Introduction

POMO (Postmodernism)

Biographies

Middle School Lesson Plan

High School Lesson Plan

Coordinator Testimonial

Teacher Threads

Student Workbook and Journal

References

On April 13, 2002 college professors and their students, K–12 art teachers and their students, museum educators, artist Judy Onofrio, and myself convened at the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum to share our experiences with this project. I added two important new revelations to my learning curve after this meeting.

The conversation was incredibly rich when we invited college professors and students, K-12 teachers and students, museum education specialists and a practicing artist into multi-way conversation. I cannot help but think how powerful it was for the students to meet a "real" artist, for the K-12 students to watch their teachers present and be provided the opportunity to speak themselves!

The second important thing I learned on April 13, 2002 is that Minnesota has a group of master art teachers who take my breath away. I had goose bumps watching Carl Anderson and Judy Christoffersen present their multi-media productions, hearing about the Judy, Diane and Kathy grotto road trip (complete with a slide show contributed by Diane Scully), and viewing the power of this kind of art making from a teacher-work by Therese Cacek, and was very impressed by the curriculum writing skills of Kathy Grundei.

Judy Onofrio takes the grand prize for being kid and teacher user friendly and I send her my deepest thanks for making this project so wonderful. Thanks also to the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Walker Art Center and the Minnesota Museum of American Art for providing prizes for the teachers and students. Judi Petkau, from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, helped with many of the pre-conference details and thanks to Susan Rotilie, from the Walker Art Center, for grinding all the paperwork—a necessary but many times thankless detail for these events. I also want to thank Dave Beaman and the Perpich Center for partially funding this project and Deb Hannu and Kathy Gerdtz-Senger for contributing their voices. Professors Allison Aune and Kathy Gainey should be commended for going the extra mile for their students. It was great to see you.

Special thanks to Carl Anderson for organizing the "Connections" sculpture. I was particularly struck by the great opportunity it provided for informal conversation between participants. I think I will also include an activity like this in my future projects. We are planning an installation of "Connections" on November 1, 2002, 5:00 p.m. at the Perpich Center for Arts Education.

This project was a magnificent tribute to the power of post-modern art. Thank you to the Blandin Foundation, the Walker Art Center, the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, the Minnesota Museum of American Art and The Minneapolis Institute of Arts for making it possible.

Barbara Rogers Bridges Ph.D.