En busca de los héroes y las heroínas (In Search of Heroes and Heroines)

1. En busca de los héroes y las heroínas (In Search of Heroes and Heroines) Intermediate Spanish students visit the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery

2. Students gather outside of the Smithsonian American Art Museum “I think that the idea of going to the Smithsonian is great. It is a perfect place to learn about culture from all around the world.”

3. Helen Dickerson, a docent from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, addresses intermediate Spanish students about the works of Luis Jimenez. “It was great fun! The guide taught the class about each style of art and about the artist. This allowed us to make our class come alive by learning, by seeing.”

4. Students study Devoción de Nuevo México by Charles Carrillo “The Smithsonian experience opened me up to D.C. as I rarely travel there, especially for a museum or something of the sort.”

5. Students on the magnificent stairway of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

6. Briana Zavadil White, School and Teacher Program Coordinator from the National Portrait Gallery, discusses elements of The Return to Aztlan, by Alfredo Arreguin. “I enjoyed the Smithsonian component of our course because the works we looked at were relevant to what we were studying at the time and also it was a great exercise on how to objectively view art.”

7. Contemplating Mexican and Mexican-American Heroes “Even though it was not my first visit to the Smithsonian, I really appreciated the tour and especially Pocahontas’ engraved portrait and The Return to Aztlan. There is so much information in these two pieces as long as one is willing to look closely. Culture, people, history are all exposed by “simple” paintings.”