E & G ART HISTORY
Meet Elliot and Augustus!
As Harvard ALI Fellows, Elliot and Gus initially met at their first in-person class, where they struck up a conversation about art. In early April 2022, Gus joined the ALI cohort in visiting the Harvard Art Museums, where he shared his insightful questions about works of art Elliot discussed. In May, as they talked about their presentations for the Cross Cohort Workshop, Elliot suggested that they consider having a public conversation about art as part of their final projects. Gus immediately had a vision of creating a pilot for an educational program about great works of art for young audiences, leveraging his extensive fan base in the broadcasting arena. Nine days later, with the support of his team of professionals and colleagues at the Harvard Art Museums, Elliot and Gus filmed the trailer and three segments in the “E & G Art History” pilot. We hope you enjoy this private screening, and we look forward finding future pathways for bringing E & G Art History to wider audiences.
E & G ART HISTORY FILM PILOT
Film as a visual medium is ideally suited to reaching potential audiences outside the museum, especially younger people, who have never visited before. Thanks to the well-known broadcaster, 2022 ALI Fellow, Augustus “Gus” Johnson, and the support Martha Tedeschi, John and Elizabeth Cabot Director, Harvard Art Museums (HAM), in May 2022 we produced a twenty-one minute film discussing works of art in the collections by Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh and Kerry James Marshall. Intended for viewers in middle and high schools, although appropriate for older viewers, E & G Art History makes great works of art accessible to those who may not be familiar with art or museums or ever visited one before.
Please send an email with you contact information so I can provide the link for viewing the
E & G Art History Pilot.
Forty-four third graders, students of Dr. Juanda P. Witherspoon, Ed.D., tested E & G Art History in June of 2022. For over 30 years, Dr. Witherspoon has taught English Language Arts and served as a Teacher Educator in the Detroit Public Schools Community District. In her summary report of experiencing E & G Art History with her students, Dr. Witherspoon wrote:
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“To see the joy in their eyes during the lesson was not only fascinating, but a reminder to me as an educator, to continue to expose my students to that which is not always in the textbook. One student said, “I love being in your class, because you always teach us new and different things in a fun way.” Another student asked, “When are we doing to be able to take a field trip to the Harvard Art Museum. That’s where I want to go.”
Addressing the importance of the color black to Marshall, who himself identifies as black, along with the question of whether art museums are racist institutions in “E & G Art History,” had a powerful impact on the viewers. Dr. Witherspoon included the following student comments:
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“I think the video was great! I like the music. My favorite painting was the Kerry James Marshall painting. I thought the afro and the picture of him was great!”
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“I like the Kerry James Marshall one too! Because, like, I like how he exaggerated the colors. Like the color of the afro and like the designs on the palette. Even just the little designs on the eyes. You can tell he put in a lot of effort. It’s almost, like, the paint was so realistic; and he did such a good job with so much detail and it really resembled what it feels like to be staring at someone while you’re painting and I like how this is me, a self-portrait. I know some people’s self-portraits might over exaggerate it, but I like how it’s just me!”
Dr. Witherspoon’s full report can be made available if requested via email to elliotbostwickdavis.art.