Pre- and Post-Visit Activities: Grades 5 - 8

By Design: Art & Life
Gallery Exploration

Pre-Visit Activities

• Introduce students to the Allentown Art Museum by describing where it is, where it is located and what it contains. Ask students: What is a museum? Has anyone ever been to the Allentown Art Museum or another museum before? What did you see at the museum? Explain to them why they are going and how the trip connects to what they are studying at school.
  
  
• Discuss the concept of design with students. Ask them: What is design? What role does design play in their lives? What makes an object a work of art even though it is an object that is part of everyday life — e.g., a bowl?
  
  
• Discuss the decorative arts with students to help them define what they are and to help them understand that they are a category of the visual arts much like painting, print, sculpture, drawing, etc., even though they are both decorative and functional. Ask students: What are the decorative arts? Why are these objects found in an art museum? What makes them special? Have students look for decorative arts in the Museum's online catalogue.
  
  
• Review Museum Etiquette with students to ensure they understand the unique qualities of museums as compared to other places that are familiar to them — the library, their house, the grocery store, etc.

Post-Visit Activities

• Review the trip with students. Ask them: What did they see? What did they do while they were at the Allentown Art Museum? What was their favorite artwork or activity? Why?
  
  
• Have students take a closer look at Frank Lloyd Wright. Is he unique or are there other architects who also design decorative arts as well as design structures? Have students research architects such as Frank Gehry and Robert Venturi to compare and contrast their style and production.
  
  
• Ask students to bring in catalogues. Have them go through the catalogues to decide for themselves what objects are good design, which are not, and why. Once they have completed their review, make a chart as a group that lists the characteristics of good and bad design. Try to move students out of the realm of subjectivity to have them focus on the relationship of form and function. Then discuss the role of personal taste. How did it influence the choices they made when reviewing the catalogues? Based on the discussion, would they change any of their choices? Is it possible to be completely objective?
  
  
• Have students design their ideal bedroom. Ask them to research items and furniture on the web that they would include in their design, and to use images to create a designer's board that shows a plan of the room and the items that would be included. Have them write a designer's statement about the bedroom once they have completed the design scheme.
  
  
• Invite a designer or architect into the classroom to share his or her work, or visit a designer or architect's studio.

More Pre- and Post-Visit Activities

Kindergarten - Grade 4
ART DETECTIVES
THE FOUR SEASONS
MY FIRST VISIT TO THE MUSEUM
SENSATIONAL SENSES
SCULPTURE: SHAPES TO WALK AROUND

Grades 5 - 8
SIGNS & SYMBOLS: DECODING ART
NEW WAYS OF SEEING THE WORLD
BY DESIGN: ART & LIFE
PERSPECTIVE IN DEPTH
SCULPTURE: SHAPES TO WALK AROUND
THE RENAISSANCE CONNECTION

Grades 9 - 12
SIGNS & SYMBOLS: DECODING ART
NEW WAYS OF SEEING THE WORLD
BY DESIGN: ART & LIFE
SKETCHING THE LANDSCAPE