AT THE ALLEN / SPRING 2023 / 17 HIGHLIGHT / EDUCATION HANDS-ON LEARNING Jill Greenwood, Eric & Jane Nord Family Curator of Education talks about the Allen’s Education Collection What is the Education Collection? It’s a collection of objects meant to be handled that supplement works of art at the Allen. Some of these are the raw materials fromwhich art is made, some are high-quality reproductions, and others are works of art in their own right but not something the Allen would accession into the collection for various reasons, such as condition. Why did you start this collection? It’s a fabulous way to expand our understanding about the artwork in our collection! If you can see a semiprecious stone like lapis lazuli before it is ground up to create the ultramarine pigment used in numerous paintings, it’s not only interesting, but you can understand its color intensity and why it was so highly valued by artists for centuries. Also, haptic, or hands-on, experiences engage multimodal learning. When you hold something in your hand, you feel its weight and texture, which broadens your understanding. We also try to make it relevant to kids today. You should see their faces light up when I explain the lapis lazuli in their hands is the origin of the blue buildingmaterial “lapis” in the video game Minecraft. Making these connections is what it’s all about. Howdid the collection start? It started in 2017 with a loan from The Getty. They had just completed an exhibition on manuscripts and offered us a box of 18 rawmaterials, including gold leaf, malachite, lead white, azurite, andmore. After writing a letter to explain howwe had used the materials on tours with kindergarten to college students, they generously donated the kit to us. Since then, the collection greatly expanded through donations and through a grant from the Freeman Foundation, to include reproductions of ancient Chinese bronzes and jades; Japanese inro, netsuke, and ceramics; as well as materials to supplement topics related to Asian theater masks, Hanji papermaking, printmaking, andmore. A student examines an inro, a small container used in Edo period (1615–1868) Japan to hold personal items such as coins, tobacco, etc. After a day of exploring the museum and using the Education Collection, students made projects inspired by nature in the Growing Artists summer camp partnership with Oberlin Community Services. Alyssa Traster, Curatorial Assistant in the Education Department, shows students an example of kintsugi, a traditional Japanese art of mending broken ceramics with a lacquer resin mixed with gold—examples of which can be seen in the case behind her. These pieces are used in teaching the ideals of wabi-sabi, an admiration for impermanence and imperfection. How is the collection used? We use the Education Collection on tours, in-school visits, and special programs. To overcome some of the challenges for school visits to the museum, such as scheduling and budgets, we now bring our programs to them hoping to inspire students to visit with their families. We recently participated in Langston Middle School’s Literacy Night by highlighting the Education Collection with stations related to Chinese calligraphy. What is your favorite part of the collection? That’s a hard one! In terms of raw materials, I like the sample of cochineal insects, which are dried and ground to make the pigment red lake. It is amazing to see these rather dull brownish-purple bugs turn into a brilliant, fire-engine red. In terms of use, we have used the collection on tours with individuals with limited sight and it’s been an honor to share the collection and learn from them about the importance of tactile experiences.
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