It’s October 31, 2024, Goffstown students arrive at the Currier Museum in Manchester, New Hampshire. They approach the museum and begin their field trip that will take up a whole school day, with activities such as tours of the galleries and Frank Lloyd Wright Houses. After this trip, students will be “much more enriched and knowledgeable than when they came out on the bus.” explains Ann Kelley, Interior Design Teacher at Goffstown High School.
Twice a year, Kelley’s interior design classes go on a field trip to the Currier Museum every time the exhibit of the Frank Lloyd Wright Houses runs. Frank Lloyd Wright is regarded as one of America’s greatest architects which makes this opportunity such a great way for the interior design classes to broaden their knowledge on architecture outside of the classroom. This year, Tiffany Ferretti–an art teacher at Goffstown High School–also had her AP class join the field trip to pick up some inspiration for their current projects. The purpose of this field trip as a whole is to see the architectural and design elements for which Frank Lloyd Wright is famous.
Going on this field trip gave students the opportunity to see what is out there and be creatively stimulated by the exhibits they viewed. Ferretti described how the art exhibits at the Currier Museum were able to offer students a different perspective on the arts.“There was a special exhibit from a Columbian artist who was 90 years old and worked in fibers and made these beautiful tapestries of different colors and materials. My students got to see that and be inspired by that even when you’re older you can come up with things that give you joy and bring joy to others.” Ferretti recalled.
The field trip was decided to be at the Currier Museum, rather than another art museum within the region, because the Currier Museum is one of the few museums out there that has access to houses designed by such a famous architect. Frank Lloyd Wright’s houses are rarely open to the public and Goffstown High School happens to have access to these houses in such close proximity to the school. For these reasons, Kelley’s interior design class didn’t consider any other museums to go on a field trip. However, Ferretti’s class did consider going the Boston for the Museum of Fine Arts but ultimately decided not to because it was the beginning of the school year and there wasn’t time to plan such a big trip.
Kelley feels that this trip helped make her students more attentive towards the arts, “It’s good to have group discussion and see so much variety of art.” She noted when discussing what made her students’ interest in art grow. Many of the students that attended—in both Ferretti’s and Kelley’s class—had a positive experience on this field trip, which definitely would have contributed as to why students have become more interested in arts after going on the trip. Hopefully, Goffstown High School will have more students that want to pursue the arts or have a newfound appreciation for them because of this trip.
