Single-Visit Gallery Lessons

Multiple-Visit Programs

Self-Guided School Group Visits

Teacher Workshops and Resources

Using Art to Teach Literacy

Wyeth Grant Envisioning America

Teacher Workshops and Resources

Workshops

• Critical Thinking
• Teaching about Religions Through Art
• Using Art to Enhance History Teaching
• Using Art to Enhance Language Development
• Using Art to Support the Writing Process
• Where Artists Get Ideas

Resources

• Why Museums?
  This behind-the-scenes slide tour of the Ackland Art Museum provides students with an introduction to the why, what and how of a local art museum. This packet includes slides illustrating the steps that a work of art takes when it becomes part of the Museum's permanent collection, with an accompanying script describing this process, and lesson plans for center-based and classroom activities about museums and their different functions. Recommended for K-3rd grade students, but can be adapted for any age group.

• Art Resources for Teachers and Students 200 (ARTS 200)
  This series of lesson plans is designed to guide your students through a process of observation, inquiry, and interpretation about selected works of art in the Ackland Art Museum's permanent collection. The skills developed and information acquired in these lesson plans are designed to prepare students for looking at art in any setting, not just the museum. The lesson plans include:
  
  • Discovering the Elements of Art (considering how artists use color, line, shape, and contrast in a work of art)
  • Looking at Art (understanding the relationship between what a viewer sees and feels about a work, and what influences the artist who made it)
  • Getting a Feel for Art (a lesson focusing on the materials artists choose to make their works, accompanied by a box of materials and tools they use to create painting, sculpture, and pottery) Recommended for 4th-8th grade, but can be adapted for older students.

Ackland Art Museum curriculum kits are designed to use works of art in the Museum's permanent collection to support the implementation of the North Carolina state curriculum at different grade levels. Each kit contains reproductions (slides and/or posters) of paintings, sculptures, or photographs in the Museum's collection, as well as an array of lesson plans, fiction and non-fiction books, audiotapes, and touchable objects related to the kit's subject area. All of the kits are designed to be accessible to and engaging for K-12 students, and contain some items that are age-appropriate at each grade level.

All curriculum kits are available for free loan, and can be used before or after a museum visit. All schools borrowing a kit are responsible for covering the costs of loss or damage incurred while using it. Each kit is available for at least one week per school; additional time may be available, depending upon current demand. Schools unable to pick up a kit at the Museum are responsible for shipping cost by UPS or Federal mail; mailing costs for each kit vary according to weight and distance.

• India Kit - Uses slides to demonstrate how stories, values, and ideals can be conveyed through Indian miniature paintings and sculpture. Also includes clothing and selected musical instruments.

• Inuit Kit - Examples of Inuit sculpture from the Museum's study collection make a unique addition to this kit, and are available for touching by students with adult supervision. Slides of sculptures from the Museum's permanent collection complement the real sculptures, and a selection of non-fiction and fiction books supplements the lesson plans provided in the kit.

• Japan Kit - A calligraphy scroll and reproductions of scrolls, screens, and woodblock prints in the Ackland's permanent collection reveal some of the unique qualities and characteristics of Japanese art and life. Also includes artist's materials, a tea set, and Japanese children's games.

• Photography Kit - Black-and-white photographs representing the most notable documentary and fine art traditions in the last 150 years provide a rich bank of images for discussions about history, culture, values, and ideals. This kit includes directions for creating a pinhole camera, and many books about the photographic process. Lesson plans include seminar questions about a recent photograph by North Carolina Artist David Spear, and several other activities designed to develop visual literacy and writing skills.

• Posters of selected works of art in the Ackland's collection are available for free loan, for use in the classroom. Works by Nigerian sculptor Adeshina Agbonbiofe, French photographer Robert Doisneau, and American printmaker and painter Grant Wood are among the images available.

• Videotapes are available for free loan, and relate to a broad range of art topics. Most of the videos relate directly to artists and cultures represented in the Museum's collections (Degas, Picasso, African American Artists, for example). Other videos focus on how to look at art and the artist's creative process, (Painters Painting or a series called The Big A) or social issues addressed by works of art (Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation: 1965-1985).

• Slides of selected images in the Ackland's collection are available for free loan or purchase (approximately $3.00 per slide).