers in Mexico, illuminating the relationship between the forms and design of pre-Columbian architecture and the art of Josef Albers; and Danh Vo: Take My Breath Away, a presentation of work by Danh Vo, who uses personal narratives and varied mediums to address themes such as religion, capitalism, and artistic authorship. Students also studied modernist artworks on view from the Thannhauser Collection and an exhibition of sculptures by Constantin Brancusi. When viewing art, students participate in inquiry-based discussions that elicit careful observation and interpretation.

The participating schools are: in the Bronx, PS 86 (Kingsbridge Heights); in Brooklyn, PS 8 (Brooklyn Heights) and PS 9 (Prospect Heights); in Manhattan, PS 28 (Washington Heights), PS 38 and PS 375/Mosaic Preparatory Academy (East Harlem); in Queens, PS 88 (Ridgewood), PS 130 (Bayside), PS 144 (Rego Park), and PS 317 (Rockaway Park); and in Staten Island, PS 48 (Grasmere).

EXHIBITION OVERVIEW

A Year with Children 2018 features select projects by student artists who worked throughout the year to explore materials and techniques, develop personal sketchbooks, and express their unique perspectives. To guide the yearlong curriculum, classroom teachers and teaching artists used “essential questions” such as “How do our small actions result in big changes?” These questions, linked to themes that were personally meaningful to students, were explored by looking at and making art.

LTA considers the classroom a learning lab where the power of arts integration and creative thinking can encourage the production of inspiring and technically impressive works of student art. Teaching artists used multimodal approaches to teach process and technique, incorporating text, music, games, and collaboration. By understanding the foundations of art, students were able to explore a wide variety of mediums, both traditional and experimental, and try out different approaches to problem solving.

A Year with Children 2018 is organized by Greer Kudon, Associate Director, Learning Through Art; Emmy Goldin, Associate Manager; Amy Boyle, Associate Manager; and Lara Tootleman, Education Coordinator.

Kim Kanatani, Deputy Director and Gail Engelberg Director of Education at the Guggenheim, commented, “For nearly fifty years, the Learning Through Art program has provided high-quality visual arts education that supports the curriculum and fosters individual expression and skill-based learning. We are pleased to continue our longstanding relationship with several New York City public schools, while continuing to forge bonds with others in diverse communities throughout the city.”

HIGHLIGHTS

The Evolution of Me, PS 88, Queens

Third grade; teaching artist: Laura Kelly

Student artists at PS 88 in Ridgewood were presented with the question “Can artists change things that seem ‘permanent’ or ‘finished?’” They viewed and discussed artistic styles and approaches to representation while studying examples of self-portraiture by Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, and Frida Kahlo. Studying the proportions of the face and looking at themselves in mirrors, students produced their own series of self-portraits by mixing a variety of mediums, including colored pencil, pastel, and foam-plate printmaking. For their final project, students will collage multiple self-portraits into one work that will provide them with an understanding of how artists continually revise and revisit “completed” works.

Hanging in the Balance, PS 86, Bronx

Sixth grade; teaching artist: Jeff Hopkins

At PS 86 in the Bronx, sixth graders explored how one small event or circumstance might have a big effect. The student artists wrote and sketched stories in conjunction with their English language arts curriculum. They then translated their drawings and written statements into three-dimensional objects representing the central idea of their story. With materials such as wood, stone, papier-mâché, and found objects, students depicted characters, events, and other details. Then they used wire to connect them back to the central idea. Together, these elements form self-standing sculptures that are part mobile and part stabile.

Making Sense, PS 375, Manhattan

Third grade; teaching artist: Lindsay Smilow

Looking at work by an international selection artists, such as Lalla Essaydi, Kehinde Wiley, El Anatsui, and Ding Yi, third graders at PS 375 in East Harlem examined how art can help them make sense of the world as they explored different communities in their social studies curriculum. In particular, they investigated how these artists express aspects of both their cultural and individual identities through pattern, texture, and color. Using their own visual language made up of abstract shapes, personal symbols, and patterns, student artists expressed aspects of their own identities while learning painting, printmaking, sculpture, and installation techniques. In the process of doing so, they learned how to use art as a means of understanding their surroundings and experiences.

For more information about Learning Through Art, please visit guggenheim.org/lta.

RELATED EVENT FOR A YEAR WITH CHILDREN 2018

Benefit for Learning Through Art

Thursday, April 26, 5:30-7 pm: Family reception

Tickets $150 each for adults, $75 each for children

7 pm: Private dinner with a special performance by piano duo ZOFO

For LTA supporters at the Teaching Artist Patron level and above

This benefit reception provides key support for the Learning Through Art program and includes an exclusive viewing of A Year with Children 2018 prior to its public opening, featuring student docents from each school on-site to discuss their work and that of their peers. Enjoy kid-friendly light bites in the rotunda reception, as well as art activities on the ramps. The reception is followed by a private dinner for Teaching Artist Patron level supporters and above, with a special performance in The Wright restaurant by internationally acclaimed pianists Eva-Maria Zimmermann and Keisuke Nakagoshi as ZOFO duet.

The Leadership Committee and annual A Year with Children benefit raise important funds that make the LTA program possible. A limited number of tickets and ticket packages are available. Proceeds benefit the exhibition and LTA program. For more information, please call 212 423 3796 or contact Kate Stichnoth Randi at krandi@guggenheim.org.

Ongoing

Saturday Sketching

Saturdays, 10 am-4 pm

Prepared materials with drawing prompts encourage visitors to explore Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural shapes and spaces, and to record their perspectives through drawing. Free with museum admission.

Open Studios

Sundays, 1-4 pm

Families with children ages 3 and up

Stop by the Sackler Center Studio Art Lab and create a work of art inspired by themes and materials from the Guggenheim’s current exhibitions. Free with museum admission.

Family Activity Kiosk

Saturdays and Sundays, 10 am-4 pm

Families with children ages 4 and up

Borrow a Family Activity Pack with materials featuring fun conversation prompts and activity ideas to captivate the entire family.

FUNDING

Learning Through Art and A Year with Children 2018 are generously supported by Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Squarespace, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Additional funding is provided by Guggenheim Partners, LLC; The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; The Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation; Gail May Engelberg and The Engelberg Foundation; The Keith Haring Foundation; the Sidney E. Frank Foundation; Con Edison; JPMorgan Chase; the Gap Foundation; the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Inc.; the Henry E. Niles Foundation, Inc.; and an anonymous donor.

The Leadership Committee for Learning Through Art and A Year with Children 2018 is gratefully acknowledged for its support.

The Sackler Center for Arts Education is a gift of the Mortimer D. Sackler Family. Endowment funding is provided by The Engelberg Foundation, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, The Elaine Terner Cooper Foundation, and the Esther Simon Charitable Trust.

Educational activities and/or public programs are made possible in part by JW Marriott, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Squarespace, The Hilla von Rebay Foundation, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Funding is also provided by Guggenheim Partners, LLC; The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; The Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation; Gail May Engelberg and The Engelberg Foundation; The Keith Haring Foundation; and an anonymous donor.

Additional support from Katherine and Peter Kend; the Sidney E. Frank Foundation; Con Edison; JPMorgan Chase; the Jane A. Lehman and Alan G. Lehman Foundation; the Gap Foundation; Ellie and Leo Vrondissis; the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Inc.; Jamie Johnson and William S. Dutterer; the Henry E. Niles Foundation, Inc.; and Maria and Valentin Fuster.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation thanks the members of the Education Committee for their support.

VISITOR INFORMATION

Admission: Adults $25, students/seniors (65+) $18, members and children under 12 free. The Guggenheim’s free app, available with admission or by download to personal devices, offers an enhanced visitor experience. The app features rich multimedia content on special exhibitions, the Guggenheim’s landmark building, and artworks in the museum’s permanent collection. Verbal Description guides for select exhibitions are also included for visitors who are blind or have low vision. The Guggenheim app is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Museum Hours: Sun-Wed 10 am-5:45 pm, Fri 10 am-5:45 pm, Sat 10 am-7:45 pm, closed Thurs. On Saturdays, beginning at 5:45 pm, the museum hosts Pay What You Wish. For general information, call 212 423 3500 or visit the museum online at guggenheim.org.