Hood Museum Explorations

The STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) Committee sponsored a field trip to the Hood Museum of Art/ Dartmouth College on April 5th for several guided explorations of the art currently on display. This gem of a museum is less than an hour from Vermont Academy and provided the perfect opportunity for an early April rainy afternoon.
Our students first explored the Ingo Gunther installation World Processor which draws on data to create a roomful of illuminated globes, each one tackling an issue from immigration patterns to wetlands and concentration of billionaires. Docent led conversations challenged our students to think about what they were seeing and how this merge of classic math and science were blended to become an art work that might allow them to consider this information in a different way.

Venturing outside, we were able to see recent sculptures by Ellsworth Kelly and Kiki Smith. These pieces sparked conversations around conservation and issues that face works of art on display without protection. Students contemplated what happens when art is exposed to acid rain, as well as sunlight and wind. The basic chemistry and physics behind the artists’ choices of metals and finishes became evident.

As we walked over to the Baker Library, we peeked in on another data-dense exhibit titled Mining Big Data by Amy Balkin and Luis Delgado-Qualtrough. These artists used the notion of a books and posters to create works that also use data to inform visually and intellectually.

Concluding our afternoon was a stop to view the large mural the Epic of American Civilization which was painted in the early 1930’s by Jose Clemente Osasco. Students were impressed with the towering fresco that fills 3,200 square feet in the Baker Library’s Reserve Reading Room. The painting depicts the duality of indigenous and European historical experiences in the American continents. Our students were impressed with the scale, vigorous ideas and brilliant paint colors in the mural.

The trip was a success and students returned to campus with many ideas about the interwoven complexities of our world. The staff members at the Hood Museum were each very impressed with our group. Not a bad way to spend a gray afternoon in New England!
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Vermont Academy is a coed college preparatory boarding and day school in southern Vermont, serving grades 9-12 plus a postgraduate year.