Art History Visits San Francisco

Art History Visits San Francisco

Madeleine Singh, Opinion Editor

Social studies teacher Molly Kerr and her AP Art History students traveled to San Francisco on December 7 to view architecture and other aspects of art they had previously learned about in class.

“It’s an essential part of the course to be able to see the things that we’re studying, and we live in the Bay Area so we’re just so lucky, between museums and the cathedral and all the architecture we saw today,” said Kerr.

Students started with a tour of City Hall, followed by an hour at the Asian Art Museum, which included art from China, Japan, India, and Korea the students had just finished studying. Afterward, the class explored Grace Cathedral before spending the afternoon roaming around the Ferry Building for lunch.

According to sophomore Jack Bunzel-Hardie, “field trips like these are a good idea because it helps us learn more about art.” His favorite part of the day was seeing Grace Cathedral because it was “pretty and very grand.”

However, there were some challenges during the trip: the bus was half an hour late departing from campus in the morning, and the entire top floor of the Asian Art Museum was closed for the day. “That was a bummer, I wish I had known about that,” said Kerr.

Fortunately, Kerr’s students still felt the trip made a positive impact on their knowledge of art. “I really liked seeing the Buddhas, we’ve studied them a lot so it was nice to see some examples up close and personal,” said senior Lauren Kline. “I definitely feel more enlightened in terms of art history. I had 2 favorite parts- the Grace Cathedral, and eating my pork bun at the Ferry Building.”

“Just seeing all of [my students] engaged and seeing the things that [they] study, that makes it really cool,” said Kerr.