Welcome to our MOLAA Education Blog, a site where you will find extra information about the museum, programs, staff, artists and artwork!
I am really looking forward to sharing news, opinions and the little details that go into the day-to-day of working in the museum–basically info that you won’t find on our main MOLAA page.
Every year, MOLAA produces over 500 sugar skulls in preparation for our annual Dia de los Muertos Festival. This year, over 1700 visitors participated in the festival--our largest turn-out to date! The skulls are produced by teens in the MOLAA student volunteer program, made up of local high school students.
I am embarking on an experiment to see if audiences really want to know about the people who make up a museum staff–the individuals who act as the many faces of the institution as a whole. In researching museum and educational practices , I’ve come across some innovative ideas for inviting the public to interact with the museum and, eventually, have a hand in forming what we do and what we offer to you.
One of the first steps in implementing these ideas is the creation of a more “interactive” site that is less formal than the museum website and offers those who would enjoy a less conventional, more casual relationship with the museum, a forum in which to explore the everyday of working in a cultural institution. Basically, we want you to get to know our staff, group of individuals who come into the museum and work behind the scenes to present to you the environment that visitors enjoy on a daily basis. We want you to know what we do! Often, I bet it’s pretty similar to what you do at work everyday. Sometimes, however, it’s totally different.
I would especially like to hear any comments and feedback, so please feel free to let me know exactly what is on your mind. Any suggestions for improvement are also greatly appreciated.
Enjoy the MOLAA blog and remember, if there is anything you would like to see, or if you think we are missing anything, feel free to write and let me know.
I look forward to receiving your feedback!
Gabriela Martinez
Associate Vice President of Education
On vacation in Teotihuacan!
About me: I am an artist who happened to stumble upon the practice of art education at the age of nineteen when I accepted my first teaching job at a Junior High School. Here I was, a college sophomore, teaching twelve and thirteen year old students about Art History, Drawing and Painting. That’s the year I wrote my first original curricula. That was fifteen years ago!
Since then, I’ve had the pleasure of working with a wide range of students at a variety of places, ranging from churches to universities. In 2007, while a graduate student in art at CSU Long Beach, I was hired on to teach a printmaking class at MOLAA. It soon became one of my regular gigs and I was added to the roster of teaching artists here at the museum.
When I wrapped up my graduate degree in the Spring of 2008, I was hired for the position of Education Assistant where my task the first week was to coordinate a festival! I’ve been at MOLAA for almost four years and have basically done everything from teaching and managing our Summer Art Camp to developing exhibition didactics for our galleries.
I love my job–I discover new artists daily and find inspiration for my own work in the collection, our visitors and through my research. I love making art accessible to everyone and watching visitors’ faces light up when they understand a difficult piece or when they complete a project during one of our festivals.
I hope that you enjoy this blog and, please, feel free to comment!
Education Programs @ MOLAA 