K–12 Programs
Plan a field trip
Tours of the Smart Museum are available to all schools. Our staff works in close consultation with teachers to plan these docent-led or self-guided tours, tailoring each visit to ensure that they complement broader classroom lessons.
Learn more about our thematic tours below.
Supporting teachers
Through professional development opportunities and exhibition guides, the Smart Museum endeavors to equip teachers with the tools they need to make art central to learning.
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Professional development opportunities
The Smart regularly hosts workshops and other programs for art and other teachers interested in integrating aspects of the Museum into their curriculum. Topics generally include teaching with objects, special exhibition themes, and arts integration. To register for a teacher workshop, e-mail Lisa Davis, Manager of Tour and Teacher Initiatives, or call 773.834.1066.
Teacher resources
Produced in conjunction with most major exhibitions at the Smart, the teacher guides include readings, questions for discussion, project ideas, bibliographies, and reproductions of artworks for classroom use.
Thematic tours and lesson plans
The Smart also teams up with teachers to create lesson plans and thematic tours based off of our collection and exhibitions. See some examples below, or contact Lisa Davis to discuss how to fit these or other themed tours in to your classroom plans.
Health and Hospitality
Themes of health and hospitality have been explored by artists in various ways throughout history, from traditional still-life representations to contemporary artists considering the meal itself as an artistic medium. For instance, the exhibition Feast addresses the art of the experience of the shared meal. During this tour students investigate still-life works to objects across cultures that represent healthy food habits, the act of serving, and the ritual and ceremony of eating together.
Modern Art
What is art? This philosophical question will challenge students to consider the place and importance of abstract art within the walls of the museum. Students will explore ideas of experimentation and the process of creation in the Smart’s Modern collection to determine their own answer to this question of aesthetics.
Legend, Mysticism, and Creation: Telling Tales Through Art
Passing down legends, telling stories, and explaining the mysteries of the world is an activity common to every culture. Typically, we think of this transmission of knowledge and folklore as occurring through the processes of speaking and listening. However, there are other mediums through which this activity can occur—looking at ways artists communicate through color, line, gestures, and other narrative devices, what stories can we imagine live in the Smart Museum collections?
Engaging classrooms
The Smart Museum’s sequential, multi-visit programs—Art in Focus for third graders and smART Explorers for fifth graders—are the cornerstones of our educational initiatives.
These funded programs integrate all facets of the visual arts into the school curriculum by fostering critical thinking, writing, and creative problem solving skills through Museum visits, online activities, hands-on projects, and classroom discussions.
The Smart currently works in partnership with thirty-five Chicago Public Schools classrooms in the South Side neighborhoods surrounding the Smart.
For more information about our school programs, e-mail Lisa Davis, Manager of Tour and Teacher Initiatives, or call 773.834.1066.
Now on view
Discover how artists have transformed the simple act of sharing food and drink into a new kind of art.
Feasts in the Ancient World
Friday, May 25, noon
Archaelogist Geoff Emberling discusses feasting traditions in ancient Mesopotamia and explores connections to the culture of the Middle East today.
