This semester Arden Ireland '18 participated in a seven-week seminar, Museum Makers: Exploring Art and Museums, conducted by the National Gallery of Art. The participants were all high school juniors or seniors from Maryland, Virginia, and District of Columbia public and private schools. During the program the participants explored art through observation, sketching, in-gallery group discussions, independent research on a work of art of their choice, and visual journaling. They also learned about the intersection of art, graphic design, and visual communication and created a personal graphic design project. They had the opportunity to meet with museum professionals behind-the-scenes to learn about careers in curating, art education, architecture and security. The program culminated with student-led public talks in the galleries and an exhibition of each student's graphic design project.
Arden's final talk was presented on Saturday, December 9 on the subject George Bellows' Blue Morning, 1909 painting. The painting depicts the construction site of the Pennsylvania Station railroad terminal in New York City. Arden highlighted the lived experience of the working-class immigrant population during the Industrial Revolution in New York. She also discussed the impressionistic quality of the painting and the subject matter which set it apart from other works of this era. Arden says the opportunity gave her a lot of information about careers in the art field and helped her develop her artistic skills. The most significant part of the experience she notes was finding a community of like-minded students, with an appreciation for art.
