See the construction of the historic bridge in Carl Peters’ painting in MAG’s collection. Why did he focus on the labor and engineering in the bridge’s construction, rather than the sight of the completed structure? Consider how a bridge, real or as metaphor, can memorialize (honor) a person or an important event, and design your own bridge with a beloved person in mind.
Resources Inspired by Warhol
Learn more about the screenprinting techniques used by Andy Warhol with materials created in collaboration with UR Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Mizin Shin.
Use your mobile phone, tablet or computer to dig deeper into the MAG collection. This interactive, MAGexplore, will take you upstairs, downstairs and throughout MAG’s outside Centennial Sculpture Park: you now have 5,000 years of world art at your fingertips!
shown above: Aurélien-Marie Lugné-Poë (1869-1940) by Édouard Vuillard (detail), Calligraphics by Isamu Noguchi, Antelope Crest Masks, Galaxy (detail) by Fritz Trautmann Art-Spot
Get some fresh air and explore MAG’s Sculpture with our NEWEST Art-Spot on #publicart! Download and print, or view it on your device (even works great on smartphone). How many of MAG’s outdoor artworks can you spot?
Download this PDF and see how many of the little bronzes you can find in our Sculpture Park. Artist Tom Otterness designed this sculpture installation, Creation Myth, especially for MAG’s urban art space.
MAG Gallery Guides
Originally designed for in-gallery use, these guides provide a closer look at some of MAG’s favorite objects.
The Articulate Object Worksheet: (PDF)
Grab a collection of objects that you already have at home (may we suggest a varied assortment of spoons/kitchen gadgets for starters? Seriously). Then have your students fill in the two worksheets as they for gather information about their “artifacts.”
Learning to Look: (PDF)
A ten-page guide for looking and learning with a MAG favorite, Lilly Martin Spencer’s painting, Peeling Onions (ca. 1852).
Learning to Look: (PDF)
A ten-page guide for looking and learning with another MAG favorite, Jerome Myers’ painting, Sunday Morning (1907).
Art Alive
These guided looking and thinking activities were originally designed for elementary students, grades K-6:
Slide Shows
Let MAG help you integrate art into your teaching, from wherever you and your students are! Slideshows of artworks from MAG’s collection with guiding questions engage critical thinking skills, make curriculum connections, and inspire many other possible activities.
Passport to the Past
Visit our Passport to the Past webpage to find a variety of resources that connect to NYS Standards, including images of art from ancient and classical cultures, traditional Africa, Oceania and Renaissance Europe.
Try these additional educational materials featuring some MAG favorites:
Celebrating Asian American Artists Asian American artists bring their life experiences and talents to new interpretations of art, storytelling, and cultural and national history. Learn more about the lives of five such artists of different Asian heritages and their works in MAG’s collection.
Your Unique Voice in the American Story Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s Famous Names combines traditional Native American and European elements to share the experiences of her people. Let Famous Names inspire you to create an image that tells your story.
Seeing Mr. Lincoln: Portraits of a President
Abraham Lincoln is one of the best-known American Presidents. He is immediately recognizable to us today, even though he lived over 150 years ago and none of us have ever met him. How is that possible? The answer is because of art! Seeing Mr. Lincoln; Portraits of a President includes the many ways artists have recorded his image – and tells the story behind his beard!
Winter Wonderland
Take a walk outside and look for signs of wildlife. Some animals only come out during the night, but they can’t hide their tracks in the snow! How many animas can you identify? Look closely at the many colors of snow. In how many ways can you say “white”? Come up with unique names for all the shades you see.
Sharing the Dream
What visuals comes to your mind when you hear the powerful words delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Bring life and meaning to the famous words of Dr. King through art!
Virtual Art-Spot: Kids of MAG The Kids of MAG are ready to join your class. What is their story? What questions would you ask them?
A Summertime Diary
Ever wonder what the people in MAG artworks are thinking and saying? Make a short Summertime Diary by helping them to speak!
Staycation: Rochester! History is all around us. For two centuries, artists have appreciated the many scenic and historic sites of Rochester and the Genesee Valley. Finish your summer staycation with a virtual trip back in time and then explore the area today.
An Unfinished Portrait
Do you have a project you started but never completed? Look at the unfinished portrait of Boston silversmith Nathaniel Hurd, and imagine how you might finish it. And create your own self-portrait!
Hold that Pose
Capturing figures in motion is a challenging task for an artist. Imagine yourself to be the model as the artist captures your gestures, and test your ability to a Hold That Pose. Have some fun positioning your body in the poses of favorite MAG artworks.
Art and Nature: Become a Birdwatcher
Birdwatching is a popular outdoor activity, but did you know you can go birdwatching at an art museum too? The birds in artworks are easy to observe—they don’t fly away! Art and Nature: Become a Birdwatcher!offers tips and techniques for close-looking inside and out, as well as a link to the NYS I Bird NY challenges.
Struggle for Justice
Take time to hear the voices of two African-Americans, from two different generations, in image and words.
Your Treasure, Your Story
Imagine having to choose one item that is not only precious to you but also represents the special person you are. If you had to move and could only take that one thing, what would you choose? Record your ideas and see the choices made by others in MAG’s Rochester Homelands Exhibition which celebrated the rich cultural traditions people brought to Rochester in the early 20th century.
Pittsford on the Erie Canal: Seasons and Senses
MAG’s painting Pittsford on the Erie Canal was painted in 1837 when the artist George Harvey visited the area and sketched the scene from King’s Landing near what is now King’s Bend Park outside the Village of Pittsford. Let’s get outside and capture the scenery! Beautiful colors and textures are all around us, and they change throughout the day, or as seasons change. Use the templates included in this PDF to create one-of-a-kind landscape art to enjoy all year long, or send to your friends!
Soldiers in Art: Remembering America’s Troops Through Art Often eyewitnesses themselves, artists document and commemorate the lives and heroics of America’s soldiers. Explore and take time to think about the wartime experiences depicted in the MAG Collection and how these artists connect us to important moments in our history.
Storyboard: Sketching Out a Story in Sequence
Imagine a movie, graphic novel, or comic strip starring your favorite work of art. Bring art to life by creating your own story with this storyboard activity. Anything is possible, what happens next is up to you!
Puzzle Challenge Puzzled by modern art? This artist’s work is like a puzzle, tiny pieces intricately assembled into complex shapes. No correct single solution here as the artist allows the museum to choose the final arrangement. Try it at home and see how many possible combinations you can discover!
Seeing | Speaking | Sharing: Let’s talk about art!
Enjoy this fun activity individually or with the entire family. Seeing | Speaking | Sharing (PDF) will guide you through discussing all that you discover in an artwork or artifact from MAG’s Permanent Collection or the world around you. Remember, so many everyday objects in your home were carefully designed and created just like the artwork at MAG!
Word Spill: An inspiration for your own verbal creativity!
Think you have anything to write about? Use Word Spill to help you focus on details of a work of art and generate the words that describe what you see, and think, and feel.
Now repeat the exercise with an object you look at every day in your home, or try it with the view out your window!
Frederick Douglass
Access visual art and poetry by artists paying tribute to Douglass, including selections from The African-American Experience through Poets Walk and Story Walk at MAG.
Willie Cole
See how one African-American artist draws inspiration from traditional African art. Make old traditions, favorite objects, or stories new again just as Willie Cole illustrates through his work. He suggests bicycles can be seen as the “work animals” of today, part of a long tradition celebrating the animals in our lives. Hear Willie Cole himself in this short video!
Paper Sculpture
Now here’s something to make you smile – art making ideas from MAG’s 2005 exhibition The Paper Sculpture Show.
Better Things
Looking at works of art from MAG’s collection in new way, and based on the book, Better Things, by photographer Douglas Holleley, this resource encourages you to read images, interpret and re-interpret them, and create new works of art that speak for you.
