Vol. 4 Welcome to the Smithsonian American Art Museum Fall 2007

Classroom Connections

 Looking to Learn in Every Classroom 

Young people get bombarded with

thousands of visual images every day. 

Their choices are often influenced by 

those pictures, but how many youths

take time to decipher streaming video,

television, and other visual media? Do

your students have the tools to analyze 

the messages sent by advertisers, 

designers, and Webmasters?

 Teaching visual literacy is becoming

more and more important—and we can 

help you do so! Using artworks from the 

Smithsonian American Art Museum’s 

collection, you can present students with

the tools to understand and interpret 

visual images effectively. And visual 

literacy is useful not only for art 

teachers. Math teachers can illustrate 

geometric shapes and patterns using

color field paintings and can teach 

number sequences using Billie Ruth 

Sudduth’s basket Fibonacci 5. History 

teachers can prompt thinking about 

In This Issue ... 

Our Space Decorative Arts and the Luce Center 

 Upcoming Teacher Programs

 Your Space Art Illuminates History and Writing 

Skills

‘S.M.Art’ Visit 

Making the Case for Visual Evidence

Cyberspace New Folk Art Videoconference 

 Future of SAAM Videoconferences 

westward expansion by considering the 

symbolism in Emanuel Leutze’s 

Westward the Course of Empire Takes

Its Way or choose from thousands of 

other works that represent key ideas in 

history and civics. Language Arts 

teachers can show students that artists 

use concepts like symbolism and

allegory, which can sometimes be easier 

for students to understand visually. 

Foreign language teachers can highlight 

cultural themes with artworks and can 

use objects depicted in art to introduce 

new words. Science teachers can look at 

the use of camouflage in nature with 

Abbott Handerson Thayer’s works on

concealing coloration or examine 

landscape painting and photography as 

students explore how the land was 

formed. ESL classes use images for a

variety of classroom activities. Teachers 

of other subjects, too, have much to gain

from using art in their lessons. 

 With practice, students can become

savvy about choices that artists make

about subject, color, line, shape, and 

composition. Skills that help students 

decipher the messages that accompany 

images can be useful to further learning 

in the classroom, and also advance their 

ability to deal with images in their dayto-day lives. For classroom resources

visit us online at 

http://americanart.si.edu/education/resou

rces/index.cfm or, for information about 

ideas and possibilities, email us at 

SAAMedstaff@si.edu. 

Calling All State-History Teachers! 

Back-to-School Night Date: Thursday, August 30th 

Time: 4:30–8 p.m.

PRE-REGISTRATION NOT REQUIRED 

SAAM is collaborating with the 

National Portrait Gallery to offer a 

Back-to-School Night for educators 

on August 30th. Join us for 

workshops, tours, performances, 

resources, and refreshments. This 

event is held in conjunction with the 

Back-to-School Night held by the 

Freer and Sackler Galleries, the 

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture 

Garden, and the National Museum of 

African Art on Thursday, August

23rd. 

Be a part of our new Web site and help

pilot our new educational activity! Due 

for release this coming school year, the

activity, entitled Road Scholars, is based 

on Nam June Paik’s Electronic 

Superhighway, a video installation

presenting a map of the United States. A

television-based video collage displays

within each neon-outlined state. The 

artist made conscious decisions about 

how to represent each state in video 

form. In that same spirit, the activity 

will ask students, after study of their 

state’s history, to make a collage of 

static images to represent their home

state. Students will write about the 

images they select and the choices they 

make. Selected work will be displayed

on the museum’s Web site. If you 

teach state history, this project is a 

great culminating activity or review 

for students who previously studied

the topic. 

 If you’d like to help pilot this 

program, be the first in your state to 

participate, and get your students’ 

work posted on our site, please 

contact SAAMedstaff@si.edu. We

look forward to working with teachers

from all over the country!

Nam June Paik, Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., 

Alaska, Hawaii, 1995, 49-channel closed circuit video 

installation, neon, steel, and electronic components,

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist.

Smithsonian American Art Museum www.americanart.si.edu/education
OUR SPACE

This past spring, my nineteen graduate

Decorative Arts Seminar students and I 

made ourselves “at home” on the 

comfortable, contemporary visitor sofas 

in the third-floor gallery of the 

Smithsonian American Art Museum

(SAAM). Our semester’s work focused 

on the many aspects of home. We 

explored home as both a physical and 

mental manifestation—a place which 

shelters goods as well as defines the 

parameters of comfort and sociability. 

At SAAM, we discussed what made a 

living room or parlor experience. 

 At the museum we read excerpts from

What Is Gentility?, an 1828 novel 

written in Washington, D.C., by

Margaret Byard Smith, the wife of a

newspaper publisher. Through this 

moral tale, Smith hoped to alert 

Washingtonians to the true meaning of

gentility as a cultivation of the mind

rather than the sole activity of acquiring

parlor furniture. 

 In her introduction, Smith defines her 

goal: “In this simple Tale, the aim has 

been to demonstrate through the 

medium of amusing incidents...that

education is gentility: which truth, if

universally adopted, would induce

parents, who now lavish their hard

earned wealth on dress and equipage, to

devote it to the mental improvements of

their children, thereby fitting them to

endure poverty with dignity, and 

prosperity with moderation.”

1

 In this 

process, Smith enumerated the parlor 

equipage most felt necessary to be 

gentile—round center tables, looking

glasses, pier tables, and painted fancy

chairs. 

“At Home” in SAAM 

 This discussion led us to the second

floor where we saw some of the very

pieces Smith referenced in her book, 

like the round table by Anthony 

Quervelle likely used in the President’s 

House parlor. Here, too, were the other 

parlor furniture pieces—painted fancy 

chairs made in Baltimore, New York

looking glasses, and a mirrored pier 

table. We discussed the increasing use

of glass in early nineteenth-century

parlors which is in much evidence in 

these galleries. Later in the Luce 

Foundation Center for American Art we 

would more fully explore the issues of

glass and its manufacture. 

 We moved to another gallery to

consider the parlor’s function in the 

1860s and 70s. Here the parlor cabinet

by American Alexander Roux portrayed 

a different mentality about life in the 

parlor. The large and heavy piece 

decorated with marquetry, porcelain, 

and ormolu evoked European sensibilities. In this gallery, the European

subject matter of the American paintings

of the same period conveyed a similar 

message. In this parlor setting, 

Americans presented their informed 

views of the world, a “memory palace” 

filled with objects—photo albums, 

portfolios of prints with European 

scenes and paintings, and Europeaninfluenced furniture—that portrayed 

their worldly cultural experiences. The

paintings and objects in this gallery 

demonstrated to my students the tension 

between the parlor’s intent to provide 

comfort and relaxation and the overt

display of European-influenced culture. 

 SAAM’s third-floor galleries

culminated our experience. There the 

Luce Center provides an extensive view

of SAAM’s holdings in many collection 

areas. Our interest was glass, because 

the material, used principally in mirrors, 

became an affordable commodity in the 

nineteenth-century parlor. Staff 

presented a fascinating overview of the 

history of glass using examples from

SAAM’s Roman glass collection and its

contemporary holdings. Students 

commented that they would be back to

take advantage of the Luce Center’s

“incredible accessibility.” 

 Though not a conventional tour of

SAAM’s collections, our afternoon visit 

provided students with an excellent

opportunity to view objects and 

paintings in a wholly new context. To 

experience the concept of home at 

SAAM was a delightful discovery. 

Dr. Nancy Davis 

The George Washington University 

1. Margaret Bayard Smith, What is Gentility: A

Moral Tale (Washington, D.C.: Pishey Thompson,

1828), p. 4. 

Our art, your classroom Fall 2007 

Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities! 

Looking the Write Way: Reading Art as 

a Catalyst for Writing 

Date: Sat. August 25th 2007 

Time: Approximately 9:30 a.m.–1 p.m. 

This workshop explores writing and 

visual literacy in an activity that

analyzes art as a basis for writing in a

poetic, expressive way. This strategy

has proven effective for all types of 

learners, including those studying

English as a Second Language and 

those with learning disabilities. 

Picturing the House Divided 

Date: Tues. October 23rd 2007 

Time: 4:30–7:30 p.m. 

In this in-service, teachers will be

introduced to how to use painting, 

sculpture, and photography from the 

Civil War era to enhance their

curricula. Educators will be able to 

provide students with a clearer picture 

of the conflict while introducing visual 

literacy.

Young America 

Date: Sat. February 23rd 2008 

Time: 10 a.m.–1 p.m. 

Learn how to use artworks as primary

sources in your classroom while 

teaching American history and critical

thinking! “Young America,” the second 

workshop in a series featuring different 

areas of the permanent collection, 

features landscapes, history paintings, 

and portraiture.

 **To Register for these FREE Professional Development Workshops or for more information, send an email to SAAMedstaff@si.edu** 

Smithsonian American Art Museum www.americanart.si.edu/education 
Our Art, Your Classroom

YOUR SPACE

Our art, your classroom Fall 2007 

Our high school combines AP U.S. 

History with 11th-grade English into a

coordinated humanities curriculum,

which affords an opportunity for 

mutual reinforcement of key 

substance, consolidation of

knowledge, fortification of learning

skills, and the application of all three. 

We seized on the rather extensive 

period after the AP exams—often up 

to six weeks in Virginia—to

consolidate both student knowledge 

and understanding of history through

a project that tested their ability to

observe, assess, and weigh often 

ambiguous data obtained through 

careful observation of selected

artworks in the Smithsonian 

American Art Museum (SAAM) and 

the National Portrait Gallery (NPG). 

We built an assignment for students to

employ their data by developing

meaningful hypotheses to explain 

significant developments. These 

developments included both change 

over time and impact on broader

human significance to cover both 

history and English. 

 Teachers met in advance with

Smithsonian educational specialists to

select fewer than a dozen works from

both the SAAM and NPG for student

observation during a half-day field 

trip. The limited number of works 

focused students on observation and 

data acquisition. In addition to honing

these skills, artworks were carefully 

selected to target the organization, 

hypotheses/ thesis formation, writing,

and organization skill objectives of

both disciplines. Some works were

selected for their sheer excitement, 

some for their historical illumination,

and some for their emotional impact. 

All were additionally available on the 

SAAM and NPG Web sites and 

students were provided with some

analytical cues to support their 

subsequent writing assignment. 

Typical works (two of eleven) were: 

Art Illuminates History 

and Writing Skills

George Catlin, Wi-jún-jon, Pigeon's Egg Head 

(The Light) Going to and Returning from 

Washington, 1837–1839, oil on canvas,

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of 

Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr. 

Lavern Kelley, Classroom with Three Figures, 

1979–1987, mixed media, Smithsonian 

American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide 

Hemphill, Jr. 

 Students were required to take notes

(pencils only) during their 

observations and then select a small 

number of the artworks they observed

to assess, interpret, and explain their 

personal impact and their historical 

illumination. SAAM and NPG 

education staff provided a map of the 

selected works and assigned a route to

each group to reduce congestion. 

 Students then, over the next week, 

completed their writing assignments. 

The resulting “assessment” was 

included as a substantial

“culminating” activity for our AP 

students who were, by this time in

the academic year after their 

College Board AP Exam, 

somewhat out of motivational gas. 

 The experience provided an

exciting, challenging, and quite 

different venue for expanded

learning, a shift from the structure 

of in-class learning, and, of course,

a break from school as summer 

increasingly preoccupies our 

students. It was exceptionally

useful for consolidating learning in

English and U.S. History, and fun 

both for students to construct and

for teachers to assess at the end of 

the school year. 

 The museum’s educational staff 

provided supporting background

information and perspective for

student use before and after the 

field trip. The support helped us

insure that our visit would be more 

than a typical post-AP Exam

“lunch-on-the-economy-indowntown-D.C.-experience,” 

although they did manage that as 

well. 

 Despite their residential 

proximity to Washington, D.C., and

their attendance at a select, magnet 

high school, few students had prior 

knowledge of the Reynolds Center. 

They were clearly enthused, and a 

number volunteered, “I had no idea

this was here,” and “I’m going to

come back with more time in the 

summer.” 

Larison F. Helm and Romana 

Iorga, Thomas Jefferson High

School for Science and 

Technology, Fairfax County, 

Alexandria, Virginia 

TEACHER FEATURE

Smithsonian American Art Museum www.americanart.si.edu/education 
Web LaunchOur art, your classroom Fall 2007 

‘S.M.Art’ Kids Look More Closely 

Thomas Chambers, Capture of H.B.M. Frigate 

Macedonian by U.S. Frigate United States, October 

25, 1812, 1852, Smithsonian American Art 

Museum, Gift of Sheldon and Caroline Keck in 

Honor of Elizabeth Broun 

This newsletter is designed to inform teachers of our programs and showcase activities that integrate our materials in classrooms around the 

country. Please share this newsletter with teachers in your faculty lounge. To give feedback on this issue, ask questions about any of the programs 

highlighted, or pose questions about the Education Office itself, email us at SAAMEdStaff@si.edu. 

Making the Case for Visual Evidence 

 The two works are featured in 

full-color images that can be

reproduced in any quantity in the 

classroom. The article and 

accompanying teaching suggestions 

show teachers the potential of using 

both primary documents and related 

artwork to teach history, visual arts, 

and English Language Arts. We 

hope this new feature will 

encourage teachers to use these 

images to increase visual literacy 

and higher-order thinking skills and 

to help students consider a variety

of sources for historical

information. 

 For more information about 

Social Education see 

http://www.socialstudies.org/public

ations/se/. 

Elizabeth K. Eder 

EderEK@si.edu. 

 A New Feature of 

“Teaching with Documents”

How do students learn historical 

thinking skills and content? Why teach

with both visual images and documents

as primary sources? Lee Ann Potter, 

head of education and volunteer 

programs at the National Archives and

Records Administration, and I set out to

answer these and other questions as we 

discussed ways to collaborate to further 

enrich the “Teaching with Documents” 

department of Social Education, a 

magazine published seven times a year 

by the National Council for the Social 

Studies (NCSS). 

 The May/June 2007 issue of Social

Education features our first attempt to

pair a textual document from the 

National Archives with a work of art 

from the Smithsonian American Art 

Museum. The “Teaching with 

Documents” column looks at the War of 

1812 through two sources—a letter by

U.S. Commodore Stephen Decatur 

describing his capture of a British frigate 

and a painting by Thomas Chambers 

depicting a scene from that battle. 

Smithsonian American Art Museum www.americanart.si.edu/education 

 Student observations of Lawrence at

work served as a connection to the

second portion of the presentation,

which covered the field of art conservation. Conservation is an excellent

connection to science education, as it 

involves both chemistry and physics. 

Jacob Lawrence experimented with 

developing his own forms of tempera 

paint, an egg-based formula. Knowing 

what media the artist uses helps conservators take care of the artwork so that it 

survives for future generations. Visitors 

to SAAM can visit the Lunder 

Conservation Center, a facility we share 

with the National Portrait Gallery. 

Resources from the Lunder Web site 

(http://lunderconservation.si.edu),

including videos and before-and-after

photographs, are available as classroom

tools. 

Suzannah Niepold 

NiepoldS@si.edu 

SAAM educators visited Glebe 

Elementary School in Arlington, 

Virginia, to speak to fifth-grade students 

participating in an interdisciplinary 

program known as S.M.Art or Science,

Math, and Art. The theme for the year 

was the artist Jacob Lawrence and his 

use of tempera paint. 

 The first half of SAAM’s presentation 

covered Lawrence’s life and work. 

Students as a group were asked to

analyze his paintings, exploring how he 

used images to tell stories. They also

related his work to works by artists who 

influenced him, either from the Harlem

Renaissance or contemporary abstract 

schools. These discussions exercised 

student looking skills and promoted

visual literacy. In addition to 

Lawrence’s works in SAAM’s

collection, students also viewed a short

video showing Lawrence at work in his 

studio, which is available on the Web 

site for SAAM’s Luce Foundation 

Center for American Art 

(http://lucefoundationcenter.si.edu). 

Jacob Lawrence, "Men exist for the sake of one another.

Teach them then or bear with them."--Marcus Aurelius

Antoninus, Meditations, VIII:59. From the series “Great 

Ideas of Western Man,” 1958, oil on fiberboard, 

Smithsonian American Art Museum,Gift of Container 

Corporation of America 
In May and June, SAAM staff and

docents presented a series of videoconference programs to schools and

libraries in rural Oregon. These video

visits were an integral part of the Folk

Art at the Library program in the 

Libraries of Eastern Oregon (LEO).

Each library hosted exhibitions of folk 

art, ranging from woodcrafts,

paintings, and stained glass to quilts, 

works of silver, and American Indian

beadwork. SAAM staff gave an 

overview of the museum’s extensive 

folk art collection, including the usual 

highlights, but also showcasing lesserknown works that related to each

library’s display. Some audience 

favorites were James Hampton’s The 

Throne of the Third Heaven of the 

CYBERSPACE

Beyond the Everyday: SAAM Reaches Rural Oregon with a New 

Videoconference Program 

Our art, your classroom Fall 2007 

The following article chronicles the new

developments in our distance learning 

program and is the second in a two-part 

series. 

When Ellen Kovacs moved into her 

seat as education specialist at 

Smithsonian American Art Museum, 

she brought along a formidable

résumé for a young woman. Apart 

from earning her bachelor’s degree in 

art history and a graduate degree in 

museum education, Ellen also had 

experience working with a variety of 

museum programs including those at

the Corcoran Gallery, the Virginia 

Discovery Museum, the Isabella 

Stewart Gardner Museum in 

Boston, the Children’s Museum in 

Memphis, and the National 

Building Museum. Ellen’s new 

assignment taps all of those 

experiences! 

 Charged with evaluating and 

strengthening SAAM’s videoconference program, she has been 

conferring with staff, docents, and 

teachers, while researching other 

programs. Part of strengthening the

program is to create more pre- and 

post-visit materials as supplemental 

options for teachers. Training 

within the docent corps is also an

ongoing responsibility, as a new 

class of docents was added in June. 

 Ellen has discovered there are not

very many art museums offering 

videoconferencing, so the

opportunities to enlarge and 

improve the niche SAAM has

created are myriad. With her 

boundless energy and bright ideas,

we look forward to sharing with

teachers and students the fruits of 

her labor. 

 Phoebe Kline

SAAM Docent 

Looking Forward to Future Videoconferences 

The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s videoconference program entitled ‘Artful Connections’ is completely free of charge to any teacher or 

curriculum coordinator. For more information about the program visit us online at 

http://americanart.si.edu/education/programs/artful_connections.cfm , or email us at SAAMEdStaff@si.edu. 

The feedback was overwhelmingly 

positive. “Our Smithsonian

videoconference was a smash hit! And 

what fun! We all talked for an hour 

afterwards, excited that finally the arts 

will move into our town, thanks to

partnerships such as this one,” says Jo

Cowling, director of the F. Maxine and 

Thomas W. Cook Memorial Library in

La Grande, Oregon. 

 Interested in bringing folk art to your 

classroom? Folk Art: Beyond the 

Everyday is the newest videoconference 

offering. For more information on this

or any other videoconference topic, 

email education specialist Ellen Kovacs 

at kovacse@si.edu. 

Nations' Millennium General

Assembly, a visionary installation 

made of tin foil, and Bottlecap Figure

with Mirror, a self-portrait of living

artist Mr. Imagination. 

James Hampton, The Throne of the Third Heaven of

the Nations' Millennium General Assembly, about

1950–1964, gold and silver aluminum foil, Kraft

paper, and plastic over wood furniture, paperboard,

and glass, 180 pieces overall, Smithsonian American 

Art Museum, Gift of anonymous donors.

 

Smithsonian American Art Museum www.americanart.si.edu/education