Museum Education: Understanding the Artist through K-12 Studio Practice

Grand Valley State University Art Education students prepared, and held several art studio workshops at a local museum based on Jim Dine\u27s, contemporary sculpture current exhibition. Preparation included visit of the exhibition and discussion with the curator. Research was conducted on the artist, experimentation of various K-12 art medium and design of meaningful art practice at a museum setting for intergenerational visitors. Data was collected by students\u27 personal reflections, review of visual documentation and survey from the workshop participants. Data was than reviewed weekly for the purpose of improving projects and/or developing new ones based on an emerging idea/practice. The research advocates for service based art education practice that is based on contemporary art and relevancy to provide meaningful art making and art appreciation