Find below a list of resources on this site related to the exhibition Color Rush: 75 Years of Color Photography in America, on view at the Milwaukee Art Museum February 22–May 19, 2013.
Color photographs are a major part of our world today. Brightly colored images illustrate magazines; memory-rich pictures fill scrapbooks and desktop frames; and, of course, everyday snapshots flood the Internet, thanks to smartphones, Facebook, and Instagram.
But it wasn’t always this way. People have always seen in color, but our photographs were originally in black and white. Color Rush examines the seventy-five-year period during which the science behind color photography was being developed and perfected. These innovations inspired artists to experiment with the medium, pushing fine and commercial art in new ways.
This exhibition gives you and your students an opportunity to think critically about how photography and color have affected our lives. The artists represented in this exhibition explored many questions: How do people record their daily existence? What role does advertising play in our lives? How does color change the way we view the world?
The grade levels below are suggested. We encourage you to adapt these activities to your class, and share your adaptations with us in the comments!
Pre-Visit Classroom Activities
- Family Memories (K-4, 5-8)
- Black & White to Color (K-4, 5-8, 9-12)
Gallery Activities
- Find discussion prompts in the Exhibition Walkthrough
- Color Scavenger Hunt (K-4)
- Before and After (K-4, 5-8, 9-12)
- Six Word Story (K-4, 5-8, 9-12)
Post-Visit Classroom Activities
- Create a Classroom Magazine (K-4, 5-8)
- Agree or Disagree? Quotes by Photographers (5-8, 9-12)
- Drawing with Light (K-4, 5-8, 9-12)
- Art Debate: Art vs. Advertising (5-8, 9-12)
- Through the Seasons (K-4, 5-8)