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DYANSEN
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PREVIEW
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collectors for 15 Infs.
FINE ART
AUCTION
AUCTION
AT
7:30 PM
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BIRMINGHAM, MI.
THURSDAY, APRIL 6TH
•
THE TOWNSEND HOTEL
100 TOWNSEND STREET
F. JOAN GOLDBERG Auc. Lic.#794o1
Including custom•framed works ' Original paintings European & Latin American
Modern Master prints I Signed•and•numbered popular lithographs & serigraphs
Sculptures & Objects of Art in a variety of mediums •
I Bidding ranging from S50•S10+ All major credit cards • Phone bids accepted
Art From The Heart
A volunteer group hopes to bring a love of art to students
throughout metro Detroit.
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AUCTIONEER-
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POTTERY ♦
PAINTINGS ♦
JEWELRY ♦
W
hether it's cubism, im-
pressionism or any oth-
er "ism" doesn't matter.
An "ism" by any name
is just a label put on a work of art,
an academic distinction to inter-
pret the art and artist.
What matters is whether art
inspires those who inspect its can-
vases, textures and forms to open
up — to learn to listen to their
own inner artist in the making.
At least that's the hope of volun-
teers of Art in the Schools (ATS),
a Detroit Institute of Arts com-
munity educational program that
reaches more than 300 schools
and 30,000 students in grades 4-
6 each year.
Through its range of slide pre-
tion," said Mr. Niemi, who noted
that the DIA also offers museum
tours for students in grades 3
through 12.
By reaching out to public and
private schools, ATS provides a
way for teachers to enhance lec-
tures on history and social stud-
ies. But ATS also sets out to teach
students that the beginning of
understanding art comes with at-
tempting to understand them-
selves.
The program's nontradition-
al approach is intended to en-
courage students to ask: "What
does art mean to me?"
"Museums and art can be in-
timidating if you really don't
think you have the appropriate
perspective of world cultures, Mr.
Niemi said. In many ways, it just
might be the students' initial ex-
posure to the pluralistic Ameri-
can society.
A 23-year ATS veteran,
Doreen Millman has watched the
evolution of the 28-year old pro-
gram. For years she has honed
her lecture, which introduces stu-
dents to works at the museum.
Typically, she begins her pre-
sentations with the image of
Rodin's "The Thinker," (a replica
erected at the DIA entrance).
During her two decades of vol-
unteer work, Mrs. Millman, a
West Bloomfield resident, has
given presentations to schools in
nearly every suburb. She said
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Sharon Herman at Harlan Elementary in Bloomfield Hills.
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sentations and discussions, ATS
docents bring the art of the DIA
to young students throughout
metro Detroit.
Since state funding to the DIA
has been reduced, some believe
the museum has cut back on its
community educational pro-
grams.
More accurately, the DIA re-
organized its education depart-
ment and recommitted itself to
spreading the word about the
power of art as an educational
tool, said Steve Niemi, a staff ad-
viser who serves as a liaison be-
tween ATS volunteers and the
DIA.
"ATS is a way for us to let the
schools know about the DIA and
to teach them about our collec-
language to discuss the art," Mr.
Niemi said. "But once you get the
students to open up, then looking
at the art in itself becomes a
means of self-expression."
Each year, 12 new docents are
accepted into the ATS program.
The training includes a year of
attending weekly lectures on the
various galleries in the museum
and presentations given by cur-
rent docents.
Generally, docents have back-
grounds in art history and are
typically volunteers at the mu-
seum.
While CD-ROM, on-line ser-
vices and videos provide a popu-
lar means for students to explore
the terrain of a global communi-
ty, the ATS presentations offer a
that for the less wealthy school
districts the ATS presentation
may be one of the students few
"exposures to art."
Mrs. Millman, who also vol-
unteers at Temple Israel, often
shows the relationship between
symbols used in art and history.
If students are studying Ameri-
can history, she might get their
attention by talking about a
teapot that once belonged to Paul
Revere. Or in an explanation of
a medieval painting she might
tell students how parables were
presented on canvas.
Sometimes the ATS docents'
biggest challenge is reminding
students that there was "history"
before television, video games
and computers.