For Educators
The Muscatine Art Center offers a variety of programs for schools and youth groups. Programs can be presented as part of a trip to the Muscatine Art Center or as an outreach program.
Muscatine Art Center School & Youth Group Programs
EExploring Muscatine's past? Studying the Mississippi River? Seeking a STEAM experience? Or, introducing kids to the work of Grant Wood? The Muscatine Art Center staff can help!
Grant Wood & His Contemporaries
4th or 5th Grade Field Trip/Pre-Visit Materials
Upper elementary students learn about Grant Wood and his friends and fellow artists who attended the Stone City Art Colony or exhibited at the Iowa Art Salon in the 1930s-40s. The fieldtrip focuses on landscapes with students making their own landscape inspired by Grant Wood. In a PowerPoint presentation, students are challenged to determine if a work in the Muscatine Art Center’s collection was made by Grant Wood.
Muscatine & the Civil War
Middle School Outreach
Middle school students are introduced to Muscatine Civil War soldier, Daniel Parvin, through a first-person interpretation program delivered in the classroom. Local actors portray Parvin and his wife, present supporting materials such as reproductions of historic maps, Muscatine County Civil War rosters, and historic newspapers. The lesson includes a PowerPoint presentation with images of Civil War artifacts from the collection.
Booking School Tours
The Friends of the Muscatine Art Center will pay for up to two Muscatine Art Center trips per classroom per school year at no cost to the school or to the students. To book school tours, call Katy Loos, Program Coordinator at (563) 263-8282 or email at kloos@muscatineiowa.gov.
The Program Coordinator will need to know:
- How many students do you plan to bring?
- How many adults will accompany the students? (One adult is required for every ten students)
- What topics would you like your students to explore?
- What are your first, second and third choices for dates to visit? (Please schedule tours at least ten days in advance. All tours are subject to Muscatine Art Center schedule availability.)
- What time during the day would you like to book the tour? (Most tours have a maximum time limit of two hours. You can schedule another day to come back if needed.)
- Contact information for the person booking the tour (name, phone number, e-mail) so the Program Coordinator can contact you in case of an emergency.
To reserve a school bus, contact the MCSD bus barn at (563) 263-7288. Please remember to charge the bus fee to the Friends of the Muscatine Art Center.
Who sponsors school trips to the Muscatine Art Center?
The Friends of the Muscatine Art Center, Inc. is a non-profit organization supporting educational programs and outreach at the Muscatine Art Center. The Friends board generates funds through memberships and special events.
These funds are used for school and youth programs at the Art Center, associated busing costs, a portion of the wages for the Program Coordinator and scholarships to enable students on free or reduced lunch to participate in studio classes at the Muscatine Art Center.
