Long Meadow Elementary School Student Art Work On Exhibit at Yale Center for British Art in New Haven

For the past six years, Long Meadow Elementary School (LMES) Art Teacher, Louise Porter-Hahn, has taken her Art Enrichment students on a field trip to the Yale Center for British Art (YCBA) in New Haven, as an extended lesson in art education. 

Students take a special docent tour, go on a scavenger hunt in the museum and take time to sketch the art on exhibit.

This year, Ms. Porter-Hahn has taken her annual outing one step further.  Beginning Friday, May 19th through Thursday, June 1^st, select students from LMES will have their own art work on exhibit in the Docent Room at the Museum. 

The YCBA features a variety of elementary, middle and high school student art work a few times a year.  Impressed with what she saw during their trips to the museum, Curator of Education, Linda Friedlaender invited Long Meadow students to participate in the program. This will be the first exhibit for both the school and for Region 15.       

“We appreciate the foresight of Long Meadow’s teacher in recognizing the opportunities for learning in and out of the classroom and the amount of learning that goes on within the museum environment,” said Ms. Friedlaender.  

“A large part of our educational mission is to provide experiences for students to enhance their observational, and in turn, critical thinking skills.  Working with original works of art provides a unique opportunity for honing these skills, which are applicable to all classroom learning as well,” she explains. 

“We are delighted that Ms. Porter-Hahn and her school’s principal encourage student trips to our museum and that we are able to display their students’ work as an extension of the time they’ve spent here.”

“Yale has a definite commitment to encouraging life long learning in visual arts for young people and teachers,” said Ms. Porter-Hahn.  “I have found them to be so accommodating in their tours with our students.”

“This is a high visibility, prestigious possibility for us.  It broadens what we do in the art room to a real audience for our students, as well as to certainly heighten awareness for parents, guardians and members of our community,” Ms. Porter-Hahn said.  “I am so proud of all our students’ hard work and creativity. As young artists, they simply inspire.”

According to Ms. Porter-Hahn, LMES student work displayed at the museum will encompass all grade levels and media, such as painting, drawing, collage, clay, and printmaking.  

Some of the work on display directly involves responses to lessons about specific artists including: Van Gogh (watercolor landscapes with Post-Impressionistic stroke), Picasso (all styles of Picasso people in tempera paint) and Da Vinci (pencil drawings of stuffed animals from life incorporating foreshortening).

The exhibit will also feature work inspired by contemporary Native American potter Tammy Garcia (coil pots with slab logo designs) and contemporary Native American Spirit Masks.

“I have included selections which represent as many different projects as possible, to allow the public to see the outstanding caliber of work, an elementary age artist can achieve,” said Porter-Hahn. 

Student art teacher Emily Mancini helped Ms. Porter-Hahn with the final selection of art for the exhibit.  “I chose pieces that exemplified the particular technique of the unit lesson, pieces which honestly just "spoke" to me as an artist,” Ms. Porter-Hahn said.  “They are the pieces I would love to display in my own home.”

A reception for LMES students, parents and members of the community was held on Saturday, May 20^th at 12 p.m.  The YCBA is located at 1080 Chapel Street in New Haven.  The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.  Admission is free.

As the docent room is also used for meetings, there may be times when doors to the room will be closed.  Visitors are asked to stop at the security desk to request access to the student exhibit. 

For directions and further information, you may call the museum directly at (203) 432-2800 or visit their website at www.yale.edu/ycba.