C.W. Post Professor Wins NEH Grant to Create Rembrandt Teaching Tool

June 17, 2005 – Brookville, NY – What can a 17th century artist teach students about the world? Plenty, according to a consort of university professors, scholars, teachers and museum educators. Thanks to a recent grant awarded from the National Endowment of the Humanities, the group is developing an online teaching resource in art history, focusing on artworks by Rembrandt van Rijn that are currently in museums in the United States. “Rembrandt: The Artist and the Collection of His Art in America,” will place the master’s work in historical context, allowing school teachers to relay world events to their students in a creative manner that involves more than reading a textbook.

“Rembrandt’s art tells world stories,” said Joseph Piro, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction in the School of Education at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University and project director. “Using his artwork will allow social studies and world events to come alive for students.”

Rembrandt is often referred to as a “European Artist,” with his work there very well-known. But there is a large, widely unknown collection of his pieces in museums throughout the U.S. To bring this artwork to a nationwide audience, the Teacher Advisory Council will work with museum educators and scholars in the fields of art history, art and aesthetic education, social studies and technology to mine this recourse of American-based Rembrandts, developing materials for teachers nationwide to use it effectively. An existing Web site, www.teachrembrandt.org, will be completely overhauled to include newly selected Rembrandt paintings, etchings and drawings located specifically in collections across the United States, including his 1636 etching “Hay Barn,” which is part of the collection at the Hillwood Art Museum on the C.W. Post Campus.

Included as instructional material for the Web site will be digitalized curriculum, modules, artwork, bibliographic timelines, bibliographies, maps, slide shows, activity sheets and primary source documents, Piro said. It will also reference links to individual state content standards, virtual museums, online publications and graphic software. The site’s content is targeted at students in the sixth through twelfth grades.

The project rollout will converge with events held to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt’s birth in 2006. The online resource will be free and available on all platforms to any individual who wishes to access the website.

Other staff members and participants include: Project Scholar Ralph Smith, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Cultural and Educational Policy Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Nancy Blume, Manager of Arts Education Programs at The Asia Society and Museum; Catherine Fukushima, Museum Educator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Jean Henning, Director of Education at the Nassau County Museum of Art; Amy Herman, Head of Education at the Frick Collection; Iftikhar Ahmad, Ph.D., member of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at C.W. Post; Haeryn Choi, Ph.D., visiting assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at C.W. Post; Technical Advisor Bette Schneiderman, co-chair of the Educational Technology Department at C.W. Post; External Evaluator Marc Summers, Ph.D., adjunct professor at Hofstra University; and Teacher Advisory Council Members Mark Conn, Betty Giuca, Ellen Grill, Joanell Meringolo and Carol Tosiello, all current or former teachers in New York City Public Schools.

The project was one of 18 awarded $3 million in grants by the NEH to create new humanities resources and develop new courses. Projects are intended to serve as national models of excellence in humanities education, drawing upon sound scholarship in the humanities and using scholars and teachers as advisors in the creation of classroom resources.

For more information, contact Dr. Piro at (516) 299-3823 or e-mail him at joseph.piro@liu.edu.