Programming Librarian
Using Visual Thinking Strategies to Conduct Picturing America Programs
Wendy
Lukehart | June 26, 2009
When
I heard that the District of Columbia Public Library was receiving a set of
high-quality posters of American art for each site—thanks to the NEH/ALA
Picturing America grant—I couldn’t have been more excited. Our staff of 50
children’s and teen librarians had just received training in Visual Thinking
Strategies (VTS). They had new-found knowledge that could bring these images to
life in programs for any age group. Now they would have resources to use while
their training and enthusiasm were fresh. So what is VTS, and why train
librarians in something that sounds like it belongs in an art museum?
There are multiple answers to the second part of that
question, but my motivation had to do with the magic that I observe when a
group of people—whether it be toddlers, teens, or adults—look closely and
respond to an interesting image in a nonjudgmental setting. Before the VTS
workshops, which I experienced first at The
Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts,
my primary exposure to groups and the power of a provocative picture had been
through leading interactive picture book sessions. Over and over, I have
watched children grow more thoughtful, attentive, and responsive when asked
open-ended questions in relation to the art on specific pages. In these
moments, I can almost see synapses firing, light dawning, shyness or cynicism
evaporating, and delight emerging from the experience.
When
I discovered that VTS offered a structured, widely respected, research-based
method to support viewers of any age in making meaning out of what they see, I
was anxious to see what it could offer to libraries. While VTS is the name of
an entire curriculum that grew out of the research of cognitive psychologist
Abigail Housen and the experience of museum educator Philip Yenawine, the heart
of the method is a framework for looking at an isolated image; thus, the
process works beautifully as a way to program with the NEH posters. (Watch a short video of kids engaged
with VTS.) More information can be found on the VTS Web site as well as on the Carle
Museum’s.
The
necessary ingredients are a group, a facilitator, and an interesting image. The
session starts with silence as everyone studies the picture. The facilitator
then asks, “What’s going on in this picture? What do you see that makes you say
that? What more can we find?” Throughout this process, the facilitator is
paraphrasing responses (thereby validating the participants’ ideas),
demonstrating language use, linking comments, and generally creating a
respectful, nonthreatening environment. Participants are learning to look
closely, justify their opinions with visual evidence, consider multiple points
of view, and perhaps even rethink their positions.
The combination of looking at striking images and having someone care about
your ideas is irresistible; the method has been particularly successful in
drawing out non-native English speakers. It should be noted that VTS is quite
different from a docent-led approach to art. The leader does not need in-depth
knowledge of the picture. It is not his or her job to impart biographical,
formal, or historical information. Using the posters with VTS in the library
creates an opportunity to awaken curiosity about all of those aspects, however,
and later programming elements—related books or media shared in the group
setting or through displays—allow the participants to discover their own
answers. It is quite liberating, even exhilarating, to discover that there are
many right answers when exploring a work of art—or as the sculptor Alexander
Calder put it: “That others grasp what I have in mind seems unessential, as
least as long as they have something else in theirs.”In order to encourage the use of the posters and VTS, a group of D.C. librarians met to create programming templates associated with selected posters. We were then able to offer a range of ideas and resources to our colleagues; they could select components based on their own styles, interests, and audiences. Nearly all of our programs started by displaying a poster and asking VTS questions. If you’ve never tried it, you might think, well after three minutes, what else is there to say? It turns out quite a bit, when the picture is rich and the atmosphere is welcoming. We’ve seen six-year-olds and adults stay with a picture for 30 minutes or more. That element can be controlled as agenda and interest dictates.
The next item in most programs for children was the sharing of a picture book related to the time period, artist, or style of the poster; when appropriate, The Whole Book Approach, another method learned from The Carle, was applied to the book to enjoy it as a visual entity. (More on that in another blog.) For example, The Dove by Romare Bearden was followed by Christopher Myers’ Black Cat (Scholastic, 1999) or Wings (Scholastic, 2000) for younger children and Harlem (Scholastic, 1997) for teens. Discussions about the qualities of collage and why it works so well to represent a city block were part of the discussion. The young people then created their own collages from magazines.
VTS is a tremendously inspiring method; when used in conjunction with the Picturing America posters, it leads to multiple benefits. When you start a program by showing the poster and asking the group, “What’s going on in this picture?” you are beginning the process of digging beneath the surface to explore the patterns, customs, and values of our collective past. You are encouraging visual and verbal literacy, developing community, and creating the curiosity and critical thinking that can later be tapped as you share and promote related books. Isn’t this what exposure to “the humanities” and a visit to the library are all about: encountering surprises, understanding other viewpoints, and finding meaning?
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