I had a successful tour – the kids learned something (e.g. they now have heard of the Silk Road!) and were engaged by the art and mythical creatures. I had planned to focus a bit more on the journeys of our families (and ourselves) as a theme but in the end the creatures won the day. For the next time, I think I’ll use Jane/Annette’s questions earlier to set the stage and to better drive the discussion. After a brief chat about the exhibit and its context in the Garden, I did ask the students, if they found themselves having to move, to consider “What would you leave behind?” “What would you bring to your new home?” . That generated some discussion but also a fair amount of puzzlement. Maybe a case of ‘read the room.’

Due to the construction, we then moved to the Forest (coming from the gift shop through a number of rooms out of order) and I found that sustaining the immigration flow now felt a bit off. But the art and animals came to the rescue. The Fox Woman and Unicorn were favorites. I told the story of the Fox Woman and legend of the nine tails. We did a drawing/word description activity. The ‘woven’ painting of the Cambodian temple was of interest, visually as it comes into focus and for technique.

The Village Square was a hit. The presence of graffiti was unexpected, the collision of cultures in the collage of signs as well. The painting with the various dragons is worthy of a close look. And of course, Vishnu and Garuda. Throughout the tour I had them on the lookout for the various chimera and guessing what animals comprised the creature in front of them.

We did do a brief stop in the Silk Road, and the students were drawn to foods and musical instruments.

We did a stop at the Dragon’s Landing. Based on Melissa’s prior tour, we discussed the collage and its making and attempted to have the students say what they might include in a collage of their own lives. We ended in the Kitchen with a peek at the Four Guardians. Mythical creatures!

My tours focused on mythical creatures originating from mythologies in Asia. I am avoiding Dave Kim’s theme of the many stages of the immigrant journey because that has not been my personal journey. Also, I am reluctant to ask students to make connections between his journey and their journeys which are highly personal and particularly sensitive when ICE is seizing people off the street in Pasadena. That said, this is what we did on my four tours (Feb. 19 and Feb. 20).

We organized our clipboards with a handout that I had prepared. Then, we created and sketched on our handouts a hybrid creature, with each person in the group suggesting a physical feature. For example, body of bird, neck of giraffe, head of horse, ears of elephant, and so on. Then, we looked at my handout which shows two categories of creatures from Asian mythologies: Hybrid Creatures and Shapeshifter Creatures. By then, they already had the concept of “hybrid,” so we turned to shapeshifters where we had a conversation about what they are, their favorites, etc. We then looked at my handout to see the creatures listed under each category: Hybrid – dragon, qilin/kirin, phoenix, garuda; and Shapeshifters – nine-tail fox and tanuki. Our goal was to make a check mark on the handouts each time we saw one of these creatures.

Upon entering a gallery, we looked for the creatures listed on the handout, working individually, with partners or in small groups. Then, we compared results and had conversations about which creatures on the list pulled them in/made them wonder and why. We focused on close looking so that we could make comparisons when we saw the same creatures in other galleries and they could choose their favorite creature at the end of the tour. As part of close looking, we talked about the physical features of each hybrid creature.

We sometimes talked about creatures that they liked but which are not my list. We tried to do this in a way so that they could make comparisons and connections – for example, the faces of the copper deer in the wetlands to the face of the kirin in the forest or the legs of the cranes in the wetlands to the legs of the phoenix.

We also had some good laughs – waving our arms like a phoenix and imitating the pose of tanuki.

As part of our conversations, I tried to convey a variety of things. For example, I sometimes asked them about the dates when objects had been created to convey that the creatures have been depicted by artists over the centuries. I gave examples to convey that the creatures are more than symbols of various things (e.g., good luck or blessings) but also carry stories with life-lessons. Sometimes we looked at where the objects were created to convey that although a creature may appear across Asian mythology, it may be depicted and interpreted differently from culture to culture (e.g., Japan vs. China).

Clipboards helped immensely with group management and getting responses from everyone in the group. I would use the clipboards in a slightly different way if I gave the group more freedom to choose the subjects of close-looking. In that case, I would ask them to write down several words that come to mind when looking at the object and to group share those words.

LAST TOUR OF THE YEAR!!

Today, I toured with six wonderful elementary school girls. They were 9-10 years old (4th graders). Before they arrived at PAM, they had walked from their school in Old Town Pasadena to a neighboring school, participated in a fun run, and walked over to the museum. So they had had quite the adventure before arriving. There was only one tour as it was a single classroom of 23 students. There was one boy who was a special ed student, accompanied by his aide, who stayed for a while and then decided he needed to go. The aide had informed me at the beginning of the tour of the situation.

After introducing the artists and talking about the purpose of their visit, we explored Room 5. The girls were very interested in the work and made copious notes. We gathered and shared observations and questions. Each student had something to say about her particular favorite; one was particularly interested in Ascending Dragon, so we proceeded to take a closer look. I talked about Cai’s interest in the bridge between Western and Eastern art. I explained the importance of the dragon in Asian cultures. One Vietnamese girl confirmed that the dragon is a significant symbol in her culture. We watched the Fetus Movement video and talked about the scientific questions Cai may have been asking when he created this event. We then examined the charts recording his heart rate and discussed how one’s heart rate can be affected by events such as sitting in the middle of an explosion.

In Room 6, we looked at Human Abode: Project for ET #1, which was Cai’s first major explosion event. I found a picture of the actual “abode” so that they could compare the photo to his drawn rendition. Again, they were fascinated by the writing on his work.

Our final stop was Room 11, Palmyra, and Return to Darkness. They were very engaged with the See, Hear, Smell, and Feel activity and were quite imaginative in their offerings. We discussed the significance of Palmyra in the context of ancient civilizations, its destruction, and the irony that Cai employed a material like gunpowder to depict the destruction in a work of art. Then we watched the video of the making of Return to Darkness. This was the first time I started with the artwork before the video. The artwork intrigued them, and they recognized the fuse point from previous works. Finally, we discussed whether the works were the same. One student said “yes,” another said “no.” The “yes” student reasoned that the materials were all the same, differing only in form. The “no” student noted that the final product looked nothing like the original. 

This was a perfect tour to end the year with. The girls were lively, serious students with imaginative ideas and confidence.

Comments & Suggestions:
In the timeline of Cai’s work, the girls located some of the works that we had previously examined. One girl found the Ascending Dragon entry and said she could see the dragon on the mountain in that small photo better than she could on one we had previously looked at.

Today, I toured with two groups: one of 2nd-grade students and another of 3rd-grade students, and I had two completely different experiences. The first group (2nd grade) was engaged, curious, and responsive; the second (3rd grade) not so much. The second group consisted of 7 boys and two adults (one of whom was the teacher). 

We worked with the same items in the collection, though I modified the content with the second group by close-looking at more items, guiding the conversation more, and spending less time giving them added information. We (Group 2) spent more time looking at items they expressed interest in, rather than at the items I had planned. 

We all did the heart rate experiment in Room 5, which went well. Both groups engaged and had interesting insights about the activity. We visited Palmyra and Return to Darkness, and all students participated.

Our visits were cut a bit short because, although the bus was on time, most of the students needed to use the restroom before starting on the tour.

Yesterday, I toured with a group of six middle-school (8th grade) girls who were very quiet yet interested. We were only doing one tour as there were only 30 students total. They were English-speaking Mandarin learners. I wouldn’t classify them as engaged, but they responded when asked questions and, on occasion, asked questions of their own. We were asked to include the oracle bones on the tour.

We began the tour with the oracle bones, where I gave a brief history of their discovery and their contribution to written communication and the history of China. We then discussed the process of divination, which I tied to some of Cai’s philosophy of mortality/immortality and permanence/impermanence. Finally, we looked at some examples of the evolution of the language from pictographs to current Chinese writing. 

We spent time in almost every room, discussing various works and processes, focusing primarily on Palmyra, Return to Darkness, and Shadow: Pray for Protection. At Palmyra and Shadow I used the ODIP strategy: observe (silently, what do you see; not what you think you see), describe (share what you see), interpret (based on what you observe and connect, what do you think the story is), and finally prove (what makes you say that; what do you see in the work that demonstrates your interpretation). 

The tour ended when half the group disappeared. They simply went to the restroom with the chaperone! Luckily, we were near the end of the tour, so we spent the remaining minutes in the garden.

Reflection (what would you do differently?):

Comments & Suggestions:
The groups were formed (by the teacher) into single gender (girls/boys) groups, which, in middle school, is a wise decision. Studies have shown that single gender grouping relieves some social stressors within this age group, making for a more successful experience for everyone.

Today’s tour almost repeated last week’s (same school, same grade level, different students). The students were again well behaved, engaged, and confident. I did the same main activities (heartbeat, jumping into Palmyra, and Pray for Protection close-looking). The students participated actively in all activities. They asked questions about the work, the artist, and the circumstances that Cai explored in his work.

At the beginning of the tour, I told the students that we would be examining some particular subjects so that they knew what to expect. I explained that, along with being an artist, Cai was a scientist, and much of his work showed his curiosity and imagination. I told them we would work on observation skills and did a short test of their observation skills. We then talked about construction (building), deconstruction (destroying), and reconstruction (rebuilding). I explained that we would discuss those concepts in some of the work we examined.

Overall, both groups were a joy to work with.

Comments & Suggestions:
I want to commend Lonnie for her pre-tour engagement with the students. Both weeks, the bus arrived well before the start of the tour, and Lonnie gave them a whole class activity to keep them occupied. These students were well-engaged, and everyone participated. When the tour started, they were calm and ready to go. Thank you, Lonnie!

Today I toured with two groups of delightful 3rd-grade students. They were energetic, curious, and engaged. We began by discussing observation and the expectations for their tour. 

In Room 5, after students viewed the entire room, they noted what interested them and any questions they had. We then discussed. We proceeded with the heartbeat experiment. They found their pulses, counted and recorded their beats per 15 seconds. They then ran in place for 15 seconds, took their pulse, and recorded. We discussed the results, and they were sure that their heartbeats increased when they exercised. We then watched the video of Cai sitting amid the explosion. I asked how they think his heart rate was doing, and they concluded that his BP would increase. We then looked at the data presented to confirm their thoughts. The ability for the students to see the actual recorded data helped them to understand the process. We discussed ways the BP can be affected: fright, loud noises, sitting in the middle of explosions, etc.

We moved to Room 11, where we “jumped into” the Palmyra work. Students recorded what they “saw,” “heard,” “smelled,” while in the environment, and finally how that environment made them feel. I briefly gave them some background about Palmyra, including its being an ancient city and its importance to the region. One student offered that she had a friend whose family was from that area. We then looked at the Return to Darkness video and discussed the construction and deconstruction of the work. Some students made a connection between Palmyra and Return to Darkness.

We moved to Room 2 to view Shadow: Pray for Protection and examined the work from three perspectives. As they looked, they noted what they saw in the work. Then, they shared what they observed, and each student crossed off the items on the list if they had them. One student asked if the work was about Hiroshima (third grade!) He also added that he knew what kind of plane it was!

Finally, we discussed what the two pieces (Palmyra and Shadow) had in common. The thought that they were both about war, and that war was not good.

The students in both groups were engaged and eager to participate. Having the clipboards and pencils from the beginning was very empowering for them. They felt confident adding their thoughts to the conversations, either orally or in writing.

Reflection (what would you do differently?):
I wouldn’t do much differently. I have learned that having the clipboards and pencils ready to be passed out and having the students hold them from the beginning of the tour makes a lot of difference. The younger students like to record information and are eager to participate.

Comments & Suggestions:
Unfortunately, the second tour began late, so I didn’t spend as much time at the stops as I wanted to. But in the end, we got through all the planned activities.