Doing Art Together! by Muriel Siberstein-Storfer with Mablen Jones!Muriel Silberstein-Storfer was a writer, artist, educator, and pioneering advocate for quality children’s art education, named an Advance Woman of Achievement in 1967. She was also a board member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, created parent-child workshops for the museum, and established a respected student art program throughout the city. I read her legendary art education book, Doing Art Together, in graduate school on the recommendation of Professor Nina, and I highly recommend that as many art educators as possible read it. Mrs. Silberstein-Storfer, who lived in New Brighton and Grymes Hill from 1952 to 1975, organized a parent-child workshop for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1972. This class became a family tradition for many, as they brought their own children to the workshops as they grew up. In partnership with the city’s Board of Education and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, her Doing Art Together program offered “hands-on” art courses to schools and social service agencies, including Head Start programs, hospitals, and rehabilitation centers. Her organization became a valuable asset in the educational field when her detailed program manual, a book of the same name, was published in 1982. It was reissued twice in the late 1990s. Dr. Silverstein-Stoffer has long argued that art making, guided as if speaking to a newborn, is a powerful stimulant for creative thinking, problem-solving, and self-confidence. “If we can pass down the tradition of making art together from generation to generation, we can build a community that transcends our individual lives,” Ms. Silverstein-Stoffer wrote in the preface to the 1997 edition of the book. When I was introduced to this book by Professor Nina, she told me that she was her best friend and that she was someone she always missed. I would like to thank Professor Nina again for recommending this book to me, because this book is a big part of my teaching philosophy.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Myungja Anna KohArtist Categories
All
Archives
February 2025
|
Proudly powered by Weebly