Child-chosen Narrative Art Highlights Exhibit

Author: Laura RockefellerStaff Writer

Children and the Arts, one of the courses that is being offered by the Teacher Education Department this Winter Term, came together with the Middlebury College Museum of Art to present a new exhibit entitled "Stories in Art." The exhibit will be on display at the Museum in the Center for the Arts from Jan. 10 until June 2, 2002. The pieces included in the show are an eclectic mix from many different time periods and many different countries. However, they were chosen by a group of elementary school children and their teachers because the pieces are all tied together by the fact that they either inspire the imagination to create a story or tell a specific tale.

As one enters the exhibit, it is easy to see why many of these works of art caught the fancy of the group of children whose job it was to select them. The pieces are, for the most part, whimsical and brightly colored, and all of them are intriguing because of the small details in them that certainly suggest an interesting story behind their creation. As the introduction to the exhibit explains, the idea behind the exhibit was to allow the children to use "their senses, memories, and personal associations, [to] make concrete observations about a work of art that form the basis of their narratives." The people responsible for the exhibit wanted to expose the children to art in a way that would lead to inspiration.

Pieces like the 1994 American quilt entitled "The Chinaberry Tree" or the 19th century oil painting "Low Tide" are very thought provoking. One could hardly look at them, even were they not in an exhibit entitled "Stories in Art" and not wonder what is going on in the picture. The former shows two children perched up in a chinaberry tree while an older woman, perhaps their mother, hurries down the road toward them. The beach scene in "Low Tide" is equally charming as it shows a large group of children, colorfully dressed, playing in the sand beside a huge boat. One cannot help but start thinking of reasons why the two children are hiding up in the chinaberry tree, or how it is that the large group of children all came to be playing together at the beach.

The pieces in the exhibit certainly have an appeal to adults that is equal, if perhaps different, to their appeal to younger viewers. According to the introduction tot he exhibit, "While geared to younger viewers, the exhibition offers all visitors an opportunity to contemplate a wide range of artistic styles and to look for stories of their own." The range of works exhibited is broad, nearly ensuring there will be something in the exhibit that will appeal to everyone.

The simplicity of some of the pieces is just as enchanting as is the colorful vibrancy of the two pieces mentioned earlier. The French oil painting "Drawing Lesson" from around 1826 is a graceful and peaceful picture of two girls working away at a drawing lesson, with their little dog nearby, sunlight pouring into their dark, paneled room through an open window. The 20th century Chinese ink drawing "The Lady Guo Goes Riding By Night" is very different from the other pictures in the exhibit in that it is mainly grays, blacks and other darker colors, but it too makes one begin to wonder about the story and to marvel at the skill with which the artist created this image of a lady and her two companons riding out into a gloomy night.

The Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Tuesday to Thursday and from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. It is closed on Mondays and on all College holidays. Admission to all exhibits at the Museum is free. For more information about the exhibit call the Middlebury College Museum of Art at (802) 443-5007 or visit the Museum's Web site at www.middlebury.edu/~museum.