On Friday, Ms. Strub’s AP Art History and AP English Language classes went on a field trip to the De Young museum in San Francisco. The trip focused on the Soul of a Nation exhibit which features black artists and their works throughout the civil rights era.
Following their unit on race relations in America, the Soul of a Nation allowed AP English Language students to better understand the daily realities and struggles of being black during the early and mid 1900s. Junior Neekon Saadat said “I was really inspired by the Soul of a Nation exhibit. It was both illuminating and darkening.”
Junior Mateo de la Cruz added on saying, “It was really interesting seeing the artistic expression of extreme sadness and anger felt by the African American community at the time. The exhibit featured some really skilled artists.”
After the Soul of a Nation, students were given time to explore the rest of the museum, which included exhibitions on artificial intelligence, specialty collections, and American art. Junior Rachel Park said, “The most eye-opening part for me was seeing the environmental effects of Amazon’s Alexa and how technology is actually ruining our planet. You don’t even realize that what goes into making technology is detrimental to the environment.”
For Junior Griffin Camens, “My favorite part of the field trip was visiting the American art exhibit. It was cool to see work from the Hudson River school, which we learned about in APUSH. The art was really inspiring.”
The field trip proved to be a fun way for students to explore the themes of their classes through an artistic lens, and connected to various topics from the year. Junior Natalia Seniawski said “I had never been to the De Young museum before and it was really fun to see all the art. I am definitely coming back again sometime.”
