Last Thursday, thirty-one students from Bath Middle School boarded a bus and headed up to the beautifully renovated Colby Art Museum on the Campus of Colby College in Waterville. It was a grey and dreary day, so stepping foot inside the museum was quite a pleasant contrast from the outside environment. I enjoyed watching the wide eyes of the sixth graders walking in who had not visited the museum before.
We split into two groups and set off to learn about the contemporary art of Alex Katz, and the historic work of Whistler. Our docents were founts of information, and they did a fantastic job of bringing the art to life for our kids.
Ideally we would have been able to spend a lot more time at this museum, but we are constrained by the hours of the school day. With only an hour to view the galleries, some kids tried to sketch as we walked, while others shot photos of paintings on their iPads to study later (a great use of one-to-one technology!).
After eating in one of the dining halls (a big hit with the kids -- "can we eat all the ice cream we want in college?"), we hustled back to the museum for an art project.
An artist who works with the museum introduced the kids to gelatin print making. This was a perfect project for the group since they have already done linoleum prints with Mrs. Polizotto as part of their Gateway Art programming.
Students sketched scenes, textures or objects on small pieces of foam. A rectangular sheet of gelatin was then covered in ink with a brayer, and the styrofoam was pushed onto it and burnished (rubbed in). After carefully removing the styrofoam, the gelatin was pressed onto a piece of paper three times -- first print, second print, and ghost print. The prints were quite amazing!
As you can see below, these kids were into it. Even though our visit was short, I am certain they will each have lasting memories of it.
