To inject more art into the Common Core Standards, and engage educators with the museum’s collection, the museum partnered with the Hawai‘i Department of Education two years ago on a project that puts posters in O‘ahu DOE classrooms. The first poster featured Juliette May Fraser’s Lei Sellers and was distributed to classrooms in December 2014. It asked students and teachers to observe, describe, interpret, and connect what they see. (The painting is on view now through Sept. 17 in Camouflage Rhythms: Artwork by Juliette May Fraser.)
The sixth poster will be released at the start of the next school year and highlights the Anders Elias Jorgensen painting View of Honolulu from Punchbowl, which depicts the remains of old Punchbowl Fort in 1875, complete with cannons and a grand view of Diamond Head in the distance. In addition, the poster includes text that can help teachers create a comprehensive learning experience. “We’re connecting this poster to our efforts in outreach, tours, our professional development programs, and our lending collection,” says new curriculum specialist and teacher liaison Justin Davies. “We previously offered teacher resources, but that is becoming more robust.”
“The painting is a visual that gives us a perspective on the geographic area in a particular moment in time,” says Davies. “On the back of the poster are prompts that reference texts that are also from this place and time, including a quote from Hiram Bingham, who went up to Punchbowl and described the view he saw. We also have a set of images from the state archives taken from this point over time, so you can look at the texts, the painting, and the images, and draw conclusions about how this area was seen over time.”
A view of the back of the poster
Students are sure to have a blast interacting with one resource in particular, a Civil War era canonball recently acquired by Lending Collection manager Dawn Sueoka. “I started by reaching out to local antique dealers, and putting feelers out through folks at the Collectors’ Expo and at the Hawai’i Historic Arms Association’s gun show,” says Sueoka. “While we would have ideally liked to acquire a cannonball from Punchbowl—to coincide with the release of the poster—we decided to acquire a comparable, disarmed Civil War cannonball from an antique dealer who does appraisals of Civil War memorabilia for Antiques Roadshow. Holding the cannonball is definitely a somber and, to be honest, somewhat chilling experience, not only because of its weight and coldness, but also because of its history, and I think it’s very important that comes across.”
Educators: Would you like more information? E-mail gro.muesumululonohnull@srehcaet for details on posters or teacher workshops.
Visit our website to learn more about teachers’ resources.