I found that art grows on one given enough time to enjoy it and puzzle about why people made things and added beauty to basic tools of life. In order to get here I have studied a lot about art. I got my first degree from the University of Wisconsin in ceramics.

By the time I had completed that degree I was a professional potter and weaver. I set up the ceramic department for The Madison Art Center and started the Madison Potters Guild and studio. My Masters in Fine Arts came from the University of Hawaii, as did my Masters in Art Education.

I changed careers and had a wonderful private practice in New York City after completing my MSW at Smith College School for Social Work in 1983. While living in New York, working in private practice and teaching for special groups at the Metropolitan Museum I started my doctorate at the Fielding Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara. I completed my doctorate in Education and then received recognition as a Research Fellow in Creative Longevity and Wisdom from the Fielding Graduate University in 2007. By that time I was 73. Obviously I believe in learning and teaching.

And what does all this have to do with now?

Going back a bit: I designed my Master’s of Education thesis so that I could see a lot of Europe. My thesis research required that I teach in the great museums of Europe. I accomplished this by leading 15 students through Europe. We studied Art 101 in front of the actual pieces, standing on the Acropolis in Athens, Knossos, and Mycenae. The trip started in Crete and moved on to Greece with its many museums. We took the night cruise to Brendisi and started our Italian journey at Pompeii where we experienced an Italian villa and its fabulous wall paintings. Seeing this in place instead as a partial painting on the wall of a museum was compelling.

We had time to explore Rome for three days before heading on to other great places in Italy, France, The Netherlands, Germany and Austria. My final degree was a doctorate in psychology and education from The Fielding Institute. The Fielding Institute in 2007 recognized me as a Research Fellow in Creative Longevity and Wisdom. So much has changed since then in the way information is presented to us. We have the Web/Internet to use. I started the Applied History of Art and Architecture Educational Foundation as a way to organize the huge collection of images. These images are scattered about the web in a way that is difficult to use. Many people have organized some of them in a variety of ways. This work is meant to be a course in the history of art as well as a place that teachers can send their students to study one bit of art or another.

As you visit my web site, you will notice that each unit will be made up of a collection of micro-lessons. Each unit is designed to take you around the world in a certain period of time. We will visit each continent using time as our organizer. For example the first unit will cover Prehistoric Art around the world and the second unit will be Early Villages around the world and on to early Civilizations. In order to provide a deeper understanding students will be asked to make something that relates to the work they have just seen. We can start the student on their own site and add videos of them actually making the art. On your web page you can write about your ideas of life in the prehistoric world and add to your site as you go along. This can become a history of progress through the world of art, architecture and history. Create a digital journal of your own. Adults using this site as a resource can create a photo journal or collect postcards of the pieces that strike them as important, thus creating their own book.

The most important thing is to find joy in what you see and make. You are in charge.

I started the Applied History of Art and Architecture Educational Foundation and got the 501(c) 3 status in 2002. The foundation received grants from the Atherton Foundation and the Cooke Foundation. I returned to school in 2008 to learn to build this web site because I did not like the work done for me by other web designers. At this point in time I would like to find kindred folk who would like to work with me to move the project more quickly and add their voices to the site. If you would like to be become an AHAA advisor please contact me

Web site: www.ahaafoundation.org
Email: Kbolman@orgdyne.com