Perpich News

Craig Farmer to Study Winslow Homer with Education Minnesota Foundation Professional Development Grant

Craig Farmer, Art History Instructor

February 7, 2022

Craig Farmer, Art History Instructor, has earned a summer Professional Development Grant from the Education Minnesota Foundation. Farmer was pleased to share the news, adding, “This is my second time receiving a grant from a large organization.” Farmer previously was awarded a College Board grant in the summer of 2015.

Craig plans to use the grant to travel to New York City and see The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents exhibition in June. “I have been lecturing about late 19th Century American artists in my classroom for close to thirty years. In particular, I have been passionately interested in Winslow Homer,” said Farmer. From there, he would travel up the East Coast and see Homer’s recently opened studio in Scarborough, Maine. “The trip would take about five days and would be full of new learning experiences for me.”

From The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s website: Renowned for his powerful paintings of American life and scenery, Winslow Homer (1836-1910) remains a beloved and consequential figure whose art continues to appeal to broad audiences. This exhibition reconsiders Homer’s work through the lens of conflict, a theme that crosses his prolific career. A persistent fascination with struggle permeates his art – from emblematic images of the Civil War and Reconstruction that examine the effects of the conflict on the landscape, soldiers, and formerly enslaved to dramatic scenes of rescue and hunting as well as monumental seascapes and dazzling tropical works painted throughout the Atlantic world. The centerpiece of the exhibition is Homer’s iconic The Gulf Stream, a painting that reveals his lifelong engagement with charged subjects of race, politics, nature, and the environment. Featuring approximately 90 oils and watercolors, Crosscurrents represents the largest critical overview of Homer’s art and life in more than a quarter of a century.

Professional Development Grants from the Education Minnesota Foundation are intended to provide education support professionals, higher education faculty of colleges and universities, and teachers with opportunities to take the lead in acquiring and sharing new skills and knowledge. These skills might include new instructional ideas, technology, working with parents, attending a conference, etc. Teachers may request up to $1,500.

Craig Farmer has been teaching art history at the high school level since 1992. He started his teaching career at the Field School of Washington, DC. From the summer of 2008 through 2019 he was an adjunct instructor in The University of Minnesota’s Curriculum and Instruction Department. Craig holds a B.A. in art history and history from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and an M.A. in teaching from the University of St. Thomas. He was the Perpich graduation speaker for the classes of 2002, 2011, and 2015.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy. The Museum lives in two iconic sites in New York City – The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters. Millions of people also take part in The Met experience online. Since its founding in 1870, The Met has always aspired to be more than a treasury of rare and beautiful objects. Every day, art comes alive in the Museum’s galleries and through its exhibitions and events, revealing new ideas and unexpected connections across time and across cultures.