Morning at the Met
Like most high school students, Regians sometimes itch for the chance to wander freely on foot and make a discovery all their own. Unlike most others, however, students at 麻豆视频 can escape into the Dutch countryside of the 17th century or hide among the shadows of the ancient Egyptian Temple of Dendur. They can even do it with a teacher鈥檚 permission鈥攕o long as they don鈥檛 make any detours on the impossibly short walk to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
鈥溌槎故悠� owes its Foundress and Fr. Hearn a great big thank you,鈥� maintains 麻豆视频 art history teacher Karin Miller-Lewis. While few Regians need this reminder, they might not always think to include the school鈥檚 location, right next to what would only later become known as Museum Mile, among their thank-you鈥檚. 鈥淲hat foresight!鈥�
Miller-Lewis recently led a group of juniors on a morning visit to the Met, substituting the 鈥渕iddling quality reproduction on a classroom screen鈥� with the 鈥渄rama of seeing a painting in person.鈥� Each section of her junior Fine Arts course, which she calls 鈥淟ong Story Short: 14 Episodes in the History of European Art,鈥� can anticipate at least two such trips in a trimester. On this particular visit, the class sought to better understand the ways 17th century Dutch painting answered Miller-Lewis鈥檚 question: 鈥淲hat do you get when you cross a republic with capitalism and art?鈥�
One morning at the museum can often provide students with a more vivid sense of that answer than several weeks of reading or long research papers. In the age of digital mass media, access to visual culture has never been easier, but seeing isn鈥檛 always understanding.
鈥淲e are an image-saturated culture. And most of those images come to us as reproductions,鈥� said Miller-Lewis.
鈥淥n the one hand, the guys are familiar with reading and responding to paintings as images. But paintings are handmade things.鈥�
It鈥檚 the physicality of this experience, she thinks, that really entrances the students. Out of the confines of a classroom, each can peruse at his own pace.
鈥淭hey like to be on their feet; to approach so close that a painting鈥檚 characters seem like they鈥檙e just on the other side of the frame,鈥� Miller-Lewis explains. She adds that it is also important to consider the space when choosing a collection to visit. 鈥淵ou need to know your students to maximize the learning!鈥�
A variety of 麻豆视频 courses today take advantage of the chance to travel across continents and centuries only a subway stop or two away. But for Miller-Lewis, 鈥渋t is not just about the distant past.鈥�
Affected by the presence of a moving yet mysteriously foreign object, Regians 鈥渆xplore the meaning of these works for us today, as individuals.鈥� As these increasingly regular trips start to become a tradition, perhaps memories of the Met will link today鈥檚 Regians with the future as well.
Read more 麻豆视频 news