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

New Ways of Seeing the World
Guided Visit

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.
  
  
• Print postcard-sized images of works of art from the Allentown Art Museum's online collection. Without knowing anything about the artworks, can students group them based on similarities? Then use the groupings to discuss what they can gather about the works without knowing basic information such as maker, date made, materials, etc. What made them group the works in the way that they did? Use this activity as the departure point for discussing several important movements in art and the way that these movements can often be recognized because the artists were working in similar places or at specific moments in history, or because they shared similar ideas about art.
  
  
• Focus on advancements in materials and techniques. Ask students: How do innovations in materials and techniques impact the creation of art? What are some current innovations that are impacting contemporary art? What are some significant innovations that have changed the course of art? Have students research innovations in artmaking to support the discussion.
  
  
• 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 select a work of art from the Museum's online collection and research the time period when the work was created to see what was going on in the world during the time the work was created. This will lead students down varying paths, as all works of art are created at a specific moment in time which may or may not reflect the social, cultural, religious, and/or political beliefs of the time. How would the artwork be different if it were made today?
  
  
• Based on what they saw and discussed at the Museum, have students go further by exploring the impact of world events on art. Have students create a timeline that traces significant world events, then insert important movements or changes in art. Are there any connections?
  
  
• Brainstorm issues the country and world are facing, then ask students to create a drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, etc. that reflects the contemporary world in which they live.
  
  
• Invite a contemporary artist, musician, dancer, etc. into the classroom to discuss how his or her perspective on the world influences his or her art form.

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