Guggenheim Museum Presents A YEAR WITH CHILDREN 2010 5/14-6/20

Completing its 39th year, Learning Through Art (LTA), the pioneering arts education program of the Guggenheim Museum, presents A Year with Children 2010, an exhibition organized by the Sackler Center for Arts Education at the Guggenheim Museum and on view at the museum from May 14 to June 20, 2010. This annual exhibition showcases select artworks by students in grades two through six from ten public schools representing New York City's five boroughs who participated in LTA during the 2009-10 school year. Approximately 120 colorful and imaginative works will be on display during this six-week installation, including drawings, photographs, clay and found object sculptures, paintings, assemblage pieces, and fabric collages.

Program Overview
A Year with Children 2010 is an annual exhibition that presents art by students participating in Learning Through Art (LTA). LTA places professional teaching artists in New York City public elementary schools where they collaborate with classroom teachers to develop art projects that teach students art skills and techniques, and explore ideas and themes related to the school curriculum. The program encourages curiosity, critical thinking, and ongoing collaborative investigation. Additionally, LTA immerses students in the artistic process, encouraging them to view themselves as artists. Each student is given a sketchbook and an artist's apron, and throughout the program teaching artists expose students to practices and explorations similar to those with which they themselves engage. Students' investigations are also inspired by the exhibitions they visit at the Guggenheim during the school year. When viewing art, students participate in inquiry-based discussions encouraging careful observation and interpretation.

Learning Through Art was founded in 1970 by Natalie K. Lieberman in response to the elimination of art and music programs in New York City public schools. Since its inception, Learning Through Art has served more than 145,000 children and their families, primarily in New York City public schools.

2009-10 School Year
Approximately 1,200 second- through sixth-grade students at ten public schools participated in 20-week projects led by 12 Learning Through Art teaching artists, who reached 45 classes during the 2009-10 school year. The participating schools are: in Manhattan, P.S. 28 (Washington Heights), P.S. 42 (Chinatown), and P.S. 184 (Chinatown); in the Bronx, P.S. 86 (Kingsbridge); in Staten Island, P.S. 48 (Grasmere); in Queens, P.S. 88 (Ridgewood) and P.S. 144 (Forest Hills); and, in Brooklyn, P.S. 8 (Brooklyn Heights), P.S. 9 (Prospect Heights), and P.S. 58 (Cobble Hill).

Exhibition Overview
In the LTA program, students investigated local and world communities, history, storytelling, and identity. While engaged with these themes, students explored a variety of materials. The works on view in the exhibition will include drawings, photographs, clay and found object sculptures, paintings, assemblage pieces, and fabric collages. A Year with Children 2010 is organized in three sections, highlighting three ways in which participants in the LTA program visually reinterpret their own environments as well as classroom subject matter. The Artists Reflect section demonstrates how students look inward, drawing on their own knowledge, experiences, and relationships in their artwork. Artists Respond reveals how students find inspiration in their communities and the world around them. The final section, Artists Imagine, includes works in which students reach beyond the limits of their own experience, dreaming of events long past or yet to occur.

A Year with Children 2010 is organized by Miriam Leviton, Education Assistant and Learning Through Art staff member.

A participating third-grade teacher from P.S. 184 in Manhattan said, "My class has been excited to work with all of the different materials introduced as part of the Learning Through Art residency. Using their hands to construct sculpture from various mediums, the students grew increasingly adept with the tools and materials from week to week, and the creativity they have shown in approaching problem-solving improved accordingly. The LTA program has contributed to their love for art and interest in creating other forms of art."

Select Highlights
P.S. 48, Staten Island, third grade
Teaching Artist: Ardina Greco
As part of their social studies curriculum, third grade students at P.S. 48 read memoirs by authors from various countries. Making connections between these readings and their own lives, students created personal family trees. On the branches of these trees, students drew images symbolizing their relationships with individual family members. Taken as a whole, each tree represents a family history, presented from a very personal perspective.

P.S. 86, Bronx, sixth grade
Teaching Artist: Jeff Hopkins
In their studies of the societies of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, sixth-grade students at P.S. 86 considered the ways that the architectural structures that these cultures built communicated ideas about what they believed in or valued as a society. With this in mind, students considered their own neighborhood of Kingsbridge, with specific attention to the vacant Armory building situated next to their school. Drawing on inspiration from ancient and modern artists and designers, students created large-scale models and drawings to re-envision this space as a structure that best expresses their own values and interests.

P.S. 28, Manhattan, second grade
Teaching Artist: Kristin Melkin
What makes a good citizen? Second graders at P.S. 28 pondered this question as they learned about the workers in their own community and the ways that they help the public. After thinking about helpers outside of their school, they turned their attention to their own classrooms and used plaster-sculpting techniques to design and build inventions to help them be better citizens within their school community.

For more information about Learning Through Art, please visit learningthroughart.org

Related Events for A Year with Children 2010:
Benefit and Opening Reception: Thursday, May 20, 6-8 pm
Tickets available. $125 each for adults, $35 each for children. The event features Learning Through Art students as docents, who will discuss their work and the work of their peers. Proceeds benefit A Year with Children, the annual exhibitions of art at the Guggenheim by New York City public school students, and the Learning Through Art program. For more information call 212 423 3796 or e-mail SRGMevents@guggenheim.org.

Thinking Like An Artist: Creativity And Problem Solving in the Classroom: Thursday,
June 3, 9 am-5:30 pm, and Friday, June 4, 9 am-1 pm
Art and museum educators, administrators, and policy makers from across the country will discuss the role of creativity in the art classroom and in the field of education as a whole. Through artist talks, panel presentations, hands-on art making, and group discussion, participants consider the characteristics of creativity across disciplines and identify best practices for fostering creativity in the classroom. Thinking Like an Artist features speakers Janine Antoni, contemporary artist; Lois Hetland and Ellen Winner, research associates at Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Ellen Lupton, curator of contemporary design at Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum; and Jerry Saltz, senior art critic for New York Magazine. The conference also highlights the findings of The Art of Problem Solving, a four-year research program recently completed by the Guggenheim Museum. This initiative sought to identify skills associated with problem solving and determine how art educators can encourage the development of these skills in their students. Registration is $150 at learningthroughart.org/conference.

The research study and conference are sponsored by the United States Department of Education.

Ongoing Family Programs
Second Sundays: June 13, 10:30 am-12 pm
Every month the Guggenheim offers family-oriented tours that incorporate age-appropriate conversations and creative, hands-on gallery activities and opportunities to explore the Permanent Collections and special exhibitions together, including A Year with Children 2010. For families with children ages 5-10. $15 per family, $10 members, FREE for Family Members. Space is limited. Registration recommended by calling 212 423 3587, Mon-Fri, 1-5 pm.

Just Drop In! Sundays, 1-4 pm
After viewing A Year with Children 2010, explore highlights of the Permanent Collection through creative, interactive projects led by museum educators. For families with children ages 3-10. Free with museum admission. No registration necessary. See signage in main lobby for location. More information is available at guggenheim.org/families.

A Year with Children 2010 is made possible in part by Gail May Engelberg and The Engelberg Foundation, The Barbara Slifka Philanthropic Fund, and the Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation.

The Host Committee and Sponsors for A Year with Children 2010 are gratefully acknowledged.

Educational activities are made possible by The Edith and Frances Mulhall Achilles Memorial Fund, The Barker Welfare Foundation, Con Edison, The Engelberg Foundation, William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Jane A. Lehman and Alan G. Lehman Foundation, The Overbrook Foundation, The Hilla von Rebay Foundation, the Mortimer D. Sackler Family, Esther Simon Charitable Trust, and the Museum's Education Committee.

Support for Learning Through Art is provided by the Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Inc., Citi Foundation, Sidney E. Frank Foundation, Gap Foundation, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Guggenheim Partners, LLC, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, the United States Department of Education, and Arthur Zimtbaum Foundation.

VISITOR INFORMATION
Admission: Adults $18, students/seniors (65+) $15, members and children under 12 free.

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 guggenheim.org.