Engagement Strategies: 

Early El: Think about a familiy member from a long time ago. What did they look like? What did they wear? The clothing and setting of pictures can tell us about what our ancestor’s lives were like 

Later El: Imagine that you are an interviewer. You have a few (name the number) minutes to come up with two or three questions about this person. What do you want to know? What are you curious about. 

Report out. What did you learn? 

Stop 1: Hoppner, Portrait of Sir Foster Cunliffe

Cunliffe’s clothing and the land around him tell us when he lived and what he liked to do.

Stop 2: Peale, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington

Sometimes George Washington is called the “father of our country.” Do you think Martha is the mother of our country? Does she look like any mothers you know? What is different or similar? Why do you think her painting looks like it is in a stone frame?

Stop 3: Urbobo Peoples, Shrine Figure - the tallest piece in the gallery

This figure was originally in a shrine that was maintained by a family. 

Stop 4: Betye Saar, Colored

Betye Saar uses pictures of people who look like they might have been her family members from awhile ago. Who do you think these people really were? What in the pictures makes you say that?

Stop 5: Zeng, Portrait of Pan Qintai

Pan Qintai was a scholar. The label says that this artist captured the “sense of the sitter’s interior life.” What do you think he was thinking about?

The writing on this painting is by Pan’s friends. One includes this:

His heart is still like water,

His mind is peaceful and relaxed