A Year with Children 2010

A Year with Children 2010
annual exhibition of artworks by NYC public school students
Guggenheim Museum
May 14–June 20, 2010
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.”