Summer Institute on Contemporary Art

Summer Institute on Contemporary Art at Penn State or SICA was educational, motivating and full of fun. It was fun meeting people and I LOVE visiting museums. SICA took place on the campus of Penn State University in the Palmer Museum of Art and in the Patterson Building across the street.

 (The paw is a close up from the front stairs into the building.)

Summer Bargain!! The Institute was FREE! It lasted 4 1/2 days. They provided FREE breakfast AND lunch every DAY! And people coming from out of town, like myself, could apply for a lodging grant of up to $400! Thank you Andrew Schulz!

 

All I paid for was the airfare and a few dinners! Oh and $10 towards my lodging. WOW!

It was a very hectic week filled with articles to read- ONE night we had 50 PAGES to read!!

It was like being back in college taking a class! (Actually a few people were enrolled for credit.)

It was incredibly sophisticated and intellectually stimulating. I spend way to much time with little ones and really enjoyed donning my thinking cap! A BIG THANK YOU to the facilitators of the program, Dana Carlisle Kletchka and Booker Stephen Carpenter II.

 

And yes, there is a story behind Dr. Carpenter's staff picture of him drinking from a water fountain!

We were given canvas bags that we got to silk screen with the SICA logo and then decorate. Thank you Sue Uhlig!

   

   

We did meaningful activities in the galleries which I wrote about here  here AND here.

We also viewed a gallery with the following pieces of art.

 Compelled by Jules Olitski,  acrylic on canvas. Yes, this was very large!

 Untitled by Cleve Gray,  mixed media.

 Princeton by Esteban Vicente,  oil on canvas.

 The Rabbitt by Hans Hofmann,  oil on canvas. This was the smallest.

We were asked why did we think they were grouped together?  What united them? (Please leave a comment below as to what you think!) There was an interesting discussion that followed. Thinking about that will be very helpful the next time I do my postcard activity. In that activity students curated their own exhibit and explained it to me. I will now extend that activity so that students can hold similar discussions about each others choices.

We also attended an exhibit of visual journals displayed in the library. The journals belong to a retired professor, Brent Wilson, and span over 40 years and many different countries. Just fascinating-AND we actually got to skype with him one afternoon! I really need to have my students connecting with journals! The insights gained are endless..........

 

 

This was, overall, a wonderful opportunity for professional development! 

I would love to know what those of you reading this do over the summer to inspire the upcoming school year.  And since this was all about Contemporary Art I thought I would share this post with all of you from Art is Basic it is a round-up of elementary bloggers teaching about contemporary artists. (Includes one I did on Romere Britto.)

Thanks for reading!