This chapter presents a historical account and analysis of Discover Graphics, a defunct museum-school-community partnership developed by the Smithsonian Institution, that for 24 years provided professional level printmaking studio and museum experiences to high school students, college students, and art teachers in the Washington, DC metropolitan region. The description and impact of the program on school districts, students, teachers, artists, and museum professionals are examined through archival materials, publications, the author's narrative of experience as a student participant in the program, and its transformative effect on her education and career. The chapter closes with a discussion about community printmaking programs that developed to fill the breach left by the closure of Discover Graphics and suggests possible future museum-school-community partnerships.
TopInception Of The Discover Graphics Program
Jane M. Farmer, former high school art teacher and staff associate for secondary education at the NCFA, conceived of Discover Graphics in 1971 after the success of a well-attended Printmaking Day she organized at the museum with co-sponsorship from the Washington Print Club. With her training and perspective as a former art teacher, Farmer had the unique insight and experience to develop museum education programming to best match the needs of secondary art students and their teachers with the resources offered by the NCFA. Farmer (1972) felt the museum needed to expand its educational offerings for secondary students beyond the typical docent tour. With this in mind, she developed student exhibitions and hands-on programs.
Why printmaking? Drawing and painting, was and still are the main focus of secondary art curriculum, not printmaking. In 1969 the Washington Print Club, in an effort to interest more art teachers and students in printmaking mediums, organized the first High School Graphics exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, specifically for Washington, DC public high school students. Submissions for the printmaking only show, consisted of linoleum, woodcut, and a few silkscreen (serigraph) prints. The first-place winner was Eastern High School student Thomasine Mitchener, a pupil of Teresa Grana’s at the time (see Figure 1). “Her success encouraged other art students to experiment with printmaking” (NMAA, High School Graphics VII, 1981, p.3), which many found challenging and mysterious. Unlike painting and drawing, the result was not revealed until the end, in the printing stage. “There is a special magic in creating an image on a block or plate and then pulling the first print when one doesn’t know exactly how it will look. Printing the first proof is part of the excitement and fascination that attract many students [and teachers] to printmaking” (NMAA High School Graphics VII, T. Grana, 1981, p.3). Few if any DC public schools had access to printing presses or the materials needed to experiment with intaglio and lithography. Relief processes that involved carving an image into a matrix made of wood or linoleum, were less costly, required no special equipment to print, and were less difficult to teach.