Step Into Art with Inspiration from Kehinde Wiley – a special event at the Harvard Art Museums on February 12, 2023

Sunday, January 15, 2023

© Photo by Mike Ritter, www.mikeritterphoto.com

Join Step Into Art in the Calderwood Courtyard at the Harvard Art Museums on Sunday, February 12th to create artful photo portraits inspired by Kehinde Wiley’s Portrait of Asia-Imani, Gabriella-Esnae, and Kaya Palmer, now on view at HAM. Museum admission is free for the day, and all are welcome at this special community event!

Step Into Art originally created the mural pictured above with 3rd graders from Lee Academy Pilot School to form an immersive installation for school portraits. Drawing inspiration from the magical, elaborately-patterned backgrounds in portraits by Kehinde Wiley, students created paper sculptures of birds, flowers, and bees, which were then assembled into a vibrant mural.  For the past two years, the school’s 190 children all had the chance to strike proud poses for photo portraits taken by photographer Mike Ritter in front of this shared community creation.

We invite you to let your imagination soar and enjoy a unique photo opportunity for portraits embodying the majestic poses of Wiley’s subjects. Create an art piece in the HAM Materials Lab to add to our mural installation or take home with you. Come view, pose, create, and celebrate! Step Into Art with us!

Step Into Art with Inspiration from Kehinde Wiley
Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St. Cambridge, MA
Sunday, February 12th, 2023
12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Museum admission is free on Sundays
Our drop-in event is open to all!

Follow the event on Instagram @stepintoartinc

© Photo by Step Into Art

Pictured above: A Mother Caroline student posing in front of Kehinde Wiley’s
Portrait of Asia-Imani, Gabriella-Esnae, and Kaya Palmer during a recent visit to
the Harvard Art Museums with Step Into Art.

Greater Boston Museum Educators’ Roundtable, January 2007

Monday, January 15, 2007

“Boston-Area Museum Educators ‘Step Into Art’ with Abby Rischin at the MFA”

In a morning workshop dedicated to thinking about diverse learning styles and ways of engaging visitors with works of art, Abby Rischin from Step Into Art shared powerful teaching strategies with us. By asking us to literally “step into” paintings by acting out the gestures we saw, sounds we thought we heard, and emotions we sensed, each participant was able to begin to build a personal connection with the works of art. We connected with narrative paintings, landscapes, still lifes, and portraits in dynamic ways. As a museum educator, I dedicate my career to helping visitors of all ages actively engage with works of art in order to develop meaningful connections. The techniques employed by Step Into Art allow students to do just that. They use close looking, discussion, movement, art-making and imagination to better understand great works of art.

Jennifer M. DePrizio
Director of Visitor Learning, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and Committee Member, Greater Boston Museum Educators’ Roundtable