This exhibition represents five months of collaboration between LUMA and the Morton School of Excellence. Located in East Garfield Park, Morton is a small school that takes advantage of its size to create a sense of family. They pride themselves on building a learning environment where students are both supported and challenged academically and personally. They incorporate socio-emotional learning and character development into a rigorous academic program.

Once a week from January to June, Curator of Education Ann Meehan, Master Teacher Susan Friel, and Education Intern Michael Svedman worked with African American youth ages 9 to 14 on two projects.

First, students visited LUMA to see the Martin D'Arcy Collection. There, they viewed the desco da parto, a birth tray from Italy that depicts four scenes from the story of David and Goliath. Also in the D'Arcy, they saw several triptychs (three-paneled paintings). Taking inspiration from both art forms, students were asked to paint triptychs depicting themselves overcoming obstacles.

For the second half of the program, students saw the exhibition De Humanum: The Collages of Balint Zsako (on view at LUMA from February 12 to May 1, 2011), which featured New York-based contemporary artist Balint Zsako, known for his intricate collages of botanical prints and atlases of human anatomy. Students used the exhibition as a springboard to create their own whimsical anatomical collages.

This program was funded in part by a grant from the Northern Trust Charitable Trust.

Image: I Can Ride a Bike, Ariana Turner, 4th grade

 

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