The Art Museum of West Virginia University has received a grant from the West Virginia Humanities Council to help fund a Summer Teacher Institute at WVU for middle and high school teachers who teach art and the humanities.

Titled “Cultural Change: the Creative Forces behind Early Modernism,” the five-day institute will be held June 17-22 at the Art Museum Education Center on the WVU Evansdale Campus.

Applications are now being accepted through March 23.

According to Joyce Ice, director of the Art Museum and project director for the Summer Teacher Institute, the event is designed to offer participants an exciting professional development opportunity—exploring cultural change through a specific case study from the early 20th century.

“For example, Blanche Lazzell, an artist from West Virginia who studied in Paris, is one of the people who was greatly influenced by Modernism, and who, in turn, influenced other artists when she returned to the United States,” Dr. Ice said.

“The Institute is planned to be both intellectually stimulating and useful as teachers take their insights from the week and creatively integrate them in their classrooms.”

The institute will present an integrated approach to the understanding and teaching of how the radical transformations in art, music, dance and literature in the early 20th century came to define Modernism.

These pivotal art forms will be the focus of a series of presentations, discussions, and first-hand observations, as participants explore how this cultural shift took place and why it proved to be so influential.

Using a cross-disciplinary approach to the historical study of art forms that emerged in Paris in the early 20th century, the Institute will center on the integrated study of works of art in the collection of the Art Museum of WVU and of museums in Washington, D.C., as well as historical documentation of performances and presentations of early Modern music, dance, and literature.

Teachers will work in teams to develop lesson plans that encourage critical thinking, not only about Modernism, but also about those factors which create monumental cultural change, in keeping with the West Virginia Department of Education’s Content Standards and Objectives for the subject matter and grade levels represented in the Institute.

The Institute is open to middle and high school teachers in art, social studies, English and language arts who hold a valid West Virginia teaching license and currently teach in grades 6-12 in one of the following areas: art, English/language arts, social studies/history/geography.

In addition, teachers must be committed to continue teaching in West Virginia for at least one academic year (2012-2013) after the Institute takes place, be dedicated to working in collaboration with fellow teachers and be willing to apply and share insights gained in the classroom and with fellow educators.

The West Virginia Humanities Council is a state affiliate of the national Endowment for the Humanities. The grant for the Teacher Institute is being made through the WVU Research Corporation.

This is the second Teacher Institute organized by the Art Museum of WVU. The first one was held in the summer of 2010.

Participation in the Institute is limited to 25 teachers. For more information, including the on-line application, see the Art Museum website at: www.ccarts.wvu.edu/art_museum.

For more information, contact Joyce Ice by e-mail joyce.ice@mail.wvu.edu or phone 304-293-6825 or Mandie Guggenbiller by e-mail mandie.guggenbiller@mail.wvu.edu or phone 304-293-7790.

-WVU-

CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu

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