Walker Arts Center - Ilene Mojsilov | Education Department - 5.5 Hours
This week was my final week shadowing Ilene at the Walker Arts Center. At the beginning of the week they had a group of thirty Chinese Exchange students from Minnetonka join us for a day to discover the museum. They experienced the gallery then made their way to the art lab. At the art lab they were told to design “A Museum in the Future.” They only had thirty minutes to complete their model. The students were from the ages 15 to 16 years old. Some had a hard time ideating a concept for their museum, and one student asked me my opinion on “what is art?” I expressed my opinion to him and then I asked him for his. He stated that he is not sure about contemporary art, but enjoys traditional. From there he discovered that he should make a traditional museum. One group created a museum that was known for how tall it was (made out of foam core), the museum displayed traditional media. Another group focused on environmentally friendly atmosphere.
Later that week, went back to the Walker Arts Center and had the chance to experience sixty students grade seventh and eighth from an all girls school. The first group was the eighth grade ladies. Their task was to create a gallery space that was designed to their liking. They split up the roles as two curators and two artists. Two groups decided that everyone in their group would help in each area. The second group was the seventh graders. Each group expressed great concepts and layouts for their galleries. One group built a museum that was split in half with two different personalities; one side was endearing and simplistic, the other half was luminated with colors. Another group created a gallery that was just for teens that displayed a movie theatre like atmosphere with a upstairs balcony.
I hope I have a chance to experience and volunteer at the Walker Arts Center in the near future.
