Partners: Cherokee Heights Middle School; Cottage Grove Elementary School; Glendale Elementary School; Velma Hamilton Middle School; Indian Mound Middle School; Kegonsa Elementary School; Midvale Elementary School; John Muir Elementary School; Prairie View Middle School
Educators: Kristine Gruninger, John Muir Elementary School; Linda K. Wilson, Cottage Grove Elementary School; Sarah McRae, Velma Hamilton Middle School
Location: Madison, WI
Makayl Olson, 3rd Grade
Turtles and Tidal Waves, 2014
Watercolor marker
Opal Sharma, 1st Grade
Construction Site, 2014
Mixed media collage
Caitlyn Se, 8th Grade
Human, 2014
Colored pencil
The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art's Art on Tour selects original works of art from the permanent collection and travels them to nine public elementary and middle schools in Dane County, Wisconsin. Reaching over 4,500 participants, Art on Tour provides unique opportunities for students to experience museum-quality art in their schools and serves as inspiration for their own creative work. The program’s evidence-based process of observation, analysis, and interpretation enhances proficiencies in thinking, listening, and language use. Additionally, an exhibition of students’ work made in response to Art on Tour is held annually at MMoCA. According to Prairie View Middle School’s art teacher, this year’s exhibition has encouraged students to think “about how technology and commercial development affect their lives [as well as] … environmental issues, like pollution or endangered animal species … It’s opening up a world of understanding, of different people’s viewpoints and cultures to them.”