Teaching Art History with Video

I recently took a trip to the awesome city of Chicago. Art historians are familiar with taking pictures on their journeys and using these images to present in a classroom as part of a lecture. My memories of university lectures are filled with great stories about my professors' escapades to Greece or Italy. What I find compelling is how the use of video transforms this teaching process.

On my visit to Chicago's Millennium Park, a world renowned site for public art, I had my still digital camera in hand but I also had my Flip video camera. The park was so alive with activity. The sounds of the children running through the water at The Crown Fountain just had to be part of capturing this moment. So, I took several video clips of different works throughout the park (my favorites), edited them together in iMovie and exported the movie to YouTube. Check it out. What do you think? Better than still images? I'm excited to share this video with my students next semester when we explore the topic of public art.