Students from Across the District Take Trips to the Detroit Institute of Arts
The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) was recently named by USA Today as “the best art museum” in America (March 9, 2024, Detroit Free Press). Berkley art teachers couldn’t agree more!
Not only is the DIA a world-renowned museum housing works from Kahlo to Van Gogh it also allows teachers to expose students to wide ranges of culturally important visual communication throughout history, giving students opportunities to experience a world of possibilities from diverse viewpoints, skill levels and perspectives.
Over the last few months many Berkley Schools students have visited the DIA! See details below from Pattengill, BHS, Burton, Angell and Rogers field trips.
4th grade Pattengill students visited the DIA on February 7th for the "thinking through art" docent-led tour. Alysson Carr, Pattengill art teacher shared, “Students enjoyed building on our visual thinking skills & discussing pieces by Andy Warhol, Romare Bearden, Kehinde Wiley and Grecian artifacts.” Students also spent some time in Rivera court studying the "Detroit in Industry" mural by Diego Rivera.
Stefanie Coburn from Berkley High School shared that she loves taking her 9-12th grade art students to the DIA because she gets to experience them finding something new every time they visit. This year on the trip, students participated in a docent-led Shaping Identity Tour focusing on Ancient World Art which many students connected to their social studies classes. “Whether it's their first or their 20th time being at the museum, it’s awesome seeing them get excited about the new (or very very old) artworks. It’s a fantastic way for them to see history they’ve learned about but in a new and visibly compelling format,” Ms. Coburn shared.
Every year, Burton art teacher Dorota Jakuc takes all 5th grade students on a field trip to the DIA in the winter/early spring. For this year’s trip, students participated in the Shaping Identity Tour, with a focus on Diego Rivera. After taking the guided tour for an hour, students were able to visit the museum with their chaperone in small groups. Small group visits included the mummies and artwork made by artists students have studied in earlier grades, like Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Andy Warhol and Kehinde Wiley.
At Angell, art teacher Samantha Letvin takes all the fourth grade students to the DIA with their teachers. Ms. Letvin shared the first part of the field-trip was dedicated to social emotional learning and the second half of the day was self guided touring.
Rogers 4th graders traveled to the DIA with art teacher Nicole Stone. Students brought sketch books with visible thinking activities and blank pages to sketch interesting things they noticed after spending time in the museum and studying the murals in Diego Rivera hall. This year, students participated in the Shaping Identity Tour as well. On the way to the museum, students drove past the Heidelberg Project in Detroit so they could see the work of local artist Tyree Guyton. Ms. Stone shared, “Students asked good questions and got a ton of new ideas. During classroom reflections, artists were torn about their favorite pieces: the suits of armor, the mummies and "Sorting out Andy" by Hernan Bas.
