MUSEUMS & GALLERIES: There are way too many amazing museums and galleries for one little web page, so I will share a few here and periodically rotate others on this page. Many exhibits and specific pieces make deep and lasting impressions on my memory and what I call "visualization of possibility." The way these museum and gallery experiences shape me and my ideas about art education as public pedagogy is influenced by the people with whom I visit each exhibit. So I often include my companions in the descriptions here.

THE PIZZUTI COLLECTION
http://www.pizzuticollection.com
On September 7th, 2013, the Pizzuti Collection opened in Columbus, Ohio in the Short North district! (I was especially excited because September 7th happens to be my birthday!) I visited the space with my graduate student, Ramya Ravisankar, and we both found the small scale, approachable spaces to be a refreshing an inviting venue to engaging with contemporary work. You should go!

Ramya and I (not at the Pizzuti Collection) - just playing in my office

The Pizzuti Collection welcomes tours of school groups and offer some resources for teachers.
Their web site explains:
"The Pizzuti Collection is a non-profit 501c3 exhibition space dedicated to the presentation of contemporary art from the collection of Ron and Ann Pizzuti."

AMERICAN VISIONARY ART MUSEUM
http://www.avam.org/
Located in Baltimore, MD on the Inner Harbor,  AVAM is one of my all-time favorite art museums. I visit as often as humanly possible and I have been transformed by the experience each time. I will never forget when AVAM first opened in 1995 and I visited with my dearest friend, Bev West Leach, who was living in Baltimore at the time. Bev and I have been sister-friends since our art school days at CCAD, where we were ardent advocates of what we now call “visionary art.” When we walked into AVAM, we knew we had finally found our collective home that cherishes the journey of asking, making, inventing and exhibiting.

In 1978 - Bev and I at CCAD

VISIONARY ART: Is defined on their web site -  "Visionary art as defined for the purposes of the American Visionary Art Museum refers to art produced by self-taught individuals, usually without formal training, whose works arise from an innate personal vision that revels foremost in the creative act itself." In short, visionary art begins by listening to the inner voices of the soul, and often may not even be thought of as 'art' by its creator.

EDUCATION: Stuff for teachers and school groups – under the tab “For Educators and Educatees” http://www.avam.org/for-educators-and-educatees/educational-goals.shtml
HISTORY: of AVAM. You just gotta read about how the whole thing happened – and keeps growing  - http://www.avam.org/stuff-everyone-asks/museum-history.shtml

My sister-friend, Bev at AVAM

2007 - This pic is obviously not at AVAM. Bev and I walking/hugging across Brooklyn Bridge

Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos  ...
Museum of Memory and Human Rights
www.museodelamemoria.cl
In Santiago, Chile

Amazing art educators, Marlen Thiermann and Andrea Melendez were so gracious to take me to two remarkable museums in Santiago, Chile

The exhibits at the Museum of Memory and Human Rights transported us into the atrocities that were endured by the Chilean people during the 17-year dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet from 1973-1990. The exhibits of film, poetry, letters, photography and art in a wide range of media honored the memory of the thousands of Chilean people who were murdered, incarcerated and tortured.
I was deeply honored to learn from Marlen and Andrea about the memories and reflections of the Chilean people.

“Memoria y Paisaje: Develando las Verdades Históricas de Chile” 1973-1990 – Maria Veronica San Martin

Exposición de fotografía de Edward Shaw “El Siluetazo: la mejor muestra de ‘arte’ de 1983 – El Arte al Servicio de los Derechos Humanos”

Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende Arte Contemporaneo ...
Museum of Solidarity with Salvador Allende of Contemporary Art
http://www.mssa.cl/

In Santiago, Chile
I had a visceral response to the elegiac, but also resilient, expression of human spirit and determination in the galleries of Museum of Solidarity with Salvador Allende of Contemporary Art.

Alma Molina, brilliant Museum Educator invited me to Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende, and gave us a compelling tour of the exhibit

Imaginarios de la Resistencia

Mis compañeros

Eugenio Tellez (born, Chile, 1939) Homenaje a Bautista Van Schowen, al silencio, y a la cabeza fría y al corazón caliente. 1977 ... "Tribute to Van Schowen Bautista, silence, and a cool head and warm heart"