CARE of Southeastern Michigan Partnership | Summer 2021
Updated Jul 20, 2022
The DIA studio staff recently completed its Summer 2021 community partnership with CARE of Southeast Michigan. Instructors from the DIA studio focused on an exploration of watercolor paintings.
The DIA has partnered with CARE of Southeast Michigan for several years as part of its Community Group Program, experiencing art from the DIA collection and making their own art projects both at the museum and CARE’s facilities in Fraser.
For the Summer 2021 session, DIA instructors explored watercolor painting and a theme of postcards. Over the course of two sessions, participants at the CARE facility viewed highlights from the DIA collection and shared their thoughts through Visual Thinking Strategies. Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) is a research-based teaching method that improves critical thinking and language skills through discussions of visual images. The CARE participants were at the facility in Fraser while DIA Instructors were on video.
After looking at art, it was time to create some art of their own, as each participant received their own box of supplies including paints, brushes, oil pastels, and pencils. After a basic introduction of the materials and an overview on several techniques, each participant experimented with creating their own paintings of favorite places as the group brainstormed who these postcards would be for and what messages would be included. In the second session the class watched a video message from Claire Rogan, DIA Curator of Prints & Drawings, who discussed important watercolor pieces in the DIA collection.
Work from this class and others will be on display this winter as part of the 13th Annual Community Group Exhibition, opening virtually on December 3.
A CARE program at-home watercolor kit
The DIA studio staff recently completed its Summer 2021 community partnership with CARE of Southeast Michigan. Instructors from the DIA studio focused on an exploration of watercolor paintings.
The DIA has partnered with CARE of Southeast Michigan for several years as part of its Community Group Program, experiencing art from the DIA collection and making their own art projects both at the museum and CARE’s facilities in Fraser.
For the Summer 2021 session, DIA instructors explored watercolor painting and a theme of postcards. Over the course of two sessions, participants at the CARE facility viewed highlights from the DIA collection and shared their thoughts through Visual Thinking Strategies. Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) is a research-based teaching method that improves critical thinking and language skills through discussions of visual images. The CARE participants were at the facility in Fraser while DIA Instructors were on video.
After looking at art, it was time to create some art of their own, as each participant received their own box of supplies including paints, brushes, oil pastels, and pencils. After a basic introduction of the materials and an overview on several techniques, each participant experimented with creating their own paintings of favorite places as the group brainstormed who these postcards would be for and what messages would be included. In the second session the class watched a video message from Claire Rogan, DIA Curator of Prints & Drawings, who discussed important watercolor pieces in the DIA collection.
Work from this class and others will be on display this winter as part of the 13th Annual Community Group Exhibition, opening virtually on December 3.
