Long-standing PMA Partnership Empowers Students to Study Art More Deeply
A nearly three-decade-long partnership between Friends Select School and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) fosters a unique educational experience for ninth-grade students. This long-standing collaboration, rooted in a commitment to the city, integrates art into the upper school history curriculum to provide students with a profound appreciation of art, culture, and history.
Under the guidance of PMA museum educators and Friends Select upper school history teacher Spring Greeney, the Philadelphia Museum of Art Research Project invites ninth graders to select an artwork or artifact from the Asian, Middle Eastern, Medieval, or Renaissance collections at the PMA. The class visits the PMA five times over the course of the school year, during which students learn how to look at art and deepen their understanding of the 9th-grade world history curriculum by looking live at art and artifacts from the time periods they are studying in the abstract in the classroom. Starting in late spring, based on the close-looking skills and world history that students have learned all year, students choose a single artwork to do research that they ultimately present to an audience of family members, peers, Friends Select faculty, and museum guests.
Beyond traditional field trips, these immersive educational experiences allow students to interact directly with art in a way that fosters a deeper understanding and connection to the material. By studying individual works of art through a historical lens, students sharpen their research and analytical skills to understand their piece’s cultural significance and make connections to present-day events, and even their own lives. Students are encouraged to approach art with curiosity and openness, participate in discussions that promote critical thinking, and learn to understand different cultures and experiences through diverse perspectives.
“The average viewer spends about 18 seconds looking at a piece of art at the PMA, so the first skill our students learn is to slow down and look closely. My hope is that they think deeply about what it means to study history—how can we say anything about the past, since by definition, it no longer exists?” Spring said. “The goal is for our students to revisit what we’ve studied with a fresh perspective. For instance, they might learn about colonization through a centuries-old rifle, or industrialization through a corset.”
For her project, Talia Mono ’26 studied the Grand Salon of the Château de Draveil, which was owned and restored by Marin de La Haye, a royal tax collector who was one of the richest men in France in the 1700s. Talia chose this piece because it was one of her favorites when she visited the museum growing up, inspired by her grandmother’s love for France. “Until I started this project, I didn’t realize that the room itself was also a piece of art. The room is full of mirrors and gilded panels, which, in the 18th century, were the European aristocracy’s way of showing off their wealth,” she explained. “In France at that time, there was a huge wealth gap and civil unrest. I focused my PMA presentation on the many issues in France that ultimately led to the French Revolution, and how rich men like Marin de La Haye had a role in these problems.”
The Philadelphia Museum of Art Research Project culminates each spring with students’ presentations at the museum. This event represents months of study and reflection as the students deliver in-depth analysis and personal reflections on their chosen artwork, including its historical background, the artist’s biography, and the techniques used, as well as the cultural and societal contexts in which the piece was created. Spring said, “Immediately after presenting, students almost universally feel a sense of pride and awe at having spoken publicly at the art museum, including to strangers who happen to walk by. This sense of self-efficacy is both beautiful and rare, and I’m happy that we can instill it in our students. It has a lasting effect, and students carry this confidence going forward, whether or not they remember the details of the artwork that they studied.”
