Randolph School, Huntsville AL
Experience the Venice Art Biennale and explore Milan’s architecture, art and design to collect curriculum material that inspires design thinking and innovation with middle school students.
The Venice Biennale was an awe inspiring and immersive experience, full of installations, performances and works of art from contemporary artists representing many different countries from around the world.
In Central Venice Plaza, 13 bronze sculptures by Spanish artist, Manolo Valdés titled Las Meninas a San Marco were on view. This is a reinterpretation of Velázquez’s 1656 painting “Las Meninas."
At Armani/Silos, a fashion art Museum in Milan devoted to the fashion design and style of Giorgio Armani
Works by architect, artist, designer and theorist, Alessandro Mendini at the Triennale Museum in Milan
Viewing Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan
Visiting The Museum of Leonardo da Vinci at the Church of St. Barnaba in Venice, an interactive exhibition of full size machines based on his inventions and drawings
On this fellowship, I was able to visit and see Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Seeing this painting in person was a breathtaking experience, giving me a new perspective on the sheer size and scale of the piece as well as the actual color and texture of the fresco. I am now able to explain it better to my students when we are studying Leonardo’s use of perspective within this painting. I'm so grateful the opportunity to see one of the most recognized works of art in the world was possible.
I have found that I learn best through first-hand experiences. Through this fellowship, I gained a better understanding of fashion, design and architecture, but I also learned about many new contemporary artists I can introduce to my students to keep my curriculum fresh and up-to-date. Personally and professionally, this opportunity to travel and experience art has been an adventure that will serve in generating compelling and impactful lessons for my students for years to come.
While visiting the Fortuny Museum in Venice to see paintings, fashion designs, and textiles, I found that they were also hosting a temporary art exhibit. This happened to be a spectacular giant scale forest made entirely of cardboard by contemporary artist, Eva Jospin Selva. This experience opened my eyes to what is possible with cardboard as an art medium and gave me so many wonderful ideas of how to use this material and other repurposed materials with my students in their work upon my return.
My goal to inspire design thinking and innovation with my students has become more accessible through this fellowship. I learned more about the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci and collected information from the museum of his machines and can introduce these to my students as I am encouraging design thinking processes. At the Biennale, I learned about contemporary artists that will inspire my students. Some of their work is relatable to this generation of learners which will increase engagement.
At the beginning of this school year, my colleague and I created a unit in which all Art students created a work of art with cardboard, like several artists I had seen during my fellowship. We pieced these together into grand sculptures displayed on campus. This was a fun and engaging way to start the year, allowing a lot of personal choice and team work and students were proud to see their part of the community assemblage. I also created a new Art & Design class inspired by my fellowship.
I am eager to share my newfound knowledge with others both within and outside of my school. I serve in the local Art Educators Association and will be sharing unit plans inspired by the trip and information about contemporary art explored during the fellowship. Some of my colleagues are interested in creating their own professional learning plan for FFT, and I’m willing to offer my support. I will be also offering sessions for students to come after school to explore architecture and design.