Rolling The Range

Gilcrease Museum takes to the road for RAM visit

Advantages: Sod was inexpensive. Mud and roots or straw to make sod were found on the land of settlers. A small sod house could be built quickly with few tools.

Disadvantages: Sod houses were dusty and dirty. Sod was often the home of burrowing animals and bugs, including mice, snakes and spiders. Many sod houses leaked when it rained.

FAQ

Gilcrease on Wheels

WHEN — Classes meet at noon, 1:15 p.m., 2:30 p.m. & 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday & Aug.7

WHERE — Fort Smith Regional Art Museum

COST — Free

INFO — 784-2787

Is your house made of sod?

The answer to that question involves what teachers call "critical thinking," and it's one of the goals of the Gilcrease on Wheels program, which will touch down Wednesday, Thursday and Aug. 7 at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum. The three-day visit is the first one outside the state of Oklahoma for the brand new program, launched in October through the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa.

Since its inception, Gilcrease on Wheels -- supported by a donation from Steve Holton, CEO and chairman of Central National Bank in Poteau and his wife, Pam -- has visited 16 counties in Oklahoma, says program coordinator Andy Couch.

Gilcrease on Wheels offers three lesson plans appropriate for third- through fifth-graders: Oklahoma history, Native American culture and American history. The subjects were designed to meet the needs of teachers and students in Oklahoma: Third-graders study Oklahoma history; fourth-graders study cultures; and fifth-graders study U.S. history. In addition to art activities and digital "interactive experiences" that let students virtually visit the museum, Gilcrease on Wheels offers "touch and feels" that bring the reality of the museum's paintings into their hands -- a buffalo hide, buffalo horns and a 19th century compass, for example.

Couch says that the Gilcrease on Wheels van also provides "a museum experience" for those who might have never visited the institution founded in 1949 by Tulsa oilman Thomas Gilcrease. According to the museum's "fast facts," the Gilcrease's featured artists include Thomas Eakins, Charles Willson Peale, John Singleton Copley, James McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer, John James Audubon, N.C. Wyeth, Albert Bierstadt, George Catlin, Woody Crumbo, Charles M. Russell, Thomas Moran and Charles Banks Wilson. Gilcrease Museum is also home to 18 of the 22 bronzes created by Frederic Remington. Couch says that's worth sharing.

"I'm excited about coming to Arkansas," Couch says. "We're hoping to reach the whole state of Oklahoma and the whole western side of Arkansas."

NAN What's Up on 07/31/2015

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