Message from zrichardson

[Anonymous]

http://www.lacma.org/programs/education/evenings-educators
The Samurai exhibit at LACMA is part of an ongoing; Visual Arts program-Evening for Educators open to all educators, at the end of each lecture, there is dinner and a private tour to the currents exhibit. The program primarily focuses on the cultural artifacts and historical context each artifact was created/produced/manufactured. The lectures are informative and grounded on scholarly research, interspersed with other sources, such as personal narratives, diaries, letters, primary and secondary sources. The Samurai exhibit was the opening event of a 4 lecture series presented by scholars and curators for the exhibit. Following the lecture teachers were divided into the elementary grades-middle grades and high school. The museum had several work-shops for hands on Samurai-helmet making and extensive discussion on metallurgy and its chemical processes. Beside the visual arts it was evident that the exhibit/topic could be easily adapted to meet the educational objectives of any grade level, using the GRAPES acronym: GEOGRAPHY/RELIGION/ARTS-ACHIEVEMENTS/POLITICTS/ECONOMICS/SOCIAL STRUCTURES, (organization of individuals within a society) given current trends to incorporate content across disciplines; language arts, Social Science-7th grade-Samurai-the sciences-earth/life/physical/math. The Samurai exhibit, encapsulate a Japanese era of great warfare development-armor and swords as well as the exquisite artistic experimentation –from the intricate and ornate miniature designs on the sword’s handle and exterior cover-sheath- to the blade’s tensile strength. Including the metal and its processes that produce the present artifacts curated in the exhibit, attest to the cutting edge vision, creativity and ingenuity of the Japanese artisans during the Samurai era. A breath taking exhibit worthwhile seeing!