The Arkansas Arts Academy sixth-grade class is closing out the school year with an exhibition at the A3 Gallery in downtown Rogers. Artifacts Across the Ages is the name of the exhibition, and will feature “artifacts” created by the students in the likeness of historical and cultural objects that they have studied in class.
The concept of this program originated with Mr. Aaron Jones, Director of Arts Integration and Museum Partnerships, and Mr. Joel Taylor, sixth-grade Social Studies teacher, who collaborated to design arts integration projects to accompany units for Social Studies. After developing a plan that combined social studies outcomes with an arts integration project, and a couple of years of learning the best art forms to correspond with the historical study, a solid curriculum map had been developed.
The concept evolved into a collaborative program with the Rogers Historical Museum. Ashley Sayers, Museum Education Manager at the museum, was developing a comprehensive museum educational experience for schools. AAA 6th grade was happy to serve as the pilot for the program. Throughout the school year, students visited the Rogers Historical Museum to learn the responsibilities and duties of specific museum occupations. Museum staff toured students through the galleries, education spaces, and the vaults for the collections to explain the importance of themes for the exhibition, object placements, and content for labels.
During the final visit to the Museum, students participated in an exhibition activity in which students were divided into small groups and selected objects from the museum’s teaching collection. The groups developed a theme for their exhibit, wrote labels for each object, displayed the objects and labels, and then presented the connection of each object in the exhibition to the rest of the class. The exercise was designed to assist students as they planned for their gallery exhibition. After two semesters of studies and the creation numerous arts integration “artifacts”, the sixth-grade students are ready to share their exhibition with the public. Students have spent the last two weeks finalizing labels, preparing public tours, and installing their exhibition in the A3 Gallery. Artifacts Across the Ages will be open for family and friends at the A3 Gallery (228 South 1st Street) on Tuesday, May 20th, from 5-7 pm.
THANK YOU to our partnering museum, the Rogers Historical Museum, for this opportunity! Special thank you to Ashley Sayers, Education Manager, Glen Christophersen, Education Assistant, Jennifer Kick, Collections Manager, Samantha Bynum, Assistant Director, and Serena Barnett, Executive Director!