In the fall of 2009, East St Louis Senior High School English teacher Jacqueline Green and the Saint Louis Art Museum’s 2009 Master Teacher Summer Fellow, Dr. Ralph Cordova, undertook a collaboration to engage a group of high school seniors from East St Louis in a cultural landscape project.

The students, all in Mrs. Green’s honors English class, have visited the Museum twice with a culminating visit to occur later this month. During each visit the students viewed different parts of the Museum collection, including the Five Centuries of Japanese Screens special exhibition, and participated in critical thinking activities designed by Michael Murawski, the Museum’s School Services Director.

The students have displayed an enthusiasm and appreciation that belies their lack of exposure. Attentive, in a way that even some of the more privileged school groups are not, Mrs. Green’s class has shown a willingness to participate in various writing exercises and share their observations openly. The questions posed by the students during each visit have been thoughtful and relevant, showing their ability to connect the art to their own experiences.

For their teacher the Museum has become a shared learning place that inspires and motivates learning, but for the students the Saint Louis Art Museum has become their space, their cultural landscape.