USU Art Museum and ArtsBridge Programs Receive Federal Grant

Two Utah State University programs have received a significant two-year grant of more than $149,000 from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the Museums for America program. With support from the grant, USU ArtsBridge and the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art Education Program will expand their arts education mission into area schools.

“This funding provides the critical means to develop much-needed hands-on arts programs for community children over the next several years,” said Laurie Baefsky, USU ArtsBridge program director.

 

USU ArtsBridge was piloted in northern Utah schools in fall 2007. Through seed monies provided by the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation, nine USU student scholars were placed in six schools during the 2007-08 academic year for long-term arts residencies. Integrating math, science, language arts and history into their project content, the scholars worked throughout an entire semester with students, grades 2-12, creating murals, wall-sized mosaics, an outdoor classroom, an alphabet book, photography and a poetry chap book.

 

IMLS funding will bolster existing USU ArtsBridge programming, as well as support the development of “The Spiraled Learning Project,” an interdisciplinary pilot project using museum acquisitions as the vehicle to teach mathematical and geometric concepts.

 

“When area school representatives who participated in our museum education tours came to us and said they needed help raising math scores, we took a critical look at how we could creatively address this deficit through the museum’s collection,” Baefsky said. “Schools need help teaching math in a way that children can understand and retain concepts, and classroom students need more hands-on arts in their lives.”

 

Putting these challenges together, the museum designed its “Spiraled Learning Project,” drawing on its nationally-recognized collection of contemporary Western American art. The 50’ x 28’ impressive geometric sculpture “Passacaglia” by Ann Preston located in the lobby of the new USU Performance Hall will be a key teaching piece in the project. Its construction and design is based on the tetrahedron (a pyramid on a triangular base) and the proportions of the Golden Mean (a mathematical ratio sometimes called the “divine proportion” which exists throughout nature) — both concepts going back to the days of Plato.

 

Classrooms involved in “The Spiraled Learning Project” will have trips to the museum, a new art-math curriculum for specific grade levels, online curriculum support and the opportunity to extend the exploration through an additional USU ArtsBridge project within individual classrooms. Museum education curator Nadra Haffar said the “spiral” is created by overlaying theoretical classroom instruction with outside learning experiences. By looking at math through the artist’s eyes, as well as examining art through the lens of mathematics, learning is enhanced and extended, Haffar said. In this way, one builds on the other by removing the artificial segmentation of traditional instruction where each subject is taught separately, and replacing this model with an integrated approach, she said.

 

The IMLS grant will allow for the development of these projects at no cost to participating schools.

 

As repositories of our nation’s treasures and our nation’s history, museums are positioned to play an integral role in the education of their communities, said Anne-Imelda M. Radice, director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Museums for America grants support projects and ongoing activities that build museums’ capacities and help these institutions serve their diverse constituencies to the best of their abilities. Museums for America provides more than $17 million in grants to support the role of museums in American society to sustain cultural heritage, to support lifelong learning; and to be centers of community engagement. Museums for America grants strengthen a museum’s ability to serve the public more effectively by supporting high-priority activities that advance the institution’s mission and strategic goals.

 

Victoria Rowe Berry, director of the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, said the association with IMLS is beneficial.

 

“Our partnership with this program is an important step forward in our ability to creatively impact our community,” she said. “We are very honored to receive this funding and excited about the potential to support rich, interdisciplinary arts experiences.”

 

For information on USU ArtsBridge or to become involved in “The Spiraled Learning Project,” contact Baefsky at (435) 760-4889, or by email at laurie.baefsky@usu.edu.

 

 

Ann Preston Installation, Sculpture, Concrete, steel, wall compound and paint.

 

Gift Manon Caine Russell, Kathryn Caine Wanlass, and the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation. Collection of the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art. 2007.68

 

Fabrication of this artwork was completed Sept. 3, 2007. The size of the installation is approximately 50’ x 28,’ exclusive of the concrete floor that is an extension of the design and continues beyond the interior of the building into the plaza preceding the glass walls that face the work. These various geometric forms feature tetrahedral shapes in an organic progression.

 

 

Contact: Laurie Baefsky (435) 760-4889, laurie.baefsky@usu.edu
Source: USU ArtsBridge