Challenge your students to discover how "traditional" works of art can inspire and inform contemporary artists in our newest curriculum, Who's Afraid of Contemporary Art?

Students will explore works by contemporary artists that are inspired by the Getty Museum's collection: a sculpture by Martin Puryear, video installations by Bill Viola and Nicole Cohen, and a mixed-media work by John Baldessari. Lesson plans connect to visual arts and language arts content standards for both elementary and secondary students in the State of California.

View the curriculum Who's Afraid of Contemporary Art?

Looking for a way to make California history come alive for fourth graders? The exhibition Dialogue among Giants presents images of California by 19th-century American photography pioneer Carleton Watkins. The exhibition includes daguerreotypes and large-scale photographs of Califonia's missions, mining scenes, Yosemite Valley, and more. Schedule a Self-Guided Visit to the Getty Center and use the photographs in the exhibition to enhance your lessons about political and cultural developments in California after the 1850s.

Request a Self-Guided Visit to the Getty Center.

Learn more about the exhibition Dialogue among Giants: Carleton Watkins and the Rise of Photography in California, on view through March 1, 2009.

Explore the tradition of French landscape painting of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, when pioneering artists began to work outdoors, revolutionizing the idea of landscape and paving the way for the Impressionists.

In this course, Mary Morton, associate curator of paintings, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and an expert on French 19th-century painting, will highlight new acquisitions in a lecture. Gallery teachers will then lead groups into the galleries to explore and discuss the paintings first-hand. Complements the exhibition Sur le Motif: Painting in Nature around 1800.

Tickets are $15, but we have 40 complimentary seats for LAUSD "C"-track teachers who are off-track. RSVP to (310) 440-7300.

Learn more about this event and get tickets.

Learn more about the exhibition Sur le motif: Painting in Nature around 1800, on view through March 8, 2009 at the Getty Center.

Artist Jim Dine was inspired by ancient Greek sculptures in the Getty Museum's collection to create the first contemporary art project at the Getty Villa, Jim Dine: Poet Singing (The Flowering Sheets). Middle and high school students can learn about Dine's artistic process in a 10-minute video documentary and use his example to create their own installations.

Adapt the lesson "Sculpting a Modern Hero" in order to have students examine ancient Greek artworks and create small-scale self-portraits and figures inspired by these works. Create a model for an installation by building a diorama from recycled boxes for their sculptures. Students can follow Jim Dine's model by including their own renditions of other ancient objects while playing with scale, movement, and hand-drawn text.

Watch the documentary about Jim Dine's creative process and learn more about the exhibition.

Adapt the lesson "Sculpting a Modern Hero."

Gallery Closure
Galleries on the first floor of the North Pavilion are closed for renovations and will reopen in May of 2009. These galleries include displays of the Getty's collection of antiquities, glass, ceramics, and bronze sculpture.

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