This essay explores two canonical installations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Cloisters and African galleries in the Rockefeller wing. After providing a brief history of the formation of these collections and their display strategies, I analyze the effect of exhibition design for a visitor's judgments and impressions of the works of art.…

How can museum educators create dialogical experiences with European decorative arts? This question frames my essay and stems from the challenges I have faced introducing objects whose original functions seem to overshadow their aesthetic and interpretive value. Repeated efforts to spark rich dialogue and collective interpretation around pieces of…

This handbook grew out of an experimental program called Labor Explores the Arts, begun in the fall of 1966 by the Metropolitan Center of the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, together with several New York City unions. It was planned to be of use to training staff who want to set up such a course in their own unions. It…

Explains how artist, Tim Rollins, worked with Kids of Survival, a group of secondary school students in the South Bronx area of New York City, to create large scale art works inspired by Franz Kafka's book, "Amerika." Describes scale, materials used, use of contrasts, and inspiration for these artworks. Suggests similar art activities…

This evaluation focuses on a comprehensive arts and reading enrichment program for socially and economically deprived inner city adolescents who are performing two years below grade level in reading and/or mathematics. One hundred children participated in this six month program considered to be strongly oriented toward reading improvement. A…

Describes a cooperative program where the New York City Museum of Modern Art and the New York City Public School System joined forces to create a visual literacy/aesthetic development program. The program incorporated a three-year teacher training effort, development of an art education curriculum, and classroom art education support. (MJP)