After seeing countless slides of incredible sculptures and paintings in the classroom for seven months, art history students got to go experience what it is like seeing art up close and personal.
On Wednesday, Apr. 14, 107 art students boarded two buses and headed to the art district that the city of Dallas has to offer. Only few knew that Dallas offers more than just one museum of paintings.
Once in the Dallas art district, students were split into two groups to complete a certain set of activities.
First, students got to go on an architectural walk around a few blocks in downtown Dallas. They saw the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Belo Mansion and the First United Methodist Church. Each building showed different architectural features like Neo-Modernist in the Symphony Center, High Victorian Gothic Revival in the Cathedral, Neoclassical Revival in the Mansion and Late English Perpendicular Gothic revival in the Church.
“It was so cool to finally see the things we have been learning in class this year up close,” senior Drew Hasson said. “I would never think Dallas could offer such a variety.”
After the walk, students got to go visit the Nasher Sculpture Center, which is hosting a Juame Plensa Exhibit. There were several of Plensa’s Genius and Species sculptures all over the building and outside in the sculpture garden. The Plensa Exhibit will continue until May 2nd for any interested in visiting.
“The Plensa Exhibit was my favorite part of the whole trip,” senior Natalie Wade said. “Seeing all these sculptures covered in letters, names and oceans was so intriguing.”
After visiting the Nasher Sculpture Center, students walked across the street to the famous Dallas Museum of Art. The museum contains four floors of priceless artwork for all over the world and from all time periods. Students got to see art from Indonesia to Egypt to European to American spanned across several centuries of time.
“The DMA was amazing because it showed work from everywhere and not just America,” sophomore Jake Larson said.
The DMA also contains two exhibits at the moment: “Lens of Impressionism” and Young Masters.
The “Lens of Impressionims” exhibit contains photography and paintings from France during that art period. Students just learning about this subject got to see works by famous artists’ like Claude Monet, Édouard Manet and Gustave Courbet.
The Young Masters exhibit is new and it shows art from a selected group of students from around the Dallas metropolis. This gave the art students to see what could possibly be the first works of famous artists for the next generation. Two of the artworks were from current students at CHS, seniors Hannah Kim and Sarah Kim.
“I love taking my students on trips to finally see artwork in person but I was also very proud to see my own student’s work in the DMA,” AP art history teacher Monica Winters said.
After spending the day in Dallas seeing the art it offers, students became enriched with the culture and now can get ready for the rigorous AP exam to come in the next couple of weeks.
