Art appreciation and a visit to the PMA for 4-5 students

Students in Waynflete’s 4-5 program visited the Portland Museum of Art on March 1. To prepare for the trip, Daniel Kany—an art historian and critic for the Portland Press Herald—gave a presentation entitled, “How to Appreciate Art in a Museum.” Dan shared with us that he has written more than 500 art critiques for the Press Herald!

It was a sunny and beautiful day for our walk to the museum. Once there, we were guided by expert docents through the museum. We participated in student tours entitled, “Learning to Look with Visual Thinking Strategies.” The museum describes this themed tour as “A method of facilitated discussion that focuses on students looking at and talking about works of art. The docent role shifts from information provider to discussion facilitator. VTS asks students, as a group, to utilize their existing visual and cognitive skills as well as previous life experiences and knowledge to slow down and carefully investigate and interpret works of art.”