The University of Iowa Museum of Art (UIMA) K-12 School Programs set an all-time record for student participation during the 2013-14 academic year, bringing art directly to more than 25,500 K-12 students across Iowa.

This figure exceeds the previous year’s total of more than 18,465 K-12 students.

“Getting out into the state of Iowa is a tremendous undertaking. Packing up nearly two dozen works of art, loading them into the van, and delivering the crates to a school represents the ‘work’ aspect of the UIMA School Programs,” says Dale Fisher, UIMA curator of education. “Talking with the students, and other audiences, about art is the joy and reward for all the effort.”

The UIMA has had to creatively engage with its audiences as a result of the loss of its building in the devastating flood of 2008. The K-12 Schools Programs have significantly increased the museum’s reach by putting art in the hands of more Iowa citizens.

Programs were held in locations near and far, ranging from elementary and high schools in Iowa City to schools and organizations in Spencer, Eldridge, Muscatine, and Ankeny. (A complete list of locations visited can be found on the UIMA website.)

“The students at Southeast Elementary gained more than just knowledge from the UIMA staff. They were immersed in a different cultural world,” says Brooke Jetmund, an art instructor at Rock Creek Elementary and East Elementary schools in Ankeny.“Being able to see and touch artifacts from the museum made a lasting impact on our students. The students were talking about their favorite parts of the presentation for months afterward.”

“The UIMA K-12 Programs visited Prairie Trail Elementary, and the conversations led our young students to learn to see more when they look at art,” says Kim Bingham, art teacher at Prairie Trail in Ankeny. “The UIMA teacher led students through finding, measuring, pretending, and describing activities geared to make them better observers of both art in the collection and the world around them.”

UIMA K-12 School Programs is supported by an anonymous family foundation and the UIMA Education Partners.

Visit the UI Museum of Art website for more information about the UIMA’s collections, exhibitions, and education programming.

Visit the UIMA temporary locations:

• UIMA@IMU Visual Classroom, Iowa Memorial Union, Room 376,125 N. Madison St., Iowa City, IA 52242
• Black Box Theater, Iowa Memorial Union, third floor,125 N. Madison St., Iowa City, IA 52242
• Figge Art Museum,225 W. Second St., Davenport, IA 52801