Pages

Saturday, June 18, 2022

Beauford Inspires Founding of Interdisciplinary Humanities Club in Dallas, TX

Over the years, the collaboration between Les Amis de Beauford Delaney and the Wells International Foundation has born significant fruit with regard to educational programs for youth.

As a result of visiting the 2016 Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color exhibition in Paris, several Knoxvillians were inspired to implement a program called "Bringing Beauford Delaney Home" in 2017. The Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA), the Knoxville chapter of The Links, Incorporated, and West View Elementary School worked together to create this program for twenty-six (26) elementary school students.

Information card from West View Elementary School Arts Night
Image courtesy of The Links Incorporated, Knoxville Chapter

In 2018-2019, the Classes Duo Paris/Knoxville program brought a total of 42 French and U.S. children together through Beauford's life and art. The high point of the program was the Knoxville students' visit to Paris to meet their Paris counterparts.

Farewell reception collage
© Wells International Foundation

The most recent academic program to develop from the Les Amis/WIF collaboration is the Interdisciplinary Humanities Club (IHUM) at the Episcopal School of Dallas (ESD) in Dallas, TX. Upper School English and French teacher Antonia Moran recruited five additional educators and launched the program at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, and twenty sophmore and junior students participated.

Moran shared the following with me regarding the club:

As you may know, this club exists because of YOU and your work on Beauford Delaney and Entree to Black Paris in general! ...

Diving into your work, your illumination of those artists and voices that one does not tend to hear about in connection with Paris, has been a treasure trove of richness that adds to our understanding of what makes Paris great ...

Seeing the students’ engagement has been fulfilling, and I feel like we are learning and enriching our understanding together as we teach each other. It’s been a very collaborative experience and incredible and uplifting to see so many students' eyes opened and interests set aflame.

Zoom conference with IHUM students and faculty advisors
© Wells International Foundation

Read more about IHUM here: Dallas High School Students Love Humanities and Paris.

No comments:

Post a Comment