HU Museum Awarded Grant for Art Outreach Program

Hampton, VA -The Wyeth Foundation for American Art awarded Hampton University Museum a $19,665 grant to develop the art outreach project,"African American Art in a Suitcase:  A resource for educators and K-5 grade students." The project was designed by the Director of the HU Museum and Archives Mary Lou Hultgren, with the help of her staff, to introduce disadvantaged students to prominent African-American artists and their art work.

"African American Art in a Suitcase" will feature ten suitcases containing reproductions of art from the Museum's permanent collection and public murals on campus as well as other related educational materials developed by the museum staff and a Teacher's Advisory Committee.  The Teacher's Advisory Committee, comprised of art teachers from Hampton, Norfolk, and Newport News City Schools, will also assist with making the suitcases available to teachers in the Hampton Roads Area.  Local teachers will be able to take a "suitcase" from the Museum to their classrooms to complete a series of lessons and activities with students related to various artists.  After finishing the classroom activities the teachers can bring students to the museum to see the original art work.

 "We hope that the suitcase project will be the first of a number of similar curriculum ideas that will link Hampton University’s extraordinary art collections to the classroom and that each one of these will make valuable contributions to the learning environment of area schools," said Hultgren.

Each suitcase will include art posters to be displayed in the classroom, overhead transparencies of each art work, flash cards of art work, books and videos about the artists, and a teacher's guide.  The teacher's guide, which the Teacher's Advisory Committee will address the Standard of Learning for Virginia public schools and will include important resources, artists biographies, and glossary terms.  These materials provide a interesting format for students to focus on the visual arts and social studies of SOLs and possibly improve the overall educational achievement of students.

The HU Museum staff will assist teachers with the program including an on-line version of the printed material in the suitcases on the museum's website and workshops at the museum so teachers can familiarize themselves with the resources.  The HU Museum will also organize two "Meet the Artists" days when students and their families can meet a featured artist and participate in hands-on art activities.  For more information contact the HU Museum at (757) 727-5308.