PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER

ART FOR EVERYONE

GRADES 6-8

Isamu Noguchi believed that art should be accessible to a broad public audience, not exclusively to the art community.  Through public projects, commercial furniture designs and individual sculptures, Noguchi was able to create art that went beyond personal expression to explore the functionality of space and art applied to the ‘lived-in’ environment.  Throughout his life, he designed several functional objects for private use including tables, chairs, a radio, and his well-known bamboo and paper lamps or “light-sculptures” which he called Akari.

Noguchi contemplated the need for people to enjoy life.  He recognized the desire to socialize, to play, and to find wonder in the beauty of the natural world.  His interest in providing opportunities for these activities prompted Noguchi to design public sites.  For Noguchi, art needed to be more than personal expression, so he began to explore the role of art in the lives of everyday people.

CURATING ONE’S OWN MUSEUM

GRADES 6-8 SAMPLE LESSON

OBJECTIVE

Students will learn what a curator is in relationship to a collection.  Students will also learn that, at the end of his life, Noguchi chose to create a museum in Queens and curated the space himself.  Students will then engage in an activity about collections and curating their own spaces.

COOPERATIVE DISCIPLINES

Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies

MATERIALS

Paper, pencils

Curator’s Checklist (see Resources)

Image of The Noguchi Museum (Indoor Galleries)

MOTIVATION/PROCEDURE

o         Tell students that today they will be talking about ‘curators’ and ‘collections’.  Write these words on board or a large pad of paper.

o         Ask, “Does anyone here collect anything?  If so, what is it?”  (Invite as many responses as are appropriate.  Note the diversity of people’s collections, or similarities if they are more easily apparent.)  “Why do you collect these things?  What is it about them?”

o         Then ask, “What about these collections?  Can we learn anything about the ‘collector’ by knowing or seeing what their collection is?  Where do you keep your collection?  Is it in one place?  Are the items in many different locations?  Why do you choose to keep your collection this way?”

o         Note if there are any protective measures people take with their collections (i.e. baseball cards in plastic sleeves in binders).  Ask students to explain these measures and why they are important to maintaining the collection.

o         Tell students that you are now going to share with them some photos of someone else’s collection.  Ask students to look at the photos carefully.  What do they see? (Rocks, different colors, different shapes, etc.)

o         Ask students what they think can be learned about the collector of these objects based on what they see?  Can they make a guess about this person’s interest based on these items?

o         Now, tell the group that there is something particularly unique about this collection.  Explain to the group that this is a collection of things made by a person, who then decided to create a place for the collection for all people to see.

o         Does this change what they thought about the person before?

o         Does this add anything to their ideas about the person whose collection this is?

o         Ask, “Can anyone tell me what you might call a place like the one in these pictures – a place where all kinds of people can go and look at a ‘collection’ of things?”

o         Finally, tell group that the person whose collection they have been looking at and talking about was named Isamu Noguchi.  Tell group that (if they have not said this already), Noguchi was an artist.  At the end of his life, he created The Noguchi Museum in Long Island City, New York, and put this collection in the Museum in the way he wanted people to see it. 

o         Explain to the group that when you go somewhere like a museum, the person responsible for deciding where objects should go and how visitors should see and experience them (what first, what last? etc.) is called a ‘curator’.  When Noguchi was living, he was the curator of the Museum.  Tell the group that today, there is a different curator of the Museum’s collection, and it is this person’s job to maintain and oversee the collection and to continue to show people Noguchi’s artwork in new and exciting ways.

o         Now, explain to students that what you want them to think about is what kind of museum they would create and curate if they could.  What would the collection be?  How would they want people to look at this collection?  (On the wall, at tables in books, sitting on the floor). 

o         Tell group that what you would like them to do is to create a plan for their museum using the Curator’s Checklist.  You can also invite them to create drawn plans of the space as they envision it, if appropriate.

SHARING

o         When students have completed their plans, ask them to present the idea behind their museums to the class.