On Display

Local schools use ancient artifact collection as educational tool

Tucked away in the basement of the College Center lies a roomful of ancient artifacts from the cultures of Egypt, Greece and Africa. From small beginnings in the home of John A. Sawhill to a storage room in Anthony-Seeger Hall over to the hands of schoolchildren throughout the Shenandoah Valley, the Madison Art Collection has proven its worth as an educational tool both for JMU students and surrounding communities. The collection boasts over 2,000 pieces and opens its doors to JMU students, faculty and children from area schools. According to several who have taken advantage of the collection’s resources, it is the educational programs that give the art its true value.

Kathryn Monger, curator and assistant professor of art history, leads the crusade to make the historic objects available to people who would not normally have access to such works of art. The collection does this through educational programs geared toward area elementary through high school students, as well as the JMU population, she said.

"What we’d like to do is be an educational resource for the community," Monger said.

The collection opened its doors to the public in September 2003. Since then, its programs have received financial support from the department of Academic Affairs, the College of Arts and Letters and through grant funds supplied by the Arts Council of the Valley. Once the collection was established on campus, Monger and Melanie Mason, a former JMU grad student and the collection director of education, began to focus on how best to involve area K-12 schools.

The collection is reaching new populations through field trips for public school children and Saturday morning programs called Voyagers, according to Monger.

After speaking with area teachers, Monger and Mason said they knew that not only did students need to know about cultures from other countries such as Egypt, Mali, China, Greece and Rome, but teachers also needed to brush up on their personal knowledge of the areas. As Monger noted, "How do you teach [about] Mali to kids if you yourself have never had a class on African culture?"

Advertising themselves to the teachers of core curriculum subjects, such as history and social studies, Monger and Mason said they found area schools willing to fund field trips to the collection for students to gain valuable in-depth information they otherwise would not receive in a classroom.

Planning for these field trips began with the Standards of Learning topics required for each grade level. From these standards and teaching strategies, Monger and Mason tailored their lessons according to what students needed to know for the SOL tests. The lessons always incorporate various subjects, such as math, geography and culture, according to Monger.

With as many as 100 students visiting at a time, Monger and Mason said they provide a full day of cultural education to students from Augusta County, Rockingham County and the city of Harrisonburg.

Each field trip includes dance, music and dramatic readings, all taught by JMU students or faculty. JMU‘s Special Events Committee makes the day even more fascinating by catering these trips and providing food specific to the culture, such as couscous or other African dishes. By the end of this academic year, over 1,000 public school children will have visited the collection. Monger and Mason said they hope to triple that number by the end of next year.

Not only do the students learn about these cultures through Microsoft PowerPoint presentations and art lessons, but each student gets the opportunity to visit the collection and view the artifacts firsthand. Opportunities for older students include a one-on-one guided studies with objects that date back to 5,000 B.C., according to Monger.

"It’s a wonderful opportunity to have these artifacts right in your backyard," Mason said. "It brings it alive. It makes it viable."

In addition to field trips, the collection also offers a program called Voyagers every other Saturday. Voyagers is geared toward students looking to enrich their cultural knowledge outside the walls of a classroom. Students grades first through 12th, enjoy a similar experience with the ollection, studying civilizations from Egypt, Greece, Rome, Africa and early Islamic cultures.

Averaging 10 students per program, Monger said she begins the lesson with a PowerPoint presentation incorporating the history, geography, art, politics and religion of each respective time period.

Mason said she provides a lesson teaching the students a new art medium related to the culture discussed. For students studying Islamic culture, calligraphic writing is the medium of choice.

Parents usually are very involved with the Voyagers program and are encouraged to participate for their own educational benefit, as well as to promote interaction between the parent and the student.

Jan Gillis, University Marketing staff member, attended Voyagers with her 15-year-old daughter, Eden Parks, a home-schooled student, April 17.

"I think it’s a wonderful thing," Gillis said. "It’s entertaining. It’s educational. It’s enriching to find something like this locally."

Sophomore Lauren Futrell, an art major concentrating in art education, said she learned about the Voyagers program through her ancient art history class with Monger. As a future student intern for the collection, Futrell was interested in seeing what was involved in a Voyager program.

"I like that [directors] have a lesson, and [the students] get to do a craft afterwards to reinforce the lecture," Futrell said.

The collection serves multiple purposes for both the JMU community and surrounding areas. The JMU art history department has taken full advantage of the resources offered in the collection. According to Monger, almost every art history class has some interaction with the collection. An estimated 250 JMU students have used the collection for research related to art history courses. The collection also serves faculty of other departments for teaching purposes, or for personal research.

"One cannot gain an adequate understanding of surface texture, size, spatial relationships, et cetera from a color photo in a textbook," said Mark DeLancey, assistant art history professor who uses the collection as instructional tools in his own courses. "The development of the Madison Art Collection is absolutely imperative in this regard for a quality art history program at JMU."

DeLancey is not the only faculty member taking advantage of what the collection has to offer. Doris Martin, professor of early childhood education, said, "JMU and the community are fortunate to have this resource and I am grateful to the center for including [education] students in this valuable experience." She said she encourages her students to get involved with the collection.

The mission of the Madison Art Collection reaches beyond the walls of the College Center. Monger said she hopes to expand its uses throughout the coming years, and actively is seeking partnerships with JMU programs in an effort to provide students with firsthand experience in teaching or research. This little-known gem on JMU’s campus also sparks children’s creativity throughout the Shenandoah Valley.

"We hope to serve school systems that don’t have a lot of resources by providing them with a quality educational program right here in Harrisonburg," Monger said.