The Dream Team

I’m going to follow in Sandy’s footsteps and talk about a tour theme that I never got to do. For one, I could never think of a good enough title. It kept turning into “Pieces that have crazy backgrounds that no one knows about.” Pretty lame. Adrienne told me that I should call it “Past Lives”, and if it ever emerged, that’s what it would be.



Pablo Picasso, The Old Guitarist, 1903-04.

An icon of the Art Institute, and the highlight from Picasso’s Blue Period, this piece is a real crowd pleaser. With students, it’s great to talk about how color is important to the mood and meaning of a piece. But one of the most interesting parts about this painting is what’s behind it. X-Rays and ultraviolet photography show that Picasso used this canvas to paint two other pieces. You can even see a woman’s eyes in the paint above the guitarist’s head. There is also a visible seam where Picasso painted the canvas over the leaves of his kitchen table. Poor Picasso was so broke! No wonder he was blue.


Charles Ray, Hinoki, 2007
As Sandy said, the interns love Hinoki. I mean it’s a tree. In a museum. Carved from another tree. Love. It.


Egyptian Model Boat, c. 2046-1794 B.C.
I know I’ve used this before, but anything that has to do with death and mummification is a hit with any student. This boat was supposed to come to life with the person in the afterlife to guide them to safety. Using this piece also pays tribute to my favorite childhood movie, The Indian in the Cupboard. Things coming to life → always a good pick for a tour.



Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, At the Moulin Rouge, 1892 (right) and Equestrienne, 1887 (above).

I’ll admit it, I just really love Lautrec. The creepy faces, weird colors and all. Maya and I had a great discussion about these paintings on an adult tour. People can talk about them forever! The Moulin Rouge painting once had the green woman (presumably French dancer, May Milton) cut out because dealers didn’t think it would sell. All the figures have their backs turned to Milton because she was about to head off to America to become a big star. Lautrec even painted himself into the background! The Equestrienne painting was displayed on the wall of the Moulin Rouge as visitors walked in.


Ivan Albright, Picture of Dorian Gray, 1943-44
In the beginning of the Summer I hated this piece. So. Much. But now, I’ve grown to love it! This was painted for the 1946 movie of Oscar Wilde’s book, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Though the movie was filmed in all black and white, this portrait was the only part of the movie to be filmed in color. Creeeepy.


Felix Gonzalez Torres, "Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) 1991
Who doesn’t love candy? Felix Gonzalez Torres created this portrait of his boyfriend, Ross, after he died from AIDS. The candy is set every morning at 175 lbs., Ross’s ideal weight. Throughout the day visitors are asked to take a piece of candy, causing the piece to shrink and loose weight. It shows Ross’s sweet and colorful nature, as well as the regeneration of life every morning. Plus the students get to pick out their own piece to eat! Incredible edible art.

So that's the dream tour. And hopefully one day someone can use it! This internship has been an incredible experience. I've never met a more encouraging, enthusiastic group of people, and I was actually excited about coming into work each morning. Annie from adult programs told us that we'll probably run into each other at CAA (College Art Association) conferences screaming and hugging. I can only imagine...

The Powers of Perception...

Maya introducing the students to the touch gallery


Adrienne discussing Dan Flavin's One of May 27, 1963, 1963

As our time here at the museum comes to a close, we’ve been thinking about the tours we’ve found most rewarding. Maya, Jen, Adrienne and I were assigned to give a tour to high school students from the Blind Service Association. I was a little nervous about giving this tour because honestly, I didn’t really know what to do. So to prepare for the tour we talked with a few staff members that had done similar tours in the past and scoured the Education Resource Center for ideas. A few days before the tour we decided to walk around the museum paying special attention to four of our senses: smell, taste, sound, and touch. We were astounded at what we discovered! There are so many pieces in the museum that require more senses than just looking. Here is a run-down of our Powers of Perception tour…

(Mary D.) Our tour began with bringing the twelve students and four chaperones into Griffin Court, the main entrance of the Modern Wing. Since I love the design of the Modern Wing, I thought it was important for the students to understand more about the space they were standing in, even if they couldn’t see it. Smell, sound, and touch all played a really big role for the entire tour, and these senses worked really well for understanding architecture! First I had them tell me what they sensed in the space around them. I was bombarded with a dozen answers! They were telling me “It must be big, because everything echoes,” and “The air is a lot colder and more open in here.” Thought that could sense light said, “The ceiling must be glass, because it’s much brighter when I move my head upwards.”
Next we headed outside to Pritzker Garden. I asked them what the differences were from the inside of the building. They caught on that it used the same flooring and that the only thing that separated inside for outside was a large glass wall. They loved listening to Louise Lawler’s sound piece, Birdcalls. Lawler squaks the names of artists in the modern wing to make them sound like birds.This was a piece that we didn’t know about until we listened closely! Here's a clip of the same piece installed at the lily pond of the Huntington Library:



(Adrienne) Going into my piece on the blind tour I was a bit worried because it was the only piece we planned that is purely visual…or so I thought. I spoke about Dan Flavin’s florescent light piece “One of May 27, 1963” and had the kids come very close. Probably too close, blind people see with their hands and when I asked if they could sense anything around them one girl reached directly in front of her and held onto the vertical florescent light.

Other than that mishap, I think the talk was successful. A few kids who did have some level of sightedness were able to tell the others that the light was red while the ones who could not see and were standing close to the pieces could sense the warmth of the light and the buzz of the electricity. It was very interesting to experience a light piece in this way. Flavin’s objective is too create an environment with the light and I had never thought about sensing that environment with any other sense than sight.

"Inked" AIC...

UPDATE: Mary D. and Maya got AIC tattoos!

Well, not really... We did just find out that the gift shop sells temporary ones though. We're partial to the Van Gogh and Mary Cassatt images. Check it out!

Huzzah! Extraordinary Transportation!

Alexander Calder, Streetcar

This morning, at 10:30 AM, the curse was broken. Adrienne and I finally gave a student tour after three no-show groups! And it was a success! The group was pretty rambunctious, but they really got into all the artworks we were exploring. We started out with Calder’s Streetcar. This was a great piece to begin with because it engaged the students so quickly! It was hanging from the ceiling, so Adrienne had the students walk around in a circle. Because they were generating an air current, the mobile started to move! I’ve noticed that by getting the students up and moving with the artwork, students feel more involved and are more willing to answer questions.


Egyptian Model Boat

Next we moved to the Egyptian model boat and mummy case. I swear, anytime you involve dead bodies or gruesome pictures, 5th grade boys perk right up. After explaining the Egyptian afterlife to the group, one boy raised his hand and said, “I don’t mean to sound offensive, but that just sounds silly.” It was one of those questions I was dreading answering, but I think I handled it well. I knew at one point during this internship someone would ask “Why is this piece considered art?”or “why would someone believe that?”, and I’ll admit that I was not looking forward to answering them. But once I explained that different cultures view the world differently, the boy seemed to nod and accept my answer. Phew. Later on during the studio portion of the tour, that boy told the whole group that the Egyptian pieces were his favorite! Success.



The other pieces Adrienne and I used were the Kumara riding on a peacock sculpture, a Venice painting by Marieschi, a hippogriff sculpture (eliciting plenty of Harry Potter comments), and Monet’s London Train Series. Overall the tour went very well! The students seemed to enjoy it and Adrienne and I didn’t make any catastrophic mistakes.

Tomorrow is our first ABCs tour and I’m really excited!! We’ll be discussing animals in all different types of art. Hopefully it’s just as EXTRAORDINARY as today’s tour!

Nerves No Mo'

These past three weeks have gone by so fast! The first two weeks of training were jam-packed with information. But after being thrown into giving tours in the third week, I’ve found that most of the learning will be done on my feet!

I was so nervous for my first tour. Adrienne and I prepared for days, and I still didn’t feel ready. But once all the students showed up, all of my fears and insecurities went away. These first graders were excited, concentrated, and really smart! When I asked what they saw in Frederic Edwin Church’s View of Cotopaxi, one little boy raised his hand and said, “A tropical habitat.” Another girl told me that it was cold in the galleries because it helped preserve the artwork. These kids really knew what they were talking about! Every group of students I’ve had this week has been extremely different, but I’ve learned something new from all of them!

The most nervous I’ve been this week was just before my adult tour. I was giving an Age of Impressionism talk with senior lecturer Margaret Farr. She was so nice and helpful, but I was still sweating about the piece I was presenting. Once I started talking about Monet’s Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint Lazare, I realized that all of the adults were smiling at me, sort of cheering me on. That really boosted my confidence. Though the talk didn’t go exactly as I had planned, I felt good about it! I received some pats on the back from visitors and Mary H. and Jen (Thanks, guys!)! I know that the more I tour, the easier it will become.

So, to wrap it up, these are some things I’ve remembered from the past 3 weeks.

1. The tour will never go EXACTLY as you plan it. Improv is everything!
2. Do not enter doors that say staff only if you don’t know where they go.
3. The best place for lunch is the river boardwalk in Millennium Park.
4. It’s always okay to ask for help! I couldn’t have asked for a better group of interns to work with, and I’m excited for the next five weeks!