Whitney Museum of American Art: Blogs: TeensBlog

Collaborative Mural Project with artist Kenny Scharf

Whitney Museum of American Art — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:05:00 -0500

Categories: TeensBlog

On Monday, October 24, Youth Insights (YI) Leaders were surprised with a change from their normal routine of planning Whitney events for other New York City teens. Instead of hashing out the next steps for an artist talk or workshop, we were on our way to complete another mural project at the Details Guild Wall. Youth Insights worked on two previous mural projects with Dan Colen in September 2011 and with Mario Ybarra Jr and Karla Diaz in June 2011.at the Details Guild Wall.

To create this mural we worked with Kenny Scharf, a talented artist whose work is included in the Museum’s collection. He is passionate about art and was very excited to work with YI teens (us!)–Artists, Writers, and Leaders. His style and approach to painting is very interesting, loose, and playful. He doesn’t sketch anything out beforehand. The highlight of our day was getting to know him, discovering what he had accomplished, and hearing about other artists that he had collaborated with in the past, for example, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring.

Collaborative Mural Project with artist Kenny Scharf

Whitney Museum of American Art — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:05:00 -0500

Categories: TeensBlog

Collaborative Mural Project with artist Kenny Scharf

Whitney Museum of American Art — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:05:00 -0500

Categories: TeensBlog

YI ARTISTS IN SESSION WITH COREY MCCORKLE

Whitney Museum of American Art — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:05:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

This semester YI Artists are working with Corey McCorkle, whose work was included in the 2008 Whitney Biennial exhibition. McCorkle’s work includes aspects of installation, architecture, and documentary film-making. Earlier in the term, he asked us to bring in something that we qualified as a “mess.” The assignment was open to our interpretation and we were also meant to consider how to contain and transport our mess depending on what we chose, found, or made for the project. For our regular Wednesday meeting on October 19, everyone brought in their “messes” and we set them up on the work tables in the room. Both Corey and Carda, our youth programs coordinator, recommended that we walk around to view the art before we listened to each other’s explanations so we could create our own interpretations of each piece.

After analyzing everyone’s work, we discussed with each other what our pieces represented. The messes ranged widely from literal to figurative, meaningful to interpretive, and discrete to conspicuous. Many students brought in found objects such as a hair brush, a back pack, or a family portrait. Others made their messes from scratch. Their approaches included making a clay mind by building the shape of a brain with clay and covering it with bits of newspaper and handwritten text to represent information that can bombard a mind all day, or typing “mess” in scrambled bold letters. I found a silly plastic wine glass at home and screamed the word mess into it repeatedly. Immediately after, I taped the glass shut. I was inspired by the vibrations of the word.

COMICS, ZINES, AND THE LIVES OF TEENS

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:05:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

On Friday, October 14, Youth Insights participants and other teens gathered at the Whitney Museum of American Art to attend an artist talk by two graphic novelists: Dash Shaw and Jessica Abel. October 14 also happened to be the first day of Comic Con 2011, the largest comics and popular culture event on the East Coast.

Dash was the first to present. The work he shared combined fiction with ounces of his childhood, much of which related to the room full of teens. He highlighted a foreign exchange program in Japan that he participated in during his junior year of high school. As exciting as this may seem, Dash detailed the highs and lows, and was able to laugh at the difficulties he experienced. He also showed several images of an in-progress animated feature.

Afterwards, Jessica Abel gave us an overview of her work and how she became a comic artist. Her influences came from music and other comics prevalent during her teen years. Jessica revealed her hardships, such as relationship breakups, which inspired her to base her characters on an angsty teenager. She described her college years when she developed her own published comic, Artbabe, and began to discover her talent. One thing led to the next, and Jessica was eventually recognized for her outstanding work. Her success has led to published books including Mirror, Window, the graphic novel La Perdida, and even a textbook on comics Drawing Words, Writing Pictures, co-written with her cartoonist husband, Matt Madden.

COMICS, ZINES, AND THE LIVES OF TEENS

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:05:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

Transforming trash: making a mural with Artist Dan Colen

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 12:05:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

On Friday, September 26, participants in the Whitney’s Youth Insights (YI) program were given a fantastic opportunity to meet artist Dan Colen and assist him in “defacing” his mural. The mural, located on the corner of 13th and Washington Streets in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, was painted with the phrase “OH GOD!” in large black text. The text was painted on a plain white background and almost seemed welcoming to graffiti artists. That said, Dan seemed a bit dejected as he noticed that no one had defaced the mural prior to our arrival.

YI LEADERS BACK IN SESSION

Whitney Museum of American Art — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:05:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

Around 4 pm on September 19, the next generation of Youth Insights (YI) Leaders entered the building through the Whitney’s loading dock, a tradition unique to YI Leaders. For some, it was a return to routine. For most, myself included, it was a rite of passage. For us all, however, it was a new beginning. Some things remain familiar, like the friends we had made in past YI programs, the colorful paperwork, the arguably delicious cheese sticks and assorted snack bars, and a brief visit to the Singular Visions exhibition, which showcases a rotating selection of twelve postwar artworks on the fifth floor.

Youth Insights at ICA Boston

Whitney Museum of American Art — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 12:05:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

From August 9-13, two teen participants in the Whitney’s Youth Insights program, Sarah and Rebecca (that’s me) attended the National Convening for Teens in the Arts hosted by the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA). Every year, ICA/Boston hosts this special conference which brings together teens and educators from nine cultural institutions to talk about the challenges that teen programs face and the benefits they provide.

Our schedules were planned to the minute, our hotel rooms mapped out strategically. Still, the next few days felt like they would be a mystery forever. We had been preparing for so long-writing our presentations, participating in the preliminary online chats, and looking at Google map’s street view of the area around our hotel, it seemed like we might not actually arrive!

Everyone gathered the first night and ate traditional German food. Afterward, we began exploring a city that was new to all of us. This would become a routine over the next few days for both teens and educators. The following day, we began with presentations. Each group was comprised of two teens and an educator representing one of the nine institutions. During the presentations, teens and educators shared images, videos, and experiences of their programs. I watched as four museums went before us, mentally preparing for what I would say. Sarah started the presentation smoothly and I followed suit. I later received a compliment from the ICA’s Artist in Residence, Dario Robleto, who told us we had done a good job! The day ended with Teen Night, an event featuring tours, art activities, performances, videos, and artwork, all of which was created or led by teens from the Boston area. During the chaos of events, I snuck away with two friends to play records at one of the interactive portions of an exhibition that was on view, The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl.

The actual conference consisted of four topics: advocacy, skills, experimentation, and challenging subject matter. Teens and educators from around the country shared personal testimonies and discussed possible solutions to problems faced by museum programs for teens. The formality was spliced with a workshop led by Robleto. During the workshop we made record sleeves for imaginary albums, inspired by Robleto’s own work and The Record exhibition.

Our final day started with a dim sum breakfast worthy of heroes. Plates came and went so fast I couldn’t even keep up. Sarah, my vegetarian guardian, made sure everything was safe for me to eat. The afternoon wrapped up with a tour of Boston and a communal ice cream sandwich fest. Pictures were taken in both silly and serious forms, emails exchanged, and everyone went their separate ways.

Since the conference, I’ve remained friends with other participants. I know slang from the Midwest and the South, and I appreciate New York City’s subway system more than ever. I’m honored to have been a participant in the Third National Convening for Teens in the Arts. I guess there’s only one thing left to say: thanks ICA!

by Rebecca

Conversations on Conservation

Whitney Museum of American Art — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:05:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

On Wednesday, July 13, Conservation Coordinator Heather Cox talked with us about the processes and challenges of conserving art. We began the day around the big stone table in the conference room at the Museum, and were warmly greeted by water, granola bars and string cheese. The room was dark and the only source of light was that from the projector, which some of us used as a means to make shadow puppets. When session started we went around the table telling each other about what we ate since the last time we met. The answers ranged from maple syrup ice cream to hot dogs. The room quickly filled with smiles.

Next, Heather showed us an informative Powerpoint presentation on what conservators do. The Conservation Department at the Whitney was founded in 2001, and acts as both a treatment and research center. Heather described conservation as a mix of art, history, and science. There is a great deal of detective work in conservation.

Conservators are expected to make decisions about how to repair work by looking back at history, photographs, and other pieces made during the same era and artist. Conservators do everything from reassembling broken sculptures to removing lipstick stains from paintings. All of the repairs are made in the Whitney’s secret conservation lab, located in a once-abandoned room in the Museum, which we visited. We were also able to walk through the exhibition, Lyonel Feininger: At the Edge of the World. Finally, we reconvened around the big stone table to discuss Feininger’s work and recap the past two weeks of the Youth Insights Summer Intensive Program.

By Zoe

Shifting architecture

Whitney Museum of American Art — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 10:37:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

For some, MoMA PS1 is a familiar place, but with its constant rotation of exhibitions, visiting PS1 is never a repeated experience. Currently on view in the outdoor courtyard is Holding Pattern, a physical realization of what Interboro Partners architect, and our tour guide, Dan D’oca describes as a paradigm shift in architecture: a movement away from independent design and directly toward community awareness. Terms are being redefined and “architecture” in the traditional sense has now grown to include sculpture and urban planning too. Holding Pattern is the epitome of this new concept: equal parts utilitarian and aesthetic, the design provides shade, water, and seating for visitors, while maintaining an environmental and communal focus.

The best thing about the piece (and I say this tentatively, because it’s hard to decide) is its ephemeral quality. Of course, Holding Pattern is fantastic and the whole world should see it, but it wouldn’t be able to achieve the same effect without the plan to disassemble and redistribute its individual pieces once its exhibition time ends. In September, all the components of the project will be going to local institutions, such as the Long Island City School of Ballet and Variety Boys and Girls Club. The piece will live on in separate parts as individual institutions in Queens each adopt a small part of this architectural marvel.

Art on the Island

Whitney Museum of American Art — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 11:28:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

Last week, Youth Insights had the extraordinary opportunity to visit Governors Island. Since the island is not open to the public during the week, we had the ferry all to ourselves as we set off to sea to enjoy a great day!

When we arrived on the island, we were greeted by a staff member from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), a non-profit arts organization located in Lower Manhattan. He led us on a tour through their Swing Space, a historic army warehouse that was transformed into studio spaces for resident artists. We were able to experience the unique feeling of being on a retreat, while also enjoying a marvelous view of the city. We met some of LMCC’s artists-in-residence and spoke with them about their projects.

Suzanne Kelser, who is interested in the relationship between technology and art, is working on an installation based on the water levels around the island. Her use of a traditional paper made in the Philippines creates a sense of water (without using any actual water), and adds intensity to her work. Louisa Armbrust’s goals of experimenting with old swimming tutorial photos and finding new ways of representing them leads to a very interesting process. Lastly, Nicholas Fraser, who investigates the relationship between images and text, showed us how he brands tree stumps with phrases that have very specific connections to the island. We were very fortunate to get sneak peeks into these artists’ works in progress!

By Yin

The Art of Resume Writing

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:30:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

Resume writing is a foundation and a catalyst to success in our professional lives. A resume reduces the need to ramble about the past and concisely documents achievements and experiences. It speaks for us.

On July 1, we took an introductory class on the art of resume writing. We met with the Whitney’s Human Resources Manager who oversees the intake of resumes and the hiring of staff/ interns. She also interviews all prospective employees. We collectively brainstormed what we felt our resumes should look like, reviewed mock resumes, and laid out any concerns or questions we had, which were graciously and masterfully answered. A taste of what’s in store for the coming weeks, this session was a great first step in creating resumes we can proudly present to future employers.

By Isaiah

A YI Scavenger Hunt

Whitney Museum of American Art — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 10:36:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

The goal of our second session was to get to know the Whitney by participating in a scavenger hunt. Technically, a scavenger hunt is a game to find items and secret treasure. In this case, we considered facts and information to be items and treasure as we learned about the history of the Museum. Working in groups with people we were still getting to know led to interesting conversations and opinions about what we saw, who we met along the way, and what made it fun!

We were all ready to admit that the guards in the galleries intimidate us a little. But as we were focused on completing the scavenger hunt, we spoke to guards who were interested in what we were up to in the galleries. They definitely deserve some of the credit for helping us figure out those answers! Every floor and every exhibition in the Museum had at least one work that quickly became a favorite. My scavenger hunt team’s pick was Robert Grosvenor’s Tenerife, 1966, which was huge with sharp edges, showing the power one work of art can have in a room.

Unfortunately, only one group could win the scavenger hunt, but we were all winners that day because we got to know the Whitney much better!

By Evelin

First day of summer

Whitney Museum of American Art — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:01:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

Tuesday, June 28 was the start of the Youth Insights Summer Intensive at the Whitney Museum. After an exciting year of fall and spring programs, we’re moving right into summer with daily blog posts by program participants.

Bodies buzzing with nerves tend to fold into themselves; but in this group of YI teens, the only physical manifestation of these unbearable nerves were folded fingers fiddling anxiously. The tension eased into a state of comfort when Carda introduced one of the infamous ice breaker games. As we all started to talk about topics such as True Blood and the Twilight series (are you sensing a pattern?) the atmosphere of nerves dissipated.

As we went over formalities and reviewed which forms we would return FILLED OUT the next day, it seemed as if the whole room sighed in relief, already looking forward to that next day.

We were let loose in Cory Arcangel’s current exhibition, Pro Tools, to explore our personal perspectives on the artwork. As we all gathered back into a lopsided circle on the floor, ideas began to accumulate. Fragmented thoughts, such as “it’s all the same” and “time changes nothing,” served as catalysts for the discovery of a “meaning” we were all so desperately trying to summarize. Cory Arcangel’s work evoked many emotions at once, leaving me speechless.

By Elleni

Spray Paint Dreams

Whitney Museum of American Art — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 14:19:00 -0400

Categories: EducationBlog, TeensBlog

One of the exciting, fun-filled events that took place during Community Day was a collaborative mural project with 2008 Whitney Biennial artist Mario Ybarra Jr. and Karla Diaz called California Dreaming, inspired by their Los Angeles roots and out of this world imaginations. In celebration of the Whitney’s new building project in the Meatpacking District, teens were invited to create a mural on the wall at THE DETAILS GUILD with the artists.

This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for teens to collaborate with artists, get their hands dirty, and express themselves, was a hit with not only teens, but their families and youth of all ages as well.

Mario and Karla, of Slanguage Studio, flew in from Los Angeles to facilitate this interactive, hands-on project with participants from the Whitney’s Youth Insights program, which brings NYC teens together with contemporary artists for a unique and collaborative exchange. Teens from all over the city were also invited to participate in the day’s activity. Inspired by the artists’ black-and-white images of characters with boomboxes and cameras for heads, teens grabbed cans of spray paint and took over the wall with memorable messages like “WE ARTISTS ARE PROFESSIONAL DREAMERS!” and “WHITNEY TEENS, WE ARE FUTURE.” Many teens also designed their own stencils and used them for images on the wall while others worked on colorful t-shirts and painter’s caps. The final artwork was truly a vibrant reflection of a group of teens with boundless imaginations and creativity.

A Tale of Two Programs

Whitney Museum of American Art — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:48:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

Shaniece and I, both YI Leaders, are a part of The Opportunity Network, an organization that prepares high school students for the future by helping them build lifelong networks and connections. The Opportunity Network teaches students the art of developing and sustaining mutually beneficial relationships and how to keep up with their growing networks while also helping them get into great colleges, land important internships, and prepare for successful careers.

At the end of April, we, along with our fellow YI Leaders, had the great privilege of leading a tour of Glenn Ligon’s exhibition for twenty-five OppNet students. Starting right away in a room full of black-and-white panel paintings, the students dove into Ligon’s mind with some great opinions on what he might have been thinking about when he used door panels for these paintings that are filled with powerful repetitive text. One memorable point was that the repetition from top to bottom as the words become harder to read parallels the constantly repeating thoughts in our own minds that can be so simple, yet over time can become fuzzy and distant.

We then moved on to look at paintings inspired by comedian Richard Pryor. As we spoke about the works, we discussed the power of humor, racial stereotypes, and identity. Our next stop was a series of paintings based on images from coloring books. Being surrounded by works that were created from drawings by children made us all feel like little kids—pretty brilliant little kids!

Finally, we ended with my favorite pieces in the entire exhibition, three works in neon, each spelling out “America.” If I start talking about these works now, this blog post would go on forever. So to keep things short and sweet, I led a discussion about how the different neon signs could reflect different perceptions of our country and how we individually identify ourselves in it. There is no doubt in my mind that we all really enjoyed ourselves as two great programs merged for an art-filled day. I hope that you find room for creativity and art experiences in your life!

By Cesar

An Evening with Kevin Jerome Everson

Whitney Museum of American Art — Tue, 31 May 2011 15:14:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

Birthday candles blown out by an old man and a single candle watched by a small girl; a black pageant queen discussing segregation; bees and a sword fight. These are just a few images that come up in the many short films being shown in the exhibition, More Than That: Films by Kevin Jerome Everson. The exhibition explores Everson’s work with appropriated news and home video footage from the civil rights era, as well as film he shot and later edited to give the illusion of looking like found footage. Together, the two kinds of film are seamlessly interwoven to construct purposefully anticlimactic scenes that immerse the viewer into these non-stories.

Everson discussed his short films during a teen artist talk at the museum a few weeks ago. During the conversation, he stressed the importance of his work being shaped by the subjects of the found footage he uses and his upbringing in a working-class family in Mansfield, Ohio. Everson’s inspirations were made especially evident when he described the meaning and context of his shorts. Many of the films are moving snapshots that subtly present the unfairness of economical, racial and cultural segregation of African-American life in the 1960s and 1970s.

These are inequalities that resonate even today, although Everson only hints at it. While there is much cultural discussion layered in the works, there is also a light sense of being calmed. The exhibition invites you to discuss the films and their difficult subjects; but it also encourages you to ignore everything and just absorb the simplicity of the non-stories. At a time when 24-hour news and Youtube have bloated the world’s video archive, More Than That is interesting for how utterly distinct it is from the bustling proliferation of media we find ourselves surrounded by today.

By YI Artist Ariel

An Afternoon with Glenn Ligon

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 14:01:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

For weeks, everyone in Youth Insights and the Education Department was bursting with excitement for Monday, March 28. That was the day artist Glenn Ligon agreed to meet with YI to discuss his work and artistic process. I had the great honor of introducing Glenn before he gave us an amazing insightful tour of his exhibition. Just in case you are unfamiliar with Glenn Ligon, here’s a little introduction.

Glenn was born and raised in the Bronx and continues to live and work in New York. He attended the Rhode Island School of Design, Wesleyan University (where he received his BA), and participated in the Independent Study Program here at the Whitney in 1985. He is best known for his work that borrows from famous texts by authors such as Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, and James Baldwin, in addition to a small amount of self-generated text. Glenn works in multiple media, exploring themes of language, African-American history, culture, identity, and sexuality.

Glenn has had an ongoing relationship with the Whitney since his days in the Independent Study Program. His work was included in the 1991 and 1993 Biennial exhibitions as well as in numerous group exhibitions at the Museum throughout the 1990s and 2000s, and he had a solo show at the Whitney’s midtown branch in 1992. It truly was a pleasure to have him return to us this spring! Glenn is so down to earth and humorous that even his works that address complex issues were easy to discuss. It was so revealing to see his process and how it comes through in his work. The ways that his work has changed over time also offered new perspectives on the pieces.

If you have not seen the exhibition yet, I highly recommend it! It is a must-see and if you’d like to join us for a tour, just give us a shout-out!

By Shaniece

Synthesis: Brandon Talks Hopper

Whitney Museum of American Art — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:37:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

We recently had our first Youth Insights tour of the spring. YI Leader Brandon blogs about a work that he likes to focus on in the galleries.

Youth Insights: International

Whitney Museum of American Art — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 15:30:00 -0500

Categories: EducationBlog, TeensBlog

This past fall, Youth Insights was invited to Amsterdam for the International Symposium on Connecting Young People and Cultural Institutions at the Stedelijk Museum. The invitation was extended by Marlous van Gastel, a former intern in the Whitney’s education department who now works with youth programs at the Stedelijk. After her time at the Whitney, she returned to Amsterdam to develop Blikopeners, the teen program at the Stedelijk inspired by our very own Youth Insights. Blikopeners learn how to lead tours for audiences of all ages, hearkening back to YI’s earlier focus on intergenerational conversation. We were fortunate enough to meet a few past and current Blikopeners, a word that translates to “can opener” or “eye opener,” reflecting their mission of offering open dialogue from unique points of view.

Danielle and I joined an international panel that included representatives from the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, Tate, Centre Pompidou, the National Gallery of Denmark, and more. We convened at the Stedelijk, along with other conference guests from all over Europe, to talk about the role of young people in museums and other cultural institutions. The audience was filled with professionals and educators who were interested in learning more about the subject. Please visit the Stedelijk’s symposium website, which the museum recently launched, for more information on the conference, including presentations and links to participating institutions.

We also had an opportunity to tour the newly expanded Stedelijk Museum, which is still under construction. Thinking about the Whitney’s upcoming building project, it was interesting to see how staff at the Stedelijk are dealing with issues of space, time, and everything else that comes along with new construction. Their solution has been the Temporary Stedelijk, a space that is connected to the original museum building and hosts current exhibitions.

When we were all conferenced out, Danielle and I had a chance to explore Amsterdam, visiting the Anne Frank Museum, FOAM (the photography museum), and taking a canal tour which included a view of NEMO, Amsterdam’s science museum designed by Renzo Piano, the architect of the Whitney’s new downtown buiilding project. We also stopped by the famous flower market, ate giant pancakes, and I watched in disapproval as Danielle tried herring from a street cart. It’s like Amsterdam’s version of a NYC hot dog!

Special thanks to Marlous van Gastel and everyone at the Stedelijk for hosting us! And thanks to Tomek Whitfield, a Blikopeners alum, who took some amazing photographs! Check out more photos from our adventures in Amsterdam below.

By Diane Exavier, Assistant to Youth Programs

To Industrialize or Not to Industrialize

Whitney Museum of American Art — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 11:47:00 -0500

Categories: TeensBlog

In a recent YI Leaders session, we discussed how knowing your audience is key to planning a good tour. If you’re aware of how much your audience already knows about the topic, what they are trying to get out of the tour, and why they are at the museum, then preparing a tour becomes much easier. On Thursday, January 6, I gave my art history class from school a tour of the exhibition, Modern Life: Edward Hopper and His Time. We had been studying Hopper and his contemporaries at school for weeks; therefore I knew I had my work cut out for me. Instead of giving a tour on the importance of the early twentieth-century American artists or how to look at contemporary art, I chose to focus my tour on industrialization.

The early twentieth century was a critical turning point in American history.The country went through two world wars, suffered from the Great Depression, and saw an incredible growth in industrialization. Art was dramatically affected by these events, especially by the rise of industry. Some artists chose to make clear statements about their opinions on industrialization. For example, I showed my class Charles Demuth’s My Egypt, which visibly glorifies the machine, and Ralston Crawford’s Steel Foundry, which implies a critical view of industrialization. Other artists, like Hopper, chose to mask their opinions more. So, the question we were all struggling with at the end of the tour was: what does Hopper actually think about industrialization? My classmates made valid arguments on both sides and we eventually came to the conclusion that we will never know what Hopper was thinking.

Because I knew my audience had a clear understanding of the time period and the artists in the exhibition, I created a tour focused on a theme that wouldn’t normally be discussed in an art history class. I helped my classmates think about the artwork in a different way, which was possible because we were at the museum looking at the paintings in person.

By Katie

Tale of the Top Hat

Whitney Museum of American Art — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 13:11:00 -0500

Categories: TeensBlog

Imagine something like a top hat sitting in the middle of a conference table where YI Leaders meet. You wouldn’t think that there’d be much to say about it; but then again, there might just be. Joe, a YI Leader who is familiar with different kinds of hats, would immediately recognize it and scream, “That’s a top hat!” Henry, a YI Leader who also knows a lot about hats for some reason, would also comment by mentioning a fact that he recently learned in his history class: top hats made out of beaver fur were produced for sale domestically in French and British markets in the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries. An iconologist who works closely with political history may have drawn Abraham Lincoln under the top hat while staring at it in deep thought. The narrator from The Little Prince may have seen the hat as something else entirely, perhaps a boa constrictor that had swallowed something angular. And the rest of us YI Leaders would have said, “It’s just a hat.”

Like the tale of the top hat shows, there are many ways of perceiving things. Individuals or groups of people from different cultures, with diverse interests and experiences tend to see things differently. This is called “cognitive style,” or thinking style. We all have our own unique ways of thinking. One of the goals museums have is to provide a space where people are given the opportunity to discover, explore, and express their thinking styles, which are all unique and valuable in various ways.

As a part of a museum community working to achieve this goal, YI Leaders are gearing up for our teen tours this spring, inviting visitors to explore their cognitive styles in the spirit of open conversation and exchange. For more information, visit whitney.org/teens or become a fan of Youth Insights on Facebook. If you have questions about our upcoming tours, send an email to youthinsights@whitney.org.

By Seon

And the Winner Is...

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 14:13:00 -0500

Categories: TeensBlog

We’re not quite there yet, but earlier this week, YI Leaders did finally look at all the amazing submissions for the Photography En Route contest. We were shocked to find out that we received 170 submissions! These weren’t just any plain old photos. They were all packed with teen creativity and thinking-out-of-the-box-ness. Out of all those amazing images it was really difficult to pick the ones we absolutely loved, not to mention a WINNER! With the help of curatorial assistant Elisabeth Sherman, who has worked on a number of exhibitions here at the Whitney, including Paul Thek: Diver, A Retrospective, we were successful in choosing a small collection of photographs we thought stood out to us and really fit the contest’s criteria. These photographs, along with the winning entry, will be displayed in an online art gallery on our website. So stay tuned for the final results!

By Jiamei

You Made it. Now Wear It!

Whitney Museum of American Art — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 14:56:00 -0500

Categories: TeensBlog

A few weeks ago, a group of YI Leaders and friends came out to the Whitney to create their very own “wearable sculptures,” inspired by artist Paul Thek. Before the art-making workshop, we had a chance to go into the galleries to see the exhibition and and we were intrigued by his fascinating sculptures.

Using Thek’s 1968 exhibition, A Procession in Honor of Aesthetic Progress: Objects to Theoretically Wear, Carry, Pull, or Wave, as a starting point, we were able to fashion our own wearable sculptures, or variations on that idea. Our designs included: hats, masks, shirts, shawls, and other clothing items that could be turned into some sort of object with a function. Although the materials were not exactly what Paul Thek used, (for example, googly eyes in place of slabs of meat), the ideas were similar and we all tried to incorporate different objects into our clothing.