Meta Warrick FullerProgram
Danforth
Museum of Art
Planning For Your Visit
How To Use This Packet
3
Massachusetts
Curriculum Connections
4
About the Program
5
New Words to Know
7
Scheduling Your Visit
8
Planning Your Visit
9
Museum Rules
10
Cover: Bust of a Woman, n.d. unfired clay
(Collection of Danforth Museum of Art)
This Page: Woman Glancing to Her Right,
ca. 1915, polychromed cast plaster
(Collection of Danforth Museum of Art)
Courtesy of Heather Swartz.
Julia Brucker
Assistant Director of
Interpretive Programs
[email protected]
508.620.0050 ext. 23
Danforth
Museum of Art
Union Avenue
Framingham, MA 01702
www.danforthmuseum.org
508.620.0050
123
How To use This Packet
Meta Warrick Fuller was a local African-American sculptor of national importance.
She moved to Framingham with her husband Solomon in 1909. In the next 60 years,
she inspired the re-birth of African-American art – the Harlem Renaissance – and
changed the way her neighbors in Framingham saw race.
The Meta Warrick Fuller Program provides students with an unforgettable view of the
artist as well as a hands-on art activity creating self-portraits in clay relief.
This packet contains information relevant to the school’s field trip to the Danforth
Museum of Art, including the program’s curriculum connections, new words to learn
before the trip, and a planning checklist. After your trip, tell us about it! Please take the
time to fill out an evaluation form that we will send to you online, or detach the form
from the back of the packet.
For more information or to schedule a field trip…
Please contact Julia Brucker, Assistant Director of Interpretive Programs
by email to [email protected] or phone at 508.620.0050 ext. 23
Don’t miss this!
Also see the Educators’ Resource Packet for additional information and
activities for the classroom!
The Meta Fuller Program is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts,
the Sudbury Foundation, Target Foundation and the generosity of individual donors.
Meta Warrick Fuller Program: Planning For Your Visit 3
Massachusetts Curriculum Connections
English Language Arts
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Questioning, Listening, and Contributing (2)
Students will pose questions, listen to the ideas of others, and contribute their own information/ideas in a Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) discussion of Meta Warrick Fuller’s sculpture in order to acquire new knowledge.
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Making Connections (9)
Students will deepen their knowledge of a non-literary work – Meta Warrick Fuller’s sculpture – by relating it to its historical background, Meta Fuller’s biography.
History and Social Science
Students should be able to:
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Observe visual sources such as historic paintings, photographs, or illustrations that accompany historical narratives, and describe details such as clothing, setting, or action. (3.2)
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After reading a biography of a person from Massachusetts in the arts and summarize the person’s life and achievements. (3.7B)
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Identify historic buildings, monuments, or sites in the area – such as Meta Warrick Fuller’s house, studio, and public sculpture – and explain their purpose and significance. (3.9)
“The students really liked talking and thinking about sculpture.
I really liked how they used critical thinking skills to examine art.”
Visual Arts
Students will:
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Use a variety of materials and media, for example, clay,
and understand how to use them to produce different visual effects (1.1)
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Learn and use appropriate vocabulary related to
methods, materials, and techniques (1.3)
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Learn to take care of materials and tools and to use them safely (1.4)
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Create 3D artwork from direct observation (3.1)
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Describe similarities and differences in works, and present personal responses to the subject matter, materials, techniques, and use of design elements in artworks (5.3)
This Page: Storytime, 1964 polychromed cast plaster Opposite Page: Water Boy, 1930, plaster with gold paint
Figures in Hand (Study for Spirit of Emancipation), before 1913, unfired clay
(all Collection of Danforth Museum of Art) All Courtesy of Heather Swartz.
Spirit of the Emancipation, cast in 1999. Courtesy of National Center of Afro-American
Artists and the Museum of African-American History
Meta Warrick Fuller Program: Planning For Your Visit 4
About The Program
The Museum Tour focuses on Meta Warrick Fuller’s life story. The tour is split into
three sections: 1. Her family and heritage 2. Where she lived and 3. How she worked.
Docents will lead students in observing and discussing Meta’s sculptures and exploring
the inspiration for her art. The tour and the art project are each one hour long.
Landman Gallery: Her Family and Heritage
Meta Warrick Fuller was both a practicing artist and a mother of three sons.
Her sons became subjects for her work, and she made several sculptures of mothers
with their children.
Meta was inspired by the songs and history of African-Americans.
For example, she sculpted Water Boy after hearing a popular song
by the same name. The song had become popular in the 1920s and was based on an African-American chain gang melody from
Alabama. Students will discuss the similarities and differences between the sculpture and the song. “The docent was very knowledgeable and comfortable with the students.
The art activity was wonderful for the children.”
Students will also see a sketch for the Spirit of the Emancipation, an 8 foot tall bronze sculpture now installed in Harriet Tubman Park in the South End.
Meta created the plaster cast for the Spirit of the Emancipation in 1913, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation
Proclamation. The bronze sculpture was not cast until 1999, after the artist’s death. Students will compare the small study to the final version,
and consider how an artist changes her ideas from rough draft to final draft.
Lawrence Gallery: Her Places
Meta Warrick Fuller was one of the first African-American women to go to college at
the Philadelphia College of Fine Arts. She was also one of the first African-American
women to study at the art academies in Paris. (They had just opened their doors to
women in 1894!) Meta was in Paris for three years, from 1899-1902. She met her
mentor there, Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). He was a famous French sculptor who,
ike her, liked to sculpt subjects that expressed a lot of emotion. Students will see Meta
Fuller’s sculpture Danse Macabre (c. 1914) and compare it to a poster of his sculpture
The Thinker (1902).
Meta Warrick Fuller Program: Planning For Your Visit 5
Meta returned to the United States to begin her career, but struggled with the
discrimination against African-Americans and women. She met Solomon Fuller while
visiting Massachusetts. They married and moved to Framingham in 1909. Students will
see historical photographs of Framingham at that time, including, the young couple in
front of their house on Warren Road. They will also see pictures of the house
and studio today.**
“The day was a wonderful mix of activity and museum tour.”
Art Cart: Her Tools
Meta Warrick Fuller’s grandsons and granddaughter knew her as a grandmother, who
took care of them after school. It wasn’t until they were teenagers that they realized
how famous she was as an artist. She gave up her studio when she grew older, but
continued to make sculptures at a table near her bed. One of her grandsons, John
Fuller, recalls her sitting in a straight-backed chair as she worked with hand tools on
greenish-brown modeling wax. “She started by pushing it and carving it, until she had
a general impression. Then she fine-tuned the form, adding realistic details. When she
was satisfied, she made a rubber mold of the modeling wax, and from the mold,
a plaster cast.”
“We liked all of it. The art project connection was very appropriate.”
Students will see a demonstration of the casting process, and the actual tools that Meta Warrick Fuller used in her studio.
Art Activity: Her Art
Students will spend one hour in an art studio, creating a bas-relief sculpture of their
self-portrait. They will study hand-mirrors to discover the shapes of their faces, and
learn the proportion of facial features. They will learn or review the clay hand-building
technique, score and slip. Like Meta Fuller, students will paint their finished portrait
relief sculptures with copper paint. Students take the self-hardening clay back to school,
protected between paper plates.
Please bring 2-3 cardboard boxes to bring art projects safely back to school.
** Meta and Solomon Fuller’s former house still stands at 31 Warren Road. Meta
Warrick Fuller’s former studio is located at 135 Warren Road. Warren Road is only a
few minutes drive from the Museum, allowing a detour on the way back to school. We
recommend requesting the detour when scheduling transportation.
Meta Warrick Fuller Program: Planning For Your Visit 6
New Words To Know
This vocabulary will be defined and discussed during the tour program,
but it may be helpful to review with students before your visit.
Bronze – A metal made of tin and copper
A bronze sculpture is much heavier than a plaster sculpture.
Cast (eg. bronze cast, plaster cast) – A cast is a copy made in bronze, plaster or another material of an
original object.
A paleontologist (a type of scientist) might make a plaster cast of a dinosaur’s footprint by pouring plaster
into the hollow left by the foot many years ago.
A doctor makes a cast for your broken arm by covering your arm in plaster paste, which hardens to
immobilize the broken bone.
Emancipation Proclamation – Abraham Lincoln issued an executive order on January 1, 1863, which
freed slaves in the Confederate States. The order eventually led to the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing
slavery in all of the United States. The Emancipation Proclamation inspired many artworks on the theme
of freedom.
Inspire – To influence, motivate, or affect
The art of Auguste Rodin inspired Meta Fuller to create sculptures of her own.
Her courage inspires us.
Macabre – Gruesome, horrifying, and ghastly; dealing with death
A ghost story might be macabre.
The Danse Macabre is French for “dance of death.”
Mold – A container into which liquid is poured to create a given shape when it hardens.
Plane – A flat, two-dimensional surface. For example, the wall of a room can be described as a plane.
The room is made up of many planes.
Plaster – A white powder that forms a paste when mixed with water. When it dries, it hardens into a
solid.
Portrait – An image of a person, especially of the face. This can be a drawing, painting, photograph, or
sculpture.
During the Meta Fuller tour program, students will make self-portraits out of clay.
Replica – A copy or reproduction of a work of art which is made by the original creator or under his or
her supervision.
Sculpture – three-dimensional artwork, which can be made out of many sorts of hard or plastic materials,
including wire, clay, marble, or paper.
In-the-round – free-standing sculpture that is meant to be viewed from any angle.
It is surrounded on all sides by space, except for the base on which it stands.
Relief – a sculpture attached to a plane. Forms either rise out of the plane,
or sink into it.
Bas-relief – a relief sculpture in which forms rise out of the plane.
Sunken relief – a relief sculpture in which forms are carved into the planes
Three dimensional – Something is three dimensional when it has height, width and depth.
For example, a room is three dimensional. A picture is two-dimensional.
Meta Warrick Fuller Program: Planning For Your Visit 7
Scheduling Your Visit
Reservations
Please make your reservations at least three weeks in advance. Contact Julia
Brucker at 508.620.0050 ext. 23 or [email protected]. At the time of
your reservation, please let us know if your group has any special needs. We can
accommodate approximately 50 children at one time for this program.
Bus Transportation (Framingham Public Schools Only)
Transportation costs are paid for! (See note on page 8 regarding a special detour!)
Teachers need to call Transportation at 508.626.9179 and submit a field trip request
form. Write “Danforth Museum of Art Meta Fuller Grant” in the appropriate space.
For questions, call Debbie Martin at Business Operations at 508.626.9100
or FAX 508.879.7736.
Tour Hours
The Meta Fuller Program takes 2 hours, and usually takes place from 9:30-11:30 am
on Tuesday, Thursday or Friday. Occasional Wednesdays may also be available.
Meta Warrick Fuller Program: Planning For Your Visit 8
Planning Your Visit
Before Your Visit
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Distribute this packet to all teachers, and discuss Youth Group Guidelines with all chaperones accompanying your group.
Please ask chaperones to help enforce Youth Group Guidelines.
Prepare nametags so that Museum Docents may easily interact with students during tours.
Use the nametags to divide the tour and art groups prior to your visit.
Divide the students into two groups and assign each half a colored nametag (eg. red and blue). Within the first group, assign number
1, 2, or 3 and letter A or B to each child. Do the same for the
other color nametag.
For example: Susan has a red nametag marked with a 1 and a B. The red group stays in the museum for a tour first. Susan is in tour group #1. After an hour, the red group goes upstairs to do an art activity. Susan is in art activity group B.
Bring 2-3 boxes to safely carry home the art projects.
When you arrive
q
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Busses may park on local roads around the museum during the visit. Please make arrangements with the bus driver to meet you at the front entrance after your tour. There is a parking lot for cars.
Please use the main entrance on Union Avenue, where a Danforth Museum Docent will greet you.
Accessibility
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The Museum is handicapped accessible. The elevator entrance is marked by a red awning, on the Pearl Street side of the building. Please inform staff when making reservations if you will need to use this entrance.
Please copy and distribute this sheet to all teachers and chaperones prior to your visit to the Danforth Museum of Art. Thank you!
Please copy and distribute this sheet to all teachers and chaperones prior
to your visit to the Danforth Museum of Art. Thank you!
Meta Warrick Fuller Program: Planning For Your Visit 9
Museum Rules
Museum Rules
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We require at least one adult chaperone for every ten students.
Please ask chaperones to help the children follow museum rules.
Please do not photograph or video tape while in the Museum.
•
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Please do not touch artwork in the Museum.
Remind students not to lean on walls or display cases.
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Please do not lean against walls, paintings, or display cases.
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Student (and chaperone) cell phones must be turned off during tours.
Please do…
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Look, and then LOOK again!
You will see new things every time you look carefully at art.
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Share what you see! Docents will ask questions that have more than one right answer, but please raise your hand first.
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Enjoy your visit to the Danforth Museum of Art!
Meta Warrick Fuller Program: Planning For Your Visit 10
Meta Warrick Fuller
Program Evaluation
Thank you for participating in the Meta Warrick Fuller Program!
Please help us develop this program by contributing your opinions and comments.
Your feedback is vital to making this program a success!
Name:
School/Organization:
Your Group’s Docent:
Title/Grade:
Date of Your Visit:
q Please add me to the Danforth Museum of Art e-Newsletter!
E-mail:
Please Rate
Students’ level of engagement in Museum tour
Docent (museum guide) performance
Age appropriateness of activities and language
Art Activity
Art Teacher
Your Comments on the Above Categories:
Excellent
m m m m m Good
m
m
m
m
m
Okay
m
m m
m
m
Curriculum Connections
How well did the program connect to:
ELA: Speaking and Listening
History: Framingham, biography
Visual Arts
Excellent
Good
Okay
m m m m m
m m
m m
Poor
m
m m
m
m
Poor
m
m
m
Overall
Please describe how this field trip enhanced or could better enhance
your classroom curriculum:
What did your students like best about their visit? What did you like best about the visit?
If you could change one thing about this program, what would you improve?
Please name any additional resources that would be helpful to you as a teacher,
or to your students in the classroom:
Please return this completed evaluation to the Danforth Museum of Art
by e-mail to [email protected] or mail
Thank you for your time!
Danforth
Museum of Art
123 Union Avenue Framingham, MA 01702
www.danforthmuseum.org
• 508.620.0050
Meta
Warrick Fuller Program:
Planning For Your Visit 11
Grade 3 Student Evaluation Form
You can help us by telling us about your visit to the Danforth Museum of Art!
My favorite sculpture was...
It was my favorite because...
One fact about Meta Warrick Fuller that I will never forget is...
My favorite part about this field trip was...
Danforth
Museum of Art
123 Union Avenue Framingham, MA 01702
www.danforthmuseum.org
• 508.620.0050
Meta
Warrick Fuller Program:
Planning For Your Visit 12
Meta Warrick Fuller Program: Planning For Your Visit 13
Copyright
© 2011
by Danforth
Museum of Art
All rights reserved.
These materials are
made available for limited
non-commercial, educational,
and personal use only and are
protected by copyright. Users
must cite the author and source
of the materials as they would
material from any printed work.
Furthermore, copyright and other
proprietary rights may be held by
individuals or entities other than,
or in addition to, the Danforth Museum
of Art. In such cases, materials may not
be used in any form without the
permission of the holder of
the underlying copyright.
Written by Julia Brucker
Design by Maria Grazia Grieci
at Grazia Grafica
Julia Brucker
Assistant Director of
Interpretive Programs
[email protected]
508.620.0050 ext. 23
Danforth
Museum of Art
Avenue
Framingham, MA 01702
www.danforthmuseum.org
508.620.0050
123 Union