And I know it!

A month ago today was the AP Art History test—the summit of our long trek up the metaphorical mountain for 9 months. But there is about four weeks of class time after that test and it is also an invigorating time every year. Over the years I have refined how I like to spend that time after the AP test, after the students have worked so hard to master an understanding of 5000 years of the world’s art and architecture.

Last year I worked hard on a unit that I knew would mean a great deal to my students here in Jordan: art from the contemporary Middle East. Every now and then students would ask during the year about art of “their people.” I would patiently explain that Islamic art makes appearances on the annual AP test, but sadly, there was never any art from the last couple hundred years from their area of the world. I would also confess that I didn’t know much about the art of the last century from the Middle East either. Last year I rectified that by exploring about 20 art works from the last 10 years of artists that enjoy prestige and popularity in the Arab world. Maybe some time I will blog about the exciting art I discovered in that venture.

Besides that look into the contemporary Middle Eastern art scene we read the play Red about the artist Mark Rothko, set in 1959. We also watch the Ed Harris-helmed movie called Pollock about Jackson P and his wife Lee Krasner. I have watched that movie maybe 30 times in the last 10 years of AP Art History and love it every time (maybe not the days I am watching it 3 times in one day though).

But my favorite post-AP activity is enjoying the art exhibitions curated by my thrilling students! After the AP exam is over, each student enjoys unlimited money and access to any art works and architectural pieces in the world for their personal exhibit. They must come up with a concept, a thesis, wall text, and must present their art exhibit by a slide show and explanations to the class.

Last year my student and advisee (and recent Class of 2012 Valedictorian) Omar designed his dream art exhibit entitled, “We Place our Souls in our Soil.” Omar imagined a space in which museum observers would walk barefoot on grass and view art works from ancient Egypt up through Frank Lloyd Wright rooms. Omar began his exhibit with a piece unknown to me, The Harvest, a painting by a Palestinian artist named Ibrahim Ghannam whose work he compared to 16th century painter Pieter Breughel in that it depicts the lives of ordinary Palestinian peasants before 1948 (Breughel famously depicted oafish ordinary people in many of his works). If “creation” is indeed the highest form of learning, Omar’s exhibition of 15 pieces was remarkable and revelatory.


I thought I would give you a glimpse of some of the art exhibits from this year’s tour.


Jude went first. Jude—such a superstar art historian and beloved senior—began by blind-folding each member of the class. That is an unusual way to begin an art exhibit! As she played music that changed with each art work, she described various art works throughout history, challenging us to summon the work to our mind’s eye, allowing us to relish the memory and excitement of our first encounter with the various art works. Jude urged us to see the art works anew by blind-folding us.

Another advisee of mine, Moutasem, had spoken to me a night or two before his presentation. He had so many ideas he didn’t know which one to pursue. Well, he took us in an interesting direction by showing us art works and asking us how they might taste. Taste???!! I know I never thought about how an art work might taste before. Moutasem showed us a Rococo work, one of those naughty 18th century French pieces that encouraged everyone to, ahem, enjoy an assignation. Moutasem thought a Rococo work might taste like white chocolate. So he passed out white chocolate and urged us to look at the work anew with the white chocolate melting in our mouths. For another work Moutasem passed out the “taste” first. He told everyone that one of his favorite candies as a child was the kind of ‘Pop Rocks’ candy that explode in your mouth, a little like fireworks and rockets. We all grabbed a handful of the candy, and as the candy joyously exploded in our mouths Moutasem projected a Jackson Pollock painting. Moutasem thought that the random, exciting burst of energy in our mouths reminded him of the action painting style of Pollock. Who would have thought?!!!


There were exhibits of the appropriations of Jesus Christ, one called, “Ignite Your Senses,” and another one that had two paths through the museum (one path if you feel that War has benefited humankind, and another divergent path if you believe War has dehumanized and ruined humanity) but the art exhibit that made me laugh out loud in the most fun way is from my new advisee-to-be-next-year, named Hamza. Hamza opened his art exhibition with a clip of Homer Simpson. Homer Simpson—wait, is he an art critic or an architectural historian? No, it is the animated TV Homer Simpson we all know and he is dancing in a bikini speedo and proclaiming the song, “I’m Sexy And I Know It!”


Hamza curated an exhibit of art works that, in his curatorial opinion, know they are sexy! Think about it! Hamza surveyed the history of art and chose subjects that, in his curatorial opinion, know indeed that they are sexy! Along the way, we enjoyed his estimations of why each subject knew their own sexiness. (I was waiting for a photograph of me actually—not so much out of vanity but Hamza and I have often bumped into each other in the gym at 6:30 a.m. and I just thought it might be wise to end the exhibition with a photo of the teacher. I guess, in his curatorial opinion, I don’t rate on one of those counts!)

One choice of Hamza’s was more clever than the others, in my humble opinion. Hamza flashed a slide of the 19th century bronze statue of French writer Honore Balzac by Rodin. It is the photo at the top of the blog entry. It helps to know a little context (It always does! We love context!!) in that Rodin made this statue particularly inscrutable. Rodin didn’t make the statue very lifelike on purpose, but he wrapped the subject in that big, bulky cloak. Rodin wrote that one had to “unwrap” Balzac to really understand him. He presented Balzac as wrapped up and that each of us must unwrap the subject, his works, his ideas, his theories, in order to “get” him.

So Hamza flashed this slide and asked, “How does this subject feel about his sexiness? We don’t know yet. We must unwrap him in order to get at the answer.” What a great reminder of that challenge Rodin posed! At the end of his exhibition Hamza then told us to look in the secret space in the tables in class (kind of a place to hide pencils and stuff, a kind of clandestine drawer beneath the tables in class) and then find a treat wrapped up. Hamza had wrapped up a doughnut for each of us to find and unwrap and enjoy. I never thought of combining doughnuts and art!! Of course one could make a joke about the more doughnuts one eats, the less sexy one might be.


It has been fun in the last couple weeks to pass Hamza in the hall and say to him, “And I know it!!!”

Another of the post-AP activities is the annual writing of letters to next year’s AP Art History class. Among the most interesting tidbits in the letters (Yes, I peeked at them) was this list from Saif. Saif decided that all of his advice to the newbies would be in the form of allusions to art works they will study throughout the course. Of course, none of them will know these art works in the first weeks, but I will bring the advice back before the AP exam next May. I loved his cleverness and earnestness in his advice. Even if you don’t know the art works, treasure his creativity!


I have things to tell you:

• Don’t be a votive figure—be interactive and always ask questions.

• Be as solid as Khafre

• However, you should be as balanced as the Diskobolos and don’t forget to read and write.

• Be coherent with your friends in class…like the architectural styles of the Pantheon

• Don’t ever be as dull as the Middle Ages—always seek for knowledge

• Accept every speck of light Mr. John offers you, just like the Gothic stained glass

• Always think about the Classical world and synthesize it with your theology. Undersand VIRTU!!

• Do not be a drama queen like the Baroque Age. Do all the assignments!

• Be as licked as an Ingres painting, in the sense of being tidy and on top of your work and don’t ever fill your life with brushstroke!

• Never hate the reality of being an art historian just like Die Brucke did!

• Lastly, look at the Laocoon, and wonder about the greatness of the Greeks…



Saif’s buddy Hamza also wrote with the same theme in mind:

• Don’t confuse Manet with Monet—they are totally different artists

• Try to be like Naram-Sin—a sacerdotal intermediary

• Take David as your role model and go to the gym and workout

• Link every art work to the classical arts—it always works

• If you work hard like Millet’s The Gleaners throughout the year, you are going to feel like the SUBLIME after the AP exam

• Look at the background of the Raft of the Medusa by Gericault and you will find the ship of hope




I have taught this course to roughly 450 students in the last 10 years and I marvel at the surprises that I continue to unwrap and find in the gems who fill my classroom each year.