TICONDEROGA - The Ticonderoga High school SUNY-Albany advanced Spanish class students and art club traveled to Dartmouth College recently to attend a guided tour of two art exhibits on site at the college.
Art teacher Britney McCarthy and Spanish teacher Lynne Lenhart coordinated the effort following the invitation from Dartmouth.
The groups toured the Jose Clemente Orozco murals in the east and west wings of the Baker library and then moved on to the Hood museum installations of European Art and Mola design fabrics from Panama.
Both groups prepared for the excursion in advance through an interdisciplinary teaching program on Mexican history and culture and Mola art design.
Lenhart presented a mini-history lesson to the art club on the 20th century Mexican revolution and the artwork that blossomed as a result of the dramatic changes during that time.
McCarthy taught a course on Mola design, an artistic sewing and weaving technique developed by the indigenous people of Panama. SUNY Spanish 5 students left McCarthy's art class after the lesson with a sample design of the Mola art technique.
The Ticonderoga art and Spanish students ate lunch at the Dartmouth student dining service between tours and got an opportunity to walk along the "Green" (central quad) at Dartmouth and experience the layout of the campus located in Hanover, N.H.
Upon return, the Spanish student composed an essay in Spanish detailing their reaction to the murals that range over 20 feet high and encompass over 100 feet in length as they stretch between the two wings of the Baker library.