Montalvo invites schools and educators to bring your classroom to the historic Villa and grounds. Fieldtrips are curated to fit your needs and may include docent-led history tours of the Villa and grounds, nature walks in the gardens and forest trails, picnics on the Front Lawn, talks with curators of Project Space exhibits and visits with guest artists and current artists-in-residence at the Lucas Artists Programs.
IRAQ:REFRAME is the perfect way to introduce your students to the Mesopotamia and the Cradle of Civilization!
A new series of visual, performing and media arts, IRAQ:REFRAME includes art and discussions at Montalvo and throughout the Bay Area. At a time when Iraq is primarily seen or thought of as a place of war and destruction, Montalvo taps the creative community to reframe perceptions of the country and its culture through programming that asks a myriad of internal and external questions. By exploring individual life histories, experiences, and artistic practices, we consider what the enormous losses of life, culture and humanity in Iraq mean for the world as a whole.
- Sculpture on the Grounds: Al Dar Al Iraqi (Iraqi Home)
Aug 2007 - March 2008
Recommended for grades: ALL
Curriculum Connections: History-Social Science (Ancient Mesopotamia, Current Events, Adobe/Mud Brick Homes), Science (Earth/Life Sciences)
A temporary rural structure built by artist Wafaa Bilal on the front lawn of Montalvo, Al Dar Al Iraqi is symbolic of the type of homes built and inhabited by Iraqis living in rural and impoverished areas prior to the modernization period of the 1950’s and beyond. This piece speaks to the devastation of the civil and domestic infrastructure taking place in Iraq today, creating an environment that has forced its inhabitants to return to an almost pre-modern existence of failed construction, electricity and lack of safety.The practice of building homes from mud bricks originated in the Mesopotamian city of Sumer, the earliest known civilization whose infrastructure was built by using sun-baked bricks. The artist, Wafaa Bilal, was forced to create a home in this style during the time he spent in a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia after the first Gulf War. Without any substantial shelter provided, he turned to this antiquated method of building a home when he was exiled from his own.
- Project Space: Moments from 20th Century Iraqi Art
Nov 3 - Dec 22 :: Phase One (Art from the 1940s-1950s Modernist Movement)
Jan 20 - March 30 :: Phase Two (Art from the 1960s Generation)
Recommended for grades: ALL
Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, History-Social Science
In view of the lack of knowledge but sudden discovery of and interest in Iraq's arts and cultures, Moments from 20th Century Iraqi Art presents pivotal moments from Iraq's modern art history. A rare collection of work never before presented in the United States, the exhibition functions as the historical anchor for the contemporary events in the IRAQ:REFRAME program. The works include painting, sculpture, ceramics and prints, and will be exhibited in two stages: the first focusing on the Pioneers movement of the 1940s and 50s; the second on the artists that formed the 1960's generation.
Additional exhibits, public programs, and conversations are also available. We are happy to work with you to create a field trip appropriate to your program!
To schedule your next fieldtrip to the historic Villa and grounds, or to bring your students to any of the IRAQ:REFRAME programs, click here to email the education offices. To download guides for your field trip, click here.
RELATED PROGRAMS
- Adult Programs
- History Walks
- Outreach and Master Class Series
- Schools & Teachers
- Student Programs
- Teacher Services
- Villa & Grounds Tours
- Visual Arts
- Wells Fargo Performing Arts Series for Students
