Bloom Art Teacher Awarded for Bringing 'The Dinner Party' to the Classroom

Deborah Filbin has taught art at Bloom High School for 12 years, yet this past school year was an entirely new experience for her.

Using Judy Chicago's "The Dinner Party," a large, tiangular work of art completed in 1979, Filbin taught her students about prominent and important women throughout Western civilization history.

The Dinner Party Institute training program at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania helped Filbin implement the work into her curriculum at Bloom.

"It was a very, very intensive one-week workshop," Filbin said. "There was no rest time and lots of homework. There was a lot of group work and brainstorming and ‘how to apply this.’"

While training was extensive, Filbin also experienced unforgettable rewards any art connoisseur would cherish.

"We got to go to the Brooklyn Museum in New York, to actually meet (Judy Chicago), and she gave us a personal tour of the artwork, and was there to answer questions," Filbin said, beaming.

"We had art historians there and gallery curators there," Filbin continued. "So it was a one-in-a-lifetime learning opportunity, not just to see an artwork, but to have all these living resources there to answer your questions and give you feedback and information."

While the trip was fun, Filbin still had to implement "The Dinner Party" into her curriculum. Fortunately, she had a helpful group of students to travel the new path with her.

"I worked with one class specifically and pretty much told them, ‘I’m teaching something brand new. Are you willing to try it out with me and give me feedback?'" Filbin said. "They were 100 percent on board, and the students were great because they did give me that constant feedback. After every lesson they kept asking for more."

As much as her students enjoyed aspects of "The Dinner Party," Filbin herself learned a few things about it herself.

"I think some of the neatest things were learning about women that were so prominent that I had no idea about," Filbin said. "For example, we learned about Hatshepsut, which was an Egyptian pharaoh that was a woman. I remember in our college history courses learning about the pharaohs, but we all assume they were men."

For her efforts, Filbin received a call at the end of this past school year from Judy Chicago, as well as Marilyn Stewart, director of the Dinner Party Institute. They were calling to tell her she won the Minx Auerbach Award for Excellence in Teaching for her use of the The Dinner Party to form a curriculum.

"Deborah Filbin has demonstrated how so many of the encounters within The Dinner Party Curriculum can be adapted for new settings and made personally relevant for a wide range of students," said Stewart.

Filbin flew out to New York last week and received the award Tuesday, through Judy Chicago's not-for-profit organization Through the Flower.

"My stomach did flip flops," Filbin said. "It was great. I was excited. I was nervous. I know I shouldn’t have been nervous but I was."

Heading into another school year Filbin already sees a flourishing future for "The Dinner Party" to be used as a teaching tool.

"They want to keep doing these institutes to keep spreading the word." Filbin said, shedding light on the importance of women's studies. "We teach African American history. We teach Hispanic history. We teach history of all these different cultures that have helped build our country. And women's studies is usually reserved for college. I think students should learn about this before college.