THE JUNIOR GALLERY.

THE JUNIOR GALLERY. A Hands-On Space for Learning and Creating The Everhart Museum The Everhart Museum is a non-profit general museum located in Nay Aug Park in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1908 by Dr. Isaiah Fawkes Everhart, a local medical doctor and skilled taxidermist; many of the specimens in the museum's extensive ornithological collection came in Scranton, Pa., is undergoing a renaissance.The only general museum in the region, the Everhart offers extensiveholdings in natural history, art and diverse cultural objects. TheJunior Gallery opened in October 1998, with the community support of theJunior League of Scranton. The 660-square-foot Junior Gallery, withtiered seating for 50, is set up as both a gallery with exhibition spaceand a classroom with tables, chairs, a blackboard and a bulletin board. Through regular tour, workshop and program offerings for all agesand abilities, the Junior Gallery faithfully fulfills its mission toserve the people of northeast Pennsylvania. As the Junior Gallerydirector, I face the constant challenge of creating unique and enrichingeducational opportunities not otherwise available in the region.Integrating the museum's collection with lessons in artappreciation, art production, natural history and many other disciplineshas been the focus of the yearly schedule of offerings. The museum's education department designs a series of tours,workshops and special events available to the community. Each workshopfocuses on an exhibit or series of works at the Everhart. Topics areselected to optimize a complete learning experience that begins with theteacher in the classroom and continues in the classroom after the visit. The museum sessions start with interactive, hands-on techniquesdesigned to demystify de��mys��ti��fy?tr.v. de��mys��ti��fied, de��mys��ti��fy��ing, de��mys��ti��fiesTo make less mysterious; clarify: an autobiography that demystified the career of an eminent physician. the evaluation of a work of art and engage thestudents in discussion and participation. The educator conducting a maskor adinkra cloth workshop shows examples from the African collection asan initial motivator. The form of the mask and fabric, culture oforigin, and ceremonial use are discussed with children in terms of theirown experience and lives. Participants try on non-accessioned masks andinteract with each other. This is a time when musical instruments from the same culture areavailable to be tried. Contemporary and traditional African music African music,the music of the indigenous peoples of Africa. Sub-Saharan African music has as its distinguishing feature a rhythmic complexity common to no other region. encourages spontaneous dancing. Teachers click their cameras while thestudents' creative spirits flow forth for the ensuing artproduction session. Our Asian gallery, arrayed with sculpture, figurines, an oraclebone, silk textiles and more, also features a display of the life of asilk worm, where students feel, hear about and understand the silkcocoon cocoon:see pupa. and its life cycle. Museum educators demonstrate silk spinning ona brass hand spindle spindle:see spinning. A rotating shaft in a disk drive. In a fixed disk, the platters are attached to the spindle. In a removable disk, the spindle remains in the drive. Laptops use spindle designations to indicate the number of built-in drives. . Silk samples at various stages are passed aroundfor tactile sensation. This leads to a discussion about the silk tradeand its importance to Chinese culture. Silk tapestries and potterydecorated with images of dragons are examined and discussed. A fanciful"Year of the Dragon" puppet is made in the production portionof the lesson. "Rub Brass with the Past" is a unique offering. Based onbrass reproductions of medieval portraits, this workshop incorporatesnursery rhyme nursery rhymeVerse customarily told or sung to small children. Though the oral tradition of nursery rhymes is ancient, the largest number date from the 16th, 17th, and (most frequently) 18th centuries. origins, medieval music The term medieval music encompasses European music written during the Middle Ages. This era begins with the fall of the Roman Empire (476 AD) and ends in approximately the middle of the fifteenth century. , history and culture. Students ofall ages create brilliant brass rubbings to take home, while immersingthemselves in the art and culture of the 14th and 15th centuries. Traveling back in time to another culture, the Egyptian workshopbegins with a discussion of the emphasis placed on the afterlife. A lookat the mummified cat and bird in our collection is accompanied by aviewing of X-rays of each piece. Slides of the archeological discoveryof the Tomb of King Tutankhamen are viewed and discussed. Using symboliccolors and images, students make a pectoral pectoral/pec��to��ral/ (pek��ter-il) thoracic. pec��to��raladj.1. Relating to or situated in the breast or chest.2. necklace based on designsfrom our Egyptian collection. One of our most popular offerings is the Native American tour andworkshop. Based on a recently installed gallery, this extensive exhibitprovides ample opportunity to draw on common themes from diverse NativeAmerican peoples. Featuring a locally discovered canoe, along with amultitude of objects of beauty, interest and importance, studentsrecognize a respect for the natural world in the images around them. Theworkshop focuses on the Hopi kachina kachina(kəchē`nə), spirit of the invisible life forces of the Pueblo of North America. The kachinas, or kachinam, are impersonated by elaborately costumed masked male members of the tribes who visit Pueblo villages the first half of the as a representation of the spiritsin nature, especially as they relate to rainfall. The importance of theenvironment and how it helps form a culture's tradition is thefocus of this workshop. A recent trip to Arizona afforded me the opportunity to purchasetwo small kachinas for hands-on use. In company with the fine examplesfrom our collection, students see the importance of this Native Americantradition. The production workshop teaches students to make a modelkachina with moveable parts. Building on cognitive skills gained duringdiscussion, this segment stresses fine motor skills, followingdirections and individual interpretation of information. Students areencouraged to create a version of a kachina, focusing on a portion ofnature important to them and where they live. The results are alwaysindividual, colorful, thoughtful and extremely creative. In addition to integrating the curriculum with science, literature,music and social studies, these hands-on opportunities are particularlyimportant to students with disabilities. Our workshops draw K-12, giftedand special-education students, handicapped adults and senior citizens.Each workshop is tailored to the needs of the group and to theteacher's specific curriculum needs. Edited versions of theseworkshops, using hands-on materials, are available off-site through ouroutreach program. This approach to art history encompasses a focus on the needs andinterests of the community and of Pennsylvania curriculum requirements.As a general art and natural history museum with extensive holdings, wehave at our fingertips, the tools required to design multidisciplinaryworkshops to enhance classroom learning. Any teacher or facilitator mayuse this format successfully, even if a museum is unavailable or a fieldtrip is impractical. Many local museums, historical societies,universities, libraries and cultural groups have outreach programs andguest speakers available, usually for a small fee or free of charge.Many offer virtual tours Virtual ToursThe phrases panoramic tour and virtual tour are often used to describe a variety of video and photographic based media. The word panorama indicates an unbroken view, so essentially, a panorama in that respect could be either a series of photographs or panning video or distance learning, as well. Check your localchamber of commerce for a listing. The Everhart Museum and the Junior Gallery are in the initialplanning stages of developing a distance-learning program. In the nearfuture, we hope to be able to share the experience of the Everhart withan even larger audience. Jamie Podhurst is the Junior Gallery Director at the EverhartMuseum in Scranton, Pennsylvania "Scranton" redirects here. For other places named Scranton, see Scranton (disambiguation).The City of Scranton is the county seat of Lackawanna CountyGR6 in Northeastern Pennsylvania, USA. .