What you CAN do with a degree in museum education!

As many of you may know, I have been on the desperate job hunt for awhile.  I am pleased to announce that I now have 4-5 jobs.  They are all kind of part-time (or less than part-time) gigs totaling to less than 40 hrs/week, but I am excited to be doing stuff related to museum education.  I have found that I don't explain what I am doing very articulately in conversation, so here is an attempt in the written word.  Yay jobs!  Yay art!  Yay museums!  Yay kids!

Art Within Reach
This is perhaps the coolest job of them all, in my opinion.  Cynthia Raso started Art Within Reach to teach 3-7 year olds about art history and museums.  I will be working with her to teach these classes, develop lesson plans, and figure out marketing strategies.  I came across her website one day and was so impressed that I e-mailed her asking if she needed a volunteer and/or additional paid help.  She has been so kind to allow me to join her.  I don't know if I have ever met someone so creative and brilliant in her approach to inquiry-based education.  She uses lots of activities and visuals in the gallery to interactively teach about the differences between things like wood and marble or 2-D and 3-D.  After working for several years with the Freer-Sackler Gallery (Smithsonian), she also brings in a lot of non-western art to her classes.  If you are in the DC Metro Area (or not!) check out her website to sign your kiddies up for some cultural artsy-ness.  You can send your children to kindergarten in peace knowing that they will be able to identify a Modigliani if they see one!  More information at www.artwithinreach.org.

Capitol Hill Arts Workshop
I am actually really excited about this job, too.  I submitted a proposal to teach an 8-week course at this arts workshop and it was accepted.  Do any of you remember Mrs. McConnell at Provo High?  She was my A.P. Art History teacher, but she also taught a class called Art of World Cultures.  This class is a tribute to her :)  Here's the class description:
Animals, Art and You:
This class combines world art history and unique art-making techniques for your child and you. Learn how to look at art together and nurture your child’s creativity! With a focus on animals, we will explore art techniques from places like Mali, Panama, China, and Australia. This class includes a museum field trip.  
So, it's kind of a blend of art history, studio art, and museum stuff for tiny ones and their caregivers.  I am still in the process of firming up the syllabus, but I anticipate doing things like an Aboriginal dot painting with Q-tips, Huichol yarn paintings, Japanese koi fish kites, and some sort of textile stamping project.  I realize that preschoolers may not have the attention to do a project for 45 minutes, so I will tie in books, games, and movement.  I don't mean to advertise on my blog, but I kind of do.  Give me a call if you are interested in the class or have questions.  It should be lots of fun.  We will meet Tuesdays 9:30-10:15 from Sept. 27th to Nov. 15th.  Check it out or register at http://chaw.org/index.php/classes/.  Sorry that was so advertisement-like...

National Building Museum

National Building Museum

Isn't this an awesome building??!  I will be working two jobs here.  One is a Museum Teacher/Birthday Party Person.  One is a City Vision Team Leader.  The Museum Teacher part of it means that I will be giving tours of the building and exhibits.  I know it looks like just one big opening, but there really are classrooms and exhibits on each of the levels.  Promise.  The other position means that I will help out with City Vision, a program for middle school students.  We will work with them once a week to talk about urban planning, architecture, drafting, etc. in preparation for their final project in December.  The final project is a presentation (complete with models, and interview from community members) about what they think could be done to improve/develop a specified area of DC.

National Postal Museum

Education Innovators Program

This is new program run through the Pearson Foundation, hosted at the National Postal Museum, that I was accepted into.  From September to December, I will meet with other educators to discuss, conceptualize, and try-out innovative ways to use technology in education.  Should be exciting and I am excited to bounce ideas off others, meet professionals in my field, and see my friend Hannah, who also got accepted :)

Going Under (the water that is!)

Yuri, Sterling, and myself at the Yuri's baptism August 20, 2011

We met Yuri through the Mormon missionaries serving in the Arlington area.  After receiving the missionary lessons for less than two months, Yuri made the decision to get baptized.  I don't think that I have ever met anyone more sincere and humble in his desires to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Knowing Yuri has inspired me to be a better member of the Church.  I was blown away by his ability to feast on the scriptures.  If he has a question about something, you can be sure that he will go home and read everything he can find in the Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, Preach My Gospel (the manual for missionaries), and the Gospel Principles lesson manual.  He has downloaded every app the Church makes for his iPhone and uses them during the lessons.  He is making plans to watch the General Conference of the Church. He came to choir the other week.  He frequently requests scripture references from us and the missionaries about what was covered in church.  I know that Sterling and I have been blessed to feel the Spirit in the lessons with the missionaries when Yuri has born his testimony about God's love, and the truthfulness of the scriptures.  Yuri's mother was Christian, but he wasn't raised with the faith.  When he was taught the commandments, he committed to keeping them with full faith.  He has made difficult changes in his habits, but he has such faith that God would make it possible for him to accomplish the things that were asked of him.  It made me look at my own testimony and motivations for keeping commandments like the the Sabbath Day, the Word of Wisdom, and daily prayer/scripture study.  After the baptism, Yuri was invited to share his testimony with those in attendance.  He talked beautifully about how the scriptures resonate with him.  I feel that I have had similar experiences.  Sterling and I were asked to speak about baptism and the Holy Ghost at the service.  I know that Yuri's choice to be baptized will bring him unimaginable happiness.  Being a member has given me more peace and joy than any other thing.  I strongly believe that and am so grateful to Yuri for his example, testimony, and friendship.  We wish him the best as he begins his life as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We will miss him when moves back to Tokyo at the end of this month.

Don't Beet Me Up/ Painting with Beets

Doesn't this look like some crazy piece of abstract art?!  It's just my food processor.

Cold Beet and Celery (Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes)

1 cup finely chopped onion
2 cups thinly sliced celery
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 pounds beets, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tbsp red wine vinegar plus additional to taste
3 cups chicken broth (I used chicken bouillon)
ice water for thinning soup
fat-free yogurt to garnish (They suggest using horseradish and minced chives, too.)

1.  In a heavy saucepan cook onion and celery in oil with sugar and salt and pepper to taste over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened.
2.  Add beets, 1 tablespoon vinegar, and broth.
3.  Simmer mixture, covered, 35 to 40 minutes, or until beets are very tender.

4.  In a blender, purée mixture in batches until very smooth, transferring to a bowl. 

5.  Chill soup, covered, at least 6 hours or overnight.

6.  Thin soup with ice water and season with additional vinegar and salt and pepper.

7.  Garnish soup with sour cream and chives.

To be completely, honest, I don't think this is the exact recipe that I used, but it looks very similar.  This was such a good summer meal though--filling, cheap, and fat-free.  Woot!

Morris Lewis, 1959

I bought Sterling a big, blank canvas for Christmas.  It is still blank at the moment, but we hung it on our wall anyway, as a place saver.  Some people think we are trying to be all avant-garde and conceptual by hanging a blank canvas.  We aren't really.  Sterling has plans to create a Morris Lewis-ish painting using ink/dyes made out of beets and tumeric.  The colors of both are just so deep and beautiful!  Morris Lewis used thinned-out paints and let them run uncontrolled on a stretched, unprimed canvas.  I'm excited about this.  It's funny, I know Sterling is an artist, but I haven't seen him really do any big projects because his work schedule doesn't really allow for 5 hour drawing sessions.  We also don't really have access to a pottery wheel or kiln.  The government should provide those things as part of our "benefits."  Maybe I will write the government people and tell them that my husband is very talented and should be allowed to make art for their boring boxes of buildings.  Everyone would be better off.  

What if I get thirsty?!

Sterling took this picture of my nightstand and made slight mockery of my compulsive obsession with water!  I have this irrational fear of waking up in the middle of the night thirsty and having to get out of bed to get a drink of water.  Ironically, drinking a lot of water requires me to still have to get out of bed and stumble to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  Lame.  Note:  Sterling has adopted the nocturnal drinking behavior and I have sighted not just one glass of water, but two, on his side of the bed!  What now?!  Imitation is the best form of flattery...