Raw/Cooked at the Brooklyn Museum

It’s easy to fall in love with the Brooklyn Museum as soon as you peak your head out from the subway.  The architecture of the Brooklyn Museum combines traditional columns and intricate stonework with a modern open glass entryway to really give the museum a fresh transitional attitude.  As soon as MTS met up with Matt, he assured us that diversity is key for both the visitors and exhibitions of the museum.  He showed us an awesome gallery that connected places, people, and things and drew common threads throughout a wide time frame. 

MTS asked Matt, “Why have teens in museums?” Matt stressed that teens are “hip and knowledgeable” and if museums are cool enough for teens, then they must be doing their job right.  Teens are the future of museums and the more they’re involved with museums now, the better museum events and programs will be in the future.  We were then led to check out Ulrike Müller’s Raw/Cooked exhibit.  Our task was to use the artwork descriptions to come up with our own drawings that displayed an issue we felt strongly about. 

The Brooklyn Museum is famous for its Target First Saturdays, which are FREE events held at the Brooklyn Museum on the first Saturday of every month.  Guests can enjoy free art and entertainment.  MTS invites you to check out these sweet free events!

-Nicole Marino

MTS is Excited for the Frick's first Teen Night

MTS explored the elegant Frick Collection this past Thursday with great anticipation for the museum’s first free museum event for teens this September.  We were greeted by Rika Burnham, Head of Education, who introduced us to the classic beauty of the Frick’s European art.  We admired the peacefulness and mature atmosphere of the Frick as well as the breathtaking art.  Rika encouraged us to admire Giovanni Bellini’s famous painting of St. Francis and let us discover the painting’s symbolism and mystery on our own.  From the symbolism of the donkey and sheep in the painting to the shadows under St. Francis’ feet that suggest he is hovering ever so slightly above the ground, this painting will continue to amaze us as we discover even more about it on our next visits to the Frick.

Although MTS loves how the Frick is one of New York City’s best kept secrets, we couldn’t be more excited to share this museum with other teens at the museum’s first ever free event for teens.  On September 27^th, the Frick will be opening up its Gilded Age mansion for teens to sketch in the Garden Court, to enjoy music by members of the Praxis Youth Leadership Orchestra, to be inspired by gallery talks, and to enjoy the wisdom of the Frick’s Chief Curator.  MTS spoke with Anna Finley, Education Assistant, Claire Coveney, Communications Manager, Adrienne Lei, Education Programs Coordinator, and Eduardo, Intern, about this exciting new teen night. 

So come join MTS at the Frick Collection on September 27th for this enchantingly awesome teen night!

-Nicole Marino

A Museum's 'Disney World' @ Children's Museum of the Arts

On Charlton Street, Museum Teen Summit uncovered a museum's euphoric version of Disney World at the Children's Museum of the Arts. But unlike the princesses and mouse eared characters lining the streets of Florida, New York's 10,000 square foot space in SoHo inspires artistic creativity as showcased in the current exhibition, Art Forms: 75 Years of Art Education.

Looking through the artwork of student and educator 

From June 21 to September 15, "Art Forms examines the relationship between art educator and art student by showcasing three intertwined elements that reveal the lifeblood of CMA's mission and philosophy: current children's artwork by CMA's 2011-2012 public school partnerships, artwork by Teaching Artists, and antique children's artwork from CMA's permanent collection..." Ranging from flying sculptures to intricate drawings, the exhibition exemplifies how students and teachers inspire each other.

Brainstorming!

Invigorated by Art Forms, Museum Teen Summit took our energy to the art studios where we fleshed out ideas, comments, and concerns leading to the big question surrounding our research projects: Why aren't teens in museums?
And once establishing our 'jumping off point', we devised methods that may answer this ambiguous question, which includes concocting a timeline, creating samples, collecting data, and interpreting insights. 

Little by little, we grappled and discovered our various interest points answering the big 'why'; pros and cons surrounding marketing, teen programs and events, education, and visitations factor into teen participation in museums. Individually, we broke down our topics even further as we colorfully devised diagrams.



Now, with our topics firmly set in stone, Museum Teen Summit is ready to commence research! Keep posted on our progress; our results may surprise you!

-- Ramona Venturanza

A Jackpot of 'Impact' at The Whitney Museum of Art

Yayoi Kusama in Yellow Tree furniture room at Aich triennale, Nagoya, Japan, 2010 (detail). http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/YayoiKusama

The rainy streets of the Upper East Side did not dishearten the motivated mood of Museum Teen Summit as we gathered into the lobby of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Greeted by the education department's Berry Stein, we walked into the wide elevator shafts and rode up into the exhibition, Yayoi Kusama. Toured by our very own, Billy Zhao, Museum Teen Summit explored Kusama's intense retrospective of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and films through the bustling jungles of Japan and New York City.

Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929), Accumulation, c. 1963. Sewn and stuffed fabric, wood chair frame, paint, 35 1/2 × 38 1/2 × 35 in. (90.2 × 97.8 × 88.9 cm).http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/YayoiKusama

Concluding the tour, our team shuffled the architectural staircase into the conference room where we consulted with members of the Whitney staff on their own research project: the overall, poignant impact of teen participation in museums. Many of us curious teens, gazing at artwork or sketching in an art program, take for granted what a museum serve for us, both as individuals and leaders. In a nut shell, here are the five short and long term qualities museums can give us:

1. Personal Growth
2. Leadership
3. Social Capital
4. Arts Participation
5. Artistic & Cultural literacy

From Museum Teen Summit over to you: museum programs affect our character and future.
Go ahead, visit, and try one; trust me, you will not regret it!

-- Ramona Venturanza

MTS @ Museum of Art and Design

It is the second session of MTS Summer ’12. And most of us (new members) do not know exactly what we are going to be working on this summer yet. But we are sitting with Cathleen Lewis, the director of School, Youth and Family Programs at the Museum of Art and Design. After giving us an intro about the museum, her work, and most importantly (to us,) insight into the various programs at the museum, Cathleen stresses how important she thinks it’s for us to explore topics that could help shape the museum teen programs in NYC and beyond by asking questions such as “what are teens interested in nowadays?” Do people who are responsible for teen programs at museums know what teens are interested in? What they want? Or, maybe like Cathleen, they know but they occasionally have doubts. By the end of the meeting, we definitely started thinking about our mini investigation projects and the specific questions we want to answer. 

Being in a museum, we didn’t want to leave without touring it. So Kiana, a former Artslife member and current MTS member showed us around the museum she represents, specifically through an exhibition called Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation, featuring contemporary Native art. Noteworthy things are that it’s the only one in the city with open artist studios and that its collections are in every imaginable material. So imagine how much we gazed at them! After over bonding over favorite wine glass designs, we met with the current Artslife interns and did an exercise to understand how various age groups view art differently.
 
All of what had happened that afternoon though, led us back to our continuing discussion. Why are there museums? What is their purpose? But before the imminent serious discussion, Marit showed us a lighthearted cartoon about the topic called “We Love Museums... Do Museums Love Us Back?” The day ended with a discussion that was what any good discussion should be…..full of critiquing, provocative questions, theories, ideas. 

-Lu Yi

Caliente @ El Museo del Barrio

Through the festive white and orange walls of El Museo del Barrio, an assortments of snacks, a mix of Latin American tunes, and a group of vibrant smiles greeted a batch of 10 new members into the summer season of Museum Teen Summit. 

As with all Museum Teen Summit meetings, new and senior members are introduced or reacquainted with a unique museum; on this first summer excursion, we explored the teen involvement of El Museo del Barrio. Manager of Youth and Opportunities, Mairelys Alberto, and School Programs Assistant, Meghan Lally, led our members into the museum's cultural history, and their successful teen events, such as their open mic night, and promising future filled with upcoming classes and opportunities available to the youth. 

Francisco Oller y Cestero
Platanos Amarillo
elmuseo.org

The team walked through El Museo's permanent collection on view, Voces Y Visiones: Gran Caribe, which portrays the vast diversity and complexity of the Caribbean basin. The exhibition marks a period in history when an influx of people, objects, ideas, and images throughout Latin America influenced artistic development occurring within the Caribbean.

Accompanied by the exhibit, new members also explored an unsettling question: Who is Museum Teen Summit?
Through ice breakers and collages, we found our purpose, our answer: we are collection of fellow youths who 

1. Spread the word! - Let teens know of the events and programs happening at museums
2. Share our ideas! - Let educators and coordinators know of what us, teens want in an event/program
3. Build the community! - Let teens have that special place where all of us can mingle and share our love for the arts

Spend this caliente summer inside the sanctions of a cool museum, like El Museo del Barrio; you never know what shot of inspiration or fellow teen you might come across.

- Ramona, new & excited MTS member