Grade Level:
Vibrant Learning: Exploring the Permanent Collection
Through its permanent collection, the Gibbes Museum of Art is dedicated to sharing a growing anthology of artists from diverse backgrounds and life experiences with you and your students. Shining a light on the many artists of color featured in the collection is a memorable way for your class to confront changes from the past, deal with challenges in the present, and prepare for what lies ahead in the future. At the Gibbes, original research, updated methods of interpretation, and discoveries of new objects offer you an on-going opportunity to teach sensitive and challenging subjects through the visual arts each time you visit with your class. This study guide can be used for a virtual introduction to some of these key pieces from the Gibbes. However, we would love to welcome your class in person, too! On a field trip to the Gibbes, you will explore several galleries on the second floor showcasing pieces from its permanent collection.
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What is an American? American Landscapes
Where is Charleston? Where Mary’s Grass GrowsWhere is Charleston? Where Mary’s Grass GrowsWhere is Charleston? Where Mary’s Grass Grows
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Who is Your Family? Leo Twiggs Remembers
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Where is Charleston? Where Mary’s Grass Grows
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When was that Made? Still Love Thy Neighbor
Classroom Activities and Project-Based Lesson Plans
Curriculum Standards
South Carolina College and Career-Ready StandardsNational Content Areas •
- National Core Arts Standards
- Next Generation Science Standards
- Common Core State Standards for Mathematics
- C3 Framework for State Social Studies Standards
- Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts
How to Use This Study Guide
Lesson Plan 1
What is an American? American Landscapes
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Lesson Plan 2
Who is Your Family? Leo Twiggs Remembers
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Lesson Plan 3
Where is Charleston? Where Mary’s Grass Grows
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Gallery Highlights
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A Dark Place of Dreams: Louise Nevelson with Chakaia Booker, Lauren Fensterstock, and Kate Gilmore
Thirty years after her passing, A Dark Place of Dreams revisits the monochromatic assemblages of Louise Nevelson, one of the pioneering American sculptors of the twentieth century, alongside three contemporary artists: Chakaia Booker, Lauren Fensterstock, and Kate Gilmore. In her most iconic works, Nevelson utilized wooden objects gathered from urban debris piles to create monumental […] -
Anna Heyward Taylor: Intrepid Explorer
A native of Columbia, South Carolina, Anna Heyward Taylor (1879—1956) is best known as one of the principal artists of the Charleston Renaissance, a period of cultural rebirth in the city from roughly 1915 to 1940. Prior to settling in Charleston in 1929, Taylor traveled and studied widely, including trips to Holland in 1903 and […] -
A New Deal: Artists at Work
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt launched his ambitious Works Progress Administration (WPA) programs that sent millions of unemployed Americans back to work, including more than 5,000 artists. Under the auspices of the WPA, the Federal Art Project afforded opportunities to a diverse group of artists, including women, African Americans, […]