This year, Wooster's new DLI class Art and the Making of Meaning integrates local museums into the curriculum. As part of the tutorial experience, students have been collaborating with the Katonah Museum of Art to prepare for an upcoming exhibition titled Long Winding Journeys: Contemporary Art and the Islamic Visual Tradition.

After a series of meetings with the Museum's education department and the exhibition's curator, the class was invited to design activities for the Museum's interactive Learning Center. Each student picked one of the Islamic visual traditions and researched related artists in the exhibition. So far, students have designed hands-on activities on architecture, textiles, miniature painting, geometric design, and calligraphy for younger learners.

On January 10, the class had a chance to have early-care students try-out these activities. This process helped students figure out what they want to focus on. For example, Sunny Liu's textile activity refocused on emotional connections about the idea of "space" with visitors. Yingkai Xiong's geometric design activity combined repetition and story-telling. Caylynn Maldonado's activity teaches about the tools and techniques of arabic calligraphy.

This Tuesday, students presented their revised activities to the Museum's education department. Receiving constructive feedback from the Museum, students will continue their work in the next week. The relationship between traditions and contemporary artworks, the access of understanding and the arrangement of materials are all involved into the process of designing activities. This partnerships provide real-life opportunities for students to examine how artists, curators, and museum educators prepare for an interactive exhibition. Visitors to the Katonah Museum of Art will have the opportunity to participate in the student-designed activities on any visit between February 25 and June 17!