SAN JOSE, California (May 8, 2012)— Artwork created by two local students as part of education programs at the San Jose Museum of Art will be featured in the special exhibition Museums: pARTners in Learning at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington D.C. Organized by the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), the exhibition examines the remarkable results of creative and innovative programs that museums offer in partnership with their local schools. On view from May 11 – June 22, 2012, the exhibition is an unprecedented collaboration between the San Jose Museum of Art, 14 other AAMD member museums, and thousands of students across the country.  

SJMA contributed two self-portraits created by children who participated in its Multi-Part Art program. Mateo Lozoya, a fourth-grader from Van Meter Elementary School in Los Gatos, created the oil pastel Self Portrait With Hat, 2012. Rebecca Zhao, a third grader from West Valley Elementary School in Sunnyvale, made the color pencil Self Portrait, 2012. 

The Multi-Part Art program annually serves over 1,500 students in Santa Clara County schools. The program extends the San Jose Museum of Arts’ visual arts education resources directly into Santa Clara County K-12 schools via six-, eight- or ten-week residencies. Conducted by SJMA’s teaching artists, the program delivers a series of stimulating art-making experiences in the school classroom, where a professional artist leads students in challenging and engaging hands-on art activities for 60 to 90 minutes. A visit to the Museum enhances the classroom activities and rounds out this arts education program. The portraits presented in this exhibition were inspired by SJMA’s recent exhibition, This Kind of Bird Flies Backward: Paintings by Joan Brown. The Van Meter students were instructed by SJMA’s Teaching Artist Cristina Velázquez of Palo Alto; Teaching Artist Jo Anne Yada of San Jose was the instructor for West Valley Elementary.

“Our ability to integrate Multi-Part Art into the curriculum is indispensable to teaching professionals,” said Jeff Bordona, manager of youth and family services at SJMA. “It is often the only art experience many Santa Clara County students are exposed to during a given school year.”

“Art is a powerful tool for education, and museums provide invaluable access to arts education for students in this country. More than just field trips, these museum-school partnerships result in more innovative programs than ever before, with a focus on sustained engagement with students and teachers alike,” said Chris Anagnos, executive director of AAMD.  “AAMD is proud to partner with the San Jose Museum of Art to showcase the incredible education programs that the museum offers to engage students and impact the quality of education in Santa Clara County.”

Museums: pARTners in Learning will feature over 40 artworks created by K-12 students using a variety of media including video, photography, collage, watercolor, charcoal, and found materials. The works in the exhibition highlight the range of artistic techniques and subject matter explored in museum education programs. The exhibition includes descriptions of the programs in which the works were created. It also includes a cell phone guided tour that will enable visitors to hear students talking about their museum experience and the works on view.  The exhibition is available online at www.aamd.org/partnersforlearning2012.

The institutions participating in Museums: pARTners in Learning represent a diverse range of art museums from across the country. Other participants include: the Dallas Museum of Art; the Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington; Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI; Fred Jones Jr. Art Museum, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK; Frick Art and Historical Center, Pittsburgh, PA; Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, NM; Montclair Museum, Montclair, NJ; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL; Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA; Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY; The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC; Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ; Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA; and Taft Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH. 

AAMD’s 200 members alone serve more than 40,000 public, private, charter, and home schools a year, with programs ranging from single-visit tours to intensive, long-term partnerships that include shared teaching, curriculum design, assessment, and professional development.  Museums often pay for student transportation, especially those in high-need schools.  They also offer professional development for teachers, programs for students with special needs, and college preparedness for high school students.  All AAMD museums place education at the core of their mission.

Members of the public who want to visit Museums: pARTners in Learning at the Department of Education may contact Nicole Carinci (Nicole_carinci@ed.gov, 202-453-5585) or Jackye Zimmermann (Jacquelyn_Zimmermann@ed.gov; 202-401-0762) to set up an appointment.

Museums: pARTners in Learning was organized in collaboration with The Phillips Collection, the Delaware Art Museum, and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF ART

The San Jose Museum of Art celebrates new ideas, stimulates creativity, and inspires connection with every visit. Welcoming and thought-provoking, the Museum rejects stuffiness and delights visitors with its surprising and playful perspective on the art and artists of our time. The San Jose Museum of Art is the leading provider of arts education in Santa Clara County. Last year, SJMA served more than 38,000 students in some 230 schools through its Let’s Look at Art, Two-Part Art, and Multi-Part Art programs. 

The San Jose Museum of Art is located at 110 South Market Street in downtown San Jose, California. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens, and free to members and children under 6. For more information, call 408-271-6840 or visit www.SanJoseMuseumofArt.org.

 

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Programs at the San Jose Museum of Art are made possible by generous operating support from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, the Lipman Family Foundation, the Richard A. Karp Charitable Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, the Koret Foundation, a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San Jose, and, with support for exhibiton development, Yvonne and Mike Nevens.