FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Crocker's Mobile Museum
Brings Art to Students

Newly installed Art Ark features Stories in Art
and makes connection to state curriculum

September 4, 2007 – Sacramento, Calif. – More than 18,000 students will experience the Crocker Art Museum this year without ever visiting the Museum. For 27 years, the Crocker has been bringing art to schools across the region through the Art Ark, the Museum’s mobile education center. This fall, the 52-foot-long Art Ark will launch into the school year with a brand new theme, Once upon a Paintbrush: Stories in Art, designed to connect the arts with other learning areas.

Through multi-sensory, hands-on activities designed by local artists, students will explore the elements of a story, expanding on the language arts curriculum that is taught in schools. “Arts education in California continues to decrease as resources dwindle and a greater emphasis is placed on standardized tests,” said Caren Gutierrez, Education Programs Manager, Crocker Art Museum. “With this new installation, we are not only taking the Museum to schools but also engaging learning experiences that meet the state standards.”

Students will learn how stories have inspired works of art across various times, mediums and cultures. Using puppets reflective of different cultures, students will act out plays of their own creation against backdrops taken from the Crocker’s permanent collection. A video panel will enable students to hear directly from professional artists in their studios. Further activities, such as a real-time camera that transforms each student’s image into a cubist or impressionist masterpiece, illustrate non-traditional methods of storytelling.

Unique to the Sacramento area, the Art Ark is distinguished in the nation as one of the first mobile art museums, and one of the few focusing on hands-on learning. Developed in 1980 as a means for schools to maintain art education in public schools, the Art Ark has served nearly 400,000 students and more than 450 schools.

The Crocker Art Museum was founded in 1885 and continues as the leading art institution for the California Capital Region and Central Valley. The Museum offers a diverse spectrum of special exhibitions, events and programs to augment its collections of California, European and Asian artworks. The Crocker is located at 216 O Street in downtown Sacramento. Museum hours are 10 AM–5 p.m., Tuesday–Sunday; Thursday until 9 p.m. For more information on exhibits and events call (916) 264-5423 or visit crockerartmuseum.org.

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Media Contact: LeAnne R. Ruzzamenti
Media: (916) 264-1963
Mobile : (916) 213-9402
Public: (916) 264-5423
216 O Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
www.crockerartmuseum.org

2007 Press Releases

11.01.07
Artist's Work Featured After 120 Years

10.12.07
Crocker Receives $325,000 Grant from Irvine Foundation

09.25.07
Mid-Century Meets Modern at the 47th Annual Crocker Ball on December 1

09.25.07
Crocker Holiday Art & Craft Festival November 23-25 Moves to New Location at Scottish Rite Center

09.25.07
36th Annual Antiques Show & Sale October 26-28

09.25.07
Neo-Crocker: A Modern Culture Party Celebrates Crocker Past, Future

09.04.07
Crocker's Mobile Museum
Brings Art to Students

08.29.07
Crocker Art Book Fair September 8

07.26.07
Crocker Art Museum Breaks Ground on 125,000 Square-Foot Expansion

06.25.07
America’s Most Celebrated Folk Artist Comes to the Crocker

06.06.07
Rediscover a Sacramento Treasure

06.04.07
Lead Donors to Crocker Expansion Project Announced

05.03.07
Find Love Fast at the Crocker

05.01.07
New Grant Brings Crocker's Education Programs to San Joaquin, Solano & Yolo Counties

03.20.07
Premier Ceramist's Work Joins the Crocker, Featured in Special Exhibit

03.20.07
New Works in Crocker Collection Examine Human Form and Its Condition

02.14.07
Rocklin Residents Enjoy Ansel Adams Photographs for Free
on April 22

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