2016 Summer Institute for Art Educators - Day 2

On Day 2 of the 2016 Summer Institute for Art Educators, organized by the AGO and the CSEA, our group of art educators went to explore the beautiful Aga Khan Museum.

The architecture alone is worth the visit. We started our tour looking out over the gardens and granite pools that connect the museum to the Ismaili Centre Toronto, and you can even see the C.N. Tower in the background. We then made our way into the luminous inner courtyard.

We were lead up the free-standing blue staircase to check out the spectacular auditorium.

As we entered the museum collection, we were greeted with an animated wall of moving patterns and script and a massive map showing the wide-reaching impact of Muslim art and civilization.

The diverse collection was fascinating to examine and there is so much to see, I will definitely return to continue my exploration. One item that stuck out for me is the illuminated botanical text explaining the growth of a specific tree. A theme that emerged from the day is the concept of cross-cultural commonalities, in classrooms, lesson plans and museum collection-  like the Tom Thomson tree painting that I posted about yesterday.

Back at the A.G.O. in the afternoon, we took part in a great workshop about how to Amplify Diverse Student Voices with strategies and lesson plan ideas that we can use in our classes. The workshop was lead by Ilene Soca, from Blank Canvases and Noorin Fazal, from Story Planet. Looking forward to the rest of the week!

For more, check out the twitter updates about the week's adventures here, #AGOCSEA. And have a look at the A.G.O. Schools and Teachers Facebook page here.

- Patrick