AS
Adam Sprague
  • History
  • Class of 2016
  • Marceline, MO

Adam Sprague among group of history students to travel to Art Institute of Chicago

2015 Feb 19

Adam Sprague, senior history education major from Quincy, Ill., was among a group of students to travel to Chicago as part of a history course at Culver-Stockton College.

Students from Dr. Patrick Hotle's "Twentieth Century Europe" class joined students from Dr. Scott Giltner's "Historian's Craft" class for a day trip to the Chicago Art Institute, Feb. 6, 2015. The visit to the Art Institute, recently rated the top museum in the world, provided a valuable opportunity for students both to interact with some of the greatest art ever produced and, more specifically for the classes, to learn historical periodization through art.

"Art is very much the product of the time and place it was produced," noted Dr. Hotle. "Visiting the different museum galleries and learning to identify and articulate the context in which pieces were produced provides a valuable lesson in historical thinking." Students spent the morning session focusing solely on the Modern Art gallery, beginning with lessons on Modernism from Dr. Hotle and Dr. Giltner that introduced them to the possibilities inherent in viewing artwork as a historian. For the rest of the day, students were free to explore other galleries and complete specific tasks based on pieces they chose to study. In addition to learning valuable historical lessons, students and faculty were treated to close interaction with a number of well-known works including important pieces by Pablo Picasso, Rene Magritte, Grant Wood, and Marc Chagall, to name but a few. According to Dr. Giltner, that kind of experience can generate a lasting interest in art.

"You can't help but be thrilled watching the students explore such a fantastic museum," Giltner said. "They make powerful connections between previous classroom learning and the galleries they explore that make them better historians and hopefully lifelong patrons of art."