Building a relationship with an art museum can provide an art teacher with a valuable tool for connecting students to art, thus promoting art museum awareness and providing unique opportunities for students to learn about art in their community. The primary purpose of this Action Research study was to examine my own teaching practices in relation to establishing a connection to an art museum, and through that relationship, develop opportunities for my students to experience the art museum as a way of learning about art. This thesis documents the experiences of a high school advanced art class and their teacher, myself, while they formed a connection to a local art museum, take part in the museum’s educational workshop, and use what was learned back in the art classroom. Through questionnaire responses, students’ reflective journaling, observations and field notes, and both student and art museum professional interviews, data was collected to discover that students do benefit from learning through the art museum and that learning continues long after their initial experience. Interesting themes that emerged from the data included: Connecting to the art museum; students’ preconceived notions versus actual experience; benefits of learning in the art museum versus learning in the classroom; and applying learned knowledge to classroom activities.
Through this research, my goal was to improve my teaching while actively seeking new ways to connect students to art in the world around them. I want my experience to encourage other art educators to seek out local opportunities to connect students to art. This study demonstrated how art educators can use the art museum to teach their students about art and create unique learning opportunities.