Art Exhibit

Esther Yi
On February 10 2016, I had the opportunity to go to the Philadelphia Art Museum at
Fairmount Park with a handful of other students in our class. The workshops were organized by
our Professor, Kim Gavin and two art professionals led multiple workshops as we travelled
around the institute. My adventures began in an inclosed space that contained multiple works of
Picasso and other known artist. Due to the fact it was my first workshop, I did not know what to
expect from this art experience but I tried to keep an open mind. For the first workshop, we were
asked to focus on the color choices of the paintings and the shapes that created it. It was
interesting to see how the lines impacted the mood and message of the art. As a future teacher, I
could apply certain things learned from this workshop by teaching my students the importance of
patterns. From there, we made our way to another exhibit that took up an entire room. I consider
this my favorite part of the museum because it just had so much to say. Upon entering the room,
I sensed the emotions of void, emptiness, and disturbia. It contained large and small painting of
simple drawings with greek words or scribbles. I did not understand why these paintings were
considered art and if I were to have gone on my own, I would have most likely ignored this
section. It was only until after we sat in a circle and started to dissect the paintings as a whole did
I get a revelation. With the help of the professionals and the brainstorming of the students, we
were able to see that the entire story of the exhibit was the story of Troy. The paintings were
divided not only by sides of the war but also moved in chronological order. Every painting
created the scene and has so much more to express than it seemed. My favorite painting from this
specific section was Fifty Days at Iliam - Shades of Eternal Night by abstract artist Cy Twombly.
For the later part of the workshops, we moved onto an Asian Exhibit that contained pottery from

Korean and Chinese artist. As a Korean myself, I found it interesting to see works imported from
Korea that was crafted hundred of years ago. We were given opportunities to draw the objects
from different perspectives and angles. Instead of copying the works of art itself, it was our job
to take a more abstract approach and recreate it so that it would be challenging for others to
know what it was. This activity will definetly be used in my classroom when I become a teacher
because it teaches students to be creative even when using works already created. Lastly, we
finished the lesson by focusing on a painting that could be deemed realistic painting. They
created the workshop as if they were teaching students and it helped me see how it would be
effective to teach students myself. We observed a lesson and tried to create a story for what is
happening in the painting. As if were were directors and we just hit pause in a movie, the activity
made us write down an intricate plot. I remember when I was a fourth grader, I did an activity
similar to this and was asked to create a chapter book from a single uncaptioned painting. I could
take this activity and use it as a creative writing lesson to help students find motivation for
writing. Overall, I enjoyed the two hour and thirty minute workshop and learned a lot that I could
apply to my future classroom.