PRESS RELEASE


CONTACT: Katie Sproles, (541) 346-0942, ksproles@uoregon.edu
SOURCE: Lisa Abia-Smith, (541) 346-0966, abia@uoregon.edu

November 3, 2004

Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art brings art programs to Lane County schools

EUGENE-Students from several local schools will learn about art this year through a program developed by the University of Oregon's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

ArtReach, which is funded through a $22,000 grant from the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, will bring the arts into classrooms in a handful of K-8 schools in Lane County.

"This award is a creative way to partner with schools that would otherwise not be able to provide arts education opportunities at this level," explains Lisa Abia-Smith, the museum's director of education. "We believe the most meaningful way to give access to the arts for the greatest number of Oregon's underserved students is through exposure to actual objects and artists. This grant takes this a step further by providing quality training for teachers."

Abia-Smith says teachers at participating schools will attend professional development seminars to learn new skills for bringing arts-based education into their classrooms even after the museum's formal ArtReach activities are complete.

ArtReach will arrange visits to the museum's new Schnitzer Gallery for American and Regional Art, including a visit to the "Andy Warhol's Dream America" exhibit scheduled to open at the museum in January. Following the tours, the children will participate in hands-on art studio activities.

Museum-trained university students and teen guides, using American art-based outreach kits and curriculum packets, will follow-up the museum tours with visits to classrooms.

The museum is currently recruiting schools and community agencies for ArtReach. Jefferson and Kelly middle schools and the ARC of Lane County are already enrolled.

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon is scheduled to reopen to the public on Jan. 23, 2005, after completion of a $14.2 million renovation and expansion project that will nearly double the size of the facility. Throughout the construction project, the museum has continued to implement art education standards for K-12 students and enhance the curriculum of area teachers with traveling outreach kits, corresponding lesson plans, tours, on-line resources and professional development.

For more information about the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art's ArtReach program, call Abia-Smith at (541) 346-0966.

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