Picturing America's Changing Landscapes

FAIN: AP-50076-11

Hanover College (Hanover, IN 47243-9648)
Geoffrey Coleman Weiss (Project Director: October 2010 to August 2012)

A five-day Picturing America conference for fifty Indiana and Kentucky high school teachers on the place of landscapes and rivers in American history and culture.

The Rivers Institute at Hanover College will host a week long workshop to help fifty high school teachers integrate Picturing America landscapes into the core subjects of fine arts, American history and government, social studies, and English/language arts, employing images, primary, and secondary documents in their classrooms to see how artists have responded to changing American landscapes—physical, social, and political.

Associated Products

Artists Picture Changing American Landscapes (Web Resource)
Title: Artists Picture Changing American Landscapes
Author: Patty Dillon
Author: Geoffrey Weiss
Author: Karen Burgard
Author: P. Joseph Mullins
Author: T. Scott McMillin
Abstract: This website is intended to help high school teachers enhance the teaching of visual literacy so teachers and students become more adept at analyzing how images make meaning emphasize primary and secondary documents as tools for understanding the context of art provide context for Picturing America images. Using these tools, teachers can help students see how connections among art works, primary & secondary documents, and images reveal themes and movements in American art, history, and life.
Year: 2011
Primary URL: http://www.apcal.net/documents/about.php

Picturing America: Funding & Delivering K-12 Teacher Professional Development (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Picturing America: Funding & Delivering K-12 Teacher Professional Development
Author: Geoffrey Weiss
Abstract: In 2007, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) created the Picturing America collection, a portfolio of art reproductions representing “[t]he nation’s artistic heritage—our paintings, sculpture, architecture, fine crafts, and photography—offer[ing] unique insights into the character, ideals, and aspirations of our country.” Schools and libraries across the nation received the portfolio and complementary teaching resources, but K-12 teachers were slow to adopt the curriculum. To encourage adoption, NEH-funded teacher professional development program. As the result of a successful grant proposal, the Rivers Institute at Hanover College conducted a weeklong workshop to help fifty high school teachers integrate Picturing America images of landscapes into the core subjects of fine arts, American history and government, social studies, and English/language arts, employing images, primary, and secondary documents in their classrooms to see how artists have responded to changing American landscapes—physical, social, and political. In keeping with the Rivers Institute mission “to promote an understanding of the natural and cultural history of river environments,” and in conjunction with the bicentennial of the first steamboat to successfully navigate the Ohio & Mississippi rivers (1811), this workshop focused particularly on rivers, images of which comprise almost a quarter of the Picturing America collection. This paper describes the workshop and suggest methods for small colleges to compete for grant funding and to develop similar teacher professional development programs.
Date: 09/27/2012
Conference Name: Popular Culture Association in the South/American Culture Association in the South

Artists Picture Changing American Landscapes (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Artists Picture Changing American Landscapes
Writer: Cathy Burton
Writer: P. Joseph Mullins
Writer: Karen Burgard
Writer: T. Scott McMillin
Writer: Elaine Rosa
Writer: Patty Dillon
Director: Geoffrey Weiss
Producer: Geoffrey Weiss
Abstract: This video series is part of the Artists Picture Changing American Landscapes teacher professional development workshop conducted by the Rivers Institute at Hanover College (http://rivers.hanover.edu). From the 28 landscape sketches by British officers in the Scenographia Americana (1768) to Albert Bierstadt's Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California (1864) or, even later, Charles Sheeler's American Landscape (1930), art has shaped public perceptions of the vast North American continent. In turn, the landscape leaves its imprint upon artists. The Artists Picture Changing American Landscapes teacher workshop (http://www.apcal.net/home.php) can help teachers integrate Picturing America landscapes into the core subjects of fine arts, American history and government, social studies, and English/language arts, employing images, primary, and secondary documents in their classrooms to see how artists have responded to changing American landscapes — physical, social, and political. Incorporate the Picturing America collection into your humanities, history, social studies, visual arts, or language arts classroom. Full-length downloadable audio versions of these lectures are available at the website. The workshop is made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations in this video do not necessarily reflect those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Year: 2011
Primary URL: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL09680083C9DEDCB3&feature=plcp
Primary URL Description: This is a Youtube playlist that incorporates vignettes from workshop lectures.
Access Model: open access
Format: Web

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