Multiple Intelligences

I love the fact that so much of this training program is devoted to understanding and speaking to children, and I am so impressed that the Walters will try so hard to get through to kids.  Our readings for today concerned "multiple intelligences."  This theory was first published in 1985 and has been kicking around since then.  I'm sure that schoolteachers know it, and frankly I think it's a common sense thing that anyone who manages people knows sort of by instinct.  But these articles gave me the vocabulary to talk about the theory that "everyone is smart in different ways."

The "intelligences" that have been identified by those who hold with this theory are:  intrapersonal, interpersonal, linguistic, math/logic, bodily/kinesthetic, spatial, musical, and naturalistic.  We were encouraged to take a little online test to see what our own intelligences were.  Recognizing that this online test is not very scientific, I was still fascinated to see that my top three intelligences were intrapersonal, interpersonal, and musical, with linguistic (what I was sure would be the winner) coming in only fourth.  I had a great deal of fun, in this week leading up to the Super Bowl, trying to identify the multiple intelligences of the Ravens:  Obviously, all must have spatial and bodily/kinesthetic intelligence, but then I think they begin to veer off.  Joe Flacco, intrapersonal.  Ray Lewis, interpersonal.  Ray Rice off the charts on the spatial intelligence.  John Harbaugh, linguistic and interpersonal.

I would like to read more about these theories.  I was especially interested in the distinction between learning styles and "intelligences."  It is possible, for example, to be linguistically talented and still have a learning style that requires listening instead of reading.  But I need to understand this better.

Our morning session with Amanda used slides of various works in the museum's collection to illustrate tactics that would work to teach to different intelligences.  Without belaboring these, I wanted to remember them.

For those with linguistic intelligence, a docent will want to explore different perspectives, maybe even through creative writing.  Focusing on one picture, preferably one like this (by Tiepolo), the learner selects a figure to characterize, describing the character and putting words in the mouth of that figure.  Other learners can choose different characters.  There are lots of possibilities in this painting.

For those with logical/mathematical intelligence, one wants to encourage divergent thinking, looking and questioning.  In this painting, Ships at Sea, we tried to use logic to determine what is going on in this picture.  A suggested technique is to use a game show format, stating an answer which might be derived from viewing the picture and then having the audience respond with questions.  I think that would only work with older kids, but younger ones could certainly describe the action to get to the answer.

With The Arbor, by Gaston LaTouche, we can cater to the viewer with spatial intelligence by asking the viewers to study the painting for a minute, then turn around.  Ask them various questions about the picture - how many figures are in it?  What time of day?  What time of year? etc.- without allowing them to look back.  When they do turn around, answer the questions together and discuss what was remembered or not.  This technique can be used with a variety of ages and skills, and the questions can vary from general to very specific. This activity stresses the importance of looking carefully at art.

For this picture, An Accident, we focused on the positions of the figures.  We could suggest to students that they recreate the poses or facial expressions of the people in the picture.  Then, ask what would change if someone's position changed.  If the grandmother was hovering in horror, or the boy appeared more agitated, how would the rest of the figures be reacting?  Ask participants if artists consider the emotions and gestures of their figures before painting, and why or why not?

Carved onto the sides of this Sarcophagus showing the Triumph of Dionysus is a parade, complete with horns, cymbals, animals, etc.  This can be used to explore the variety of sound implied in art for the musical learner.

[This sarcophagus could be used with a lot of these techniques, I think]

Portraits can be used to create personality profiles, good for the kids with interpersonal intelligence.  We were given a form to be used in establishing the profile, including all kinds of questions that would lead to speculation.  As long as the answer can be supported with visual clues, anything goes.



Portraits can also be used to cater to the person with intrapersonal intelligence.  Look around a gallery and find a person you think would make a good friend.  Use visual clues to support the choice.










Nature smarts are best demonstrated by looking at landscapes to discuss what one would see, feel, hear, smell, etc. in that locale, or by allowing the children to pick a place they would like to visit.  This would work in the 19th Century galleries, where there are a bunch of landscapes.

Our afternoon was spent in the Hackerman House, which is where the Asian art is housed.  I love the Hackerman House, but it was as quiet as a tomb there when we were there.  That's a shame, because it really is a lovely spot.  The house itself is beautiful, built in the 19th Century at a time of "revivals," so you see elements of Renaissance, Rococo, Greek, etc.  I would like to learn more about it.

Our tour was highlighting the interactive technique of Stop, Look,  Listen and Touch.    John went in and out of "docent" mode, sometimes pretending to be leading a group of small children and sometimes talking to us as adults.  We started in the link to the Hackerman House, which is devoted to art of India and Nepal,  sitting in front of this dancing Ganesha.

First we found shapes and lines.  Then John told us the story of Ganesha.  According to the legend (myth? parable?) Ganesha's mother Parvati was very lonely when his father Shiva went away to war.  So she created for herself a little boy.  When Shiva came home and saw a strange boy, he cut off the boy's head in anger.  Seeing Parvati's distress, he magically attached the head of an elephant to the body of the boy, creating this wonderful fun-loving creature who combines the war-like qualities of his father with the fun-loving qualities of a child.  John used a book of coloring book-style pictures to show us what Ganesha is holding: a drum and a bowl of sweets, an axe, etc.  We modeled Ganesha's dancing pose and dipped our "trunks" into his bowl of sweets.  We imagined the sounds coming from the drum and other objects as Ganesha danced.



We compared these two Ganeshas finding the same objects in this version.  We discussed the "mouse" with Ganesha - actually, it's a rat, a symbol of times of plenty, but the schools prefer that we not mention rats.

Next we moved on to Chinese porcelain.   There are cases of them in the Hackerman House,  divided according to names given to them by French "tastemakers" in the 19th c.  We spent a few moments in front of this lovely dish with plum blossoms. 

We noticed line, color, and subject matter.  John passed around pieces of porcelain to demonstrate the texture of the piece.   We noticed what is depicted on the plate, even the mushroom on the wood, and even discussed what it would look like with a different background color and how that would change it.  We admired other pieces in the same case and discussed some symbols in the pieces: "red bat" in Chinese sounds like "good fortune", pomegranates symbolize long life, peaches designate immortality.  

Next we went into the Library, decorated with carved wood.  Notice the "Elizabethan Strap" carvings with lots of faces of famous literary and intellectual masters.  Here we spent time admiring the Peach Bloom Vase.  It is called "peach bloom" because the glazing technique causes the colors to "bloom" upon firing, giving it a mottled appearance which was considered very lovely.  This vase was famous when purchased because it was sold at a very high price for the times, and the two Walters men tried to duck scandal but only produced more.  The vase became famous again more recently when it was stolen by a security guard.  A docent noticed it missing and reported it.  

We wandered through the Japanese study, which was full of objects made in Japan for Western consumption.  We admired a carved elephant tusk depicting a samurai warrior trying to escape a tsunami created by a raging dragon, and another depicting a baby monkey trying to jump into his mother's arms to escape a swarm of wasps.  We learned that a "bodhisatva" is an enlightened being who forgoes his own trip to nirvana to stay on earth to help others.  We heard about Chinese burial practices,  and cloisonné techniques.  Japanese swords, armor and tsuba, inro and netsuke.  It was overwhelming.  But I love the Hackerman House.