Picturing Early America: People, Places, and Events 1770-1870

FAIN: ES-50224-08

Salem State University (Salem, MA 01970-5353)
Patricia A. Johnston (Project Director: March 2008 to September 2011)

A four-week institute for twenty-five school teachers on interpreting and teaching American art.

Salem State College proposes to hold a four-week Summer Institute, from July 5 to July 31, 2009, for 25 school teachers on interpreting and teaching early American art. The institute explores the period from British colonial settlement to the aftermath of the Civil War, and will be divided into three units based on the primary pictorial forms of the period: portraiture, history painting, and landscapes. Each unit will include a particular focus on what we are calling "spotlight" works--art included in NEH's Picturing America series. Through the institute, participants will come to a deeper understanding of the approaches and methodologies of the disciplines of history and art history, and develop ways to incorporate visual culture into their classrooms.