To principal · From teacher, grade and subject · date
What
I’d like to take number students in grade to Beautiful Things, a free exhibition at the Occidental Fine Arts Center, 311 Occidental Ave S, Pioneer Square, Seattle. The room is full of everyday things real people designed: typewriters students can type on, a hand-cranked movie viewer, 1940s TVs, 1970s video games, and about 40 paintings. The center is developing a school program and is piloting it now.
Why it’s worth it
The visit is an art lesson in three parts: design (why old machines look the way they do), art (how painters make fur look soft and eyes shine, and spotting an original among copies), and drawing from real objects. It ties to the Washington K-12 Arts Learning Standards (OSPI, 2017), including:
- Grades 3 to 5: VA:Cn11.1.4a (through observation, infer information about time, place, and culture in which a work of art was created); VA:Re7.2.4a (analyze components in visual imagery that convey messages); VA:Pr6.1.4a (compare and contrast purposes of art museums, art galleries, and other venues, as well as the types of personal experiences they provide); MA:Re7.1.4a (identify, describe, and explain how messages are created by components in media artworks).
- Grades 6 to 8: VA:Cr2.3.6a (design or redesign objects, places, or systems that meet the identified needs of diverse users); VA:Cn11.1.6a (analyze how art reflects changing times, traditions, resources, and cultural uses); VA:Re7.1.7a (explain how the method of display, the location, and the experience of an artwork influence how it is perceived and valued).
Before the trip, the class watches about 7 to 8 minutes of short videos and talks about three questions. After it, each student does one drawing (about 30 minutes, paper and pencil). Everything is free at occidentalfinearts.org/beautiful/classroom.
Logistics
- Date date, leaving school at time, back by time. 60 minutes at the gallery.
- Group: one class of about 20 students / two classes on the same day, the second arriving 25 minutes after the first (circle one).
- Order: a short talk and video on the first floor, the exhibition upstairs, then back down to draw.
- Travel: district yellow bus / Link light rail / other , arranged through district procedures.
- Paperwork: district day-trip request, a signed permission slip for every student, chaperone list and clearances, emergency plan.
Safety and supervision
- Adults: me, plus number cleared volunteer chaperones, one for every 5 or 6 students. Students stay with their team’s adult the whole time.
- Center staff run the stations: Kirsten, who leads school visits, with Noy and Neal. They are Foundation staff, not trained teachers, and will complete child-safety training and background checks before school visits. Students touch only where staff say.
- The route skips the parts of the room that aren’t for kids (slot machines, bar items, joke videos made for adults).
- The exhibition is up one flight of stairs, and there is no elevator right now. A ground-floor version of the visit is still to come. Access needs we will tell the center about ahead of time: . A second emergency exit from the 2nd floor is planned. First aid at the center: TBD.
Cost to the school
- Admission: free. Center staff and materials at the gallery: TBD.
- Bus: the center says it can help pay for the school bus (details TBD). Estimate: $. Students ride transit free.
- Classroom printing and the after-trip drawing: about $0.
Contact at the center: Kirsten, education lead. Email or phone: TBD. Until then, use the contact page at occidentalfinearts.org.
