Virtual Classrooms

Sunnylands Virtual Lessons

Explore some of our team’s favorite topics with our new virtual lessons, designed to drop in to live, distant learning classes. Bring NEW programming to your high school students (grades 9 – 12) with engaging and thoughtful content. Expand your curriculum with programming offered through convenient scheduling and design with one-part lessons or series programs that go deeper into focused content. There is a minimal class size requirement of 15 and a maximum class size of 45.

Chose from the list below to begin exploring.

Title: COLOR and HUMANS

Status: Open

Instructor: Michaeleen Gallagher, Director of Education and Environmental Programs

Tools: Zoom, chat, polling and shared screen for PowerPoint slides and video.

Class description:

How did blue climb from a color of disdain to the most revered? How does red balance between deviance and power? How did purple build coastlines and almost destroy an entire species?

In this three-part series, students will discover the history of pigments, color creation, and sources. We will explore the effect of color on culture, economy, science, the environment, and our health. Where did colors come from and how have they helped us see our world and shape our beliefs? (This is a three-part series, so you will need to select three days of drop-in times per classroom.)

Part 1 – Color and Sight—We will consider some of the science behind how we see color, how our eyes help our brain interpret color, and how humans have organized and reorganized color through the centuries. (45 min)

Part 2 – The Power of Primaries—Explore the power of reds, blues, yellows and some of their secondary colors through human history. (45 min)

Part 3 – The Rest of the Story—Explore a few more colors and discuss our attraction to certain ones. (45 min)

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Title: The Museum Revealed—Addressing 21st Century Challenges

Status: Open

Instructor: Ivonne Miranda, Education specialist

Tools: Zoom, chat, polling and shared screen for power point slides.

Class description:

What is the role of a museum in a changing world? How does a museum handle contemporary issues to stay relevant and accessible?

In this interactive session, students will step into different roles and discuss how to approach challenges related to art and society from the perspective of collections management, exhibition development, and education and accessibility.

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Title: Art of the Ordinary

Status: Open

Instructor: Ivonne Miranda, Education specialist

Tools: Zoom, chat, polling and shared screen for PowerPoint slides.

Class description:

It’s common to separate the functional and practical from the decorative and artistic.

In this session, students will take a closer look at the design of objects we encounter every day and how those design decisions come to be. We will also discover artists who have been inspired to use ordinary materials and objects to create works of art. Students might feel inspired to offer alternative designs to some of the objects they use every day.

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Title: Who Tells Your Story? The Challenges of Public Art

Status: Open

Instructor: Ivonne Miranda, Education specialist

Tools: Zoom, chat, polling and shared screen for PowerPoint slides.

Class description:

Our collective memory, our public identity and our responses to our time are reflected in many ways in public works of art. But in a diverse society, how do public expressions of art coexist and engage with multiple perspectives and opinions? Is public art democratic? Should it be?

In this session, students will explore diverse examples of public art from around the world, its history and some of the contemporary challenges to engaging public spaces.

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Sunnylands Instructors