national docent symposium october 2-5, 2011...
TRANSCRIPT
National Docent Symposium
October 2-5, 2011
Saint Louis
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The Mint Team !
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Plan for Today
Try to Convey What We Learned
• Symposium overview (Sue Phillips)
o Keynote speaker message
• Breakout Highlights
o “Observation Becomes Inspiration: Adapting Visual Thinking
Strategies for Writing in Galleries” – Carnegie Museum of Art
(Judith Toman)
o “Docents Select: Gateway to Collaboration” – Huntington Museum
of Art (Verna Witt)
o “Let’s Talk: New Approaches to Conversation and Docenting at the
Portland Art Museum” (Renee Reese)
o “Educating Docents to Educate Students” – National Gallery of Art
(Ann Dunnam)
o “Cultivating Connections: Classroom Curricula and Object-Based
Learning” – Rhode Island School of Design Museum (Ross
Loeser)
• Quick Takes – Other Learnings and Ideas
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Symposium Overview
• About 400 people from museums across the country, including all the
leading museums
o National Docent Symposium is held every other year
• Sunday, Oct. 2: Social/Dinner; Saint Louis Art Museum
• Monday, Oct. 3: Formal start; Keynote; Breakout #1; Roundtable
Discussion; Breakouts #2 and #3; Dinner at four museums
• Tuesday, Oct. 4: Off site workshop at 13 museums; Breakouts #4 and
#5; Showcase of Ideas; Dinner with speaker
• Wednesday, Oct. 5: Closing speakers
• Also: Pre and Post Symposium activities; significant opportunity for
one-on-one interaction with docents from around the country
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Sunday Social/Dinner
World’s Fair Pavilion in Forest Park
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Sunday Evening Saint Louis Museum of Art
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Sue Phillips: National Docent Symposium Council President
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Monday Morning
Keynote Speaker: Michael Cassin – Director, Center for Education
in the Visual Arts, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
“ Interesting is Good; Wonderful is Better”
• Museums are imposing places.
• Know your audience.
• Don't "interest" them to death.
• Expect the unexpected.
• Utilize your energy and enthusiasm to create a sense of wonder
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Monday Morning
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Breakout Sessions #1, #2, #3
In each case, choice of eight topics from
different museums
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Monday
25 Docent-led Roundtable
Discussions
• Touring with Technology
• Docent-Staff Relations
• Casual vs. Structured Tours
• Elementary School Tours
• Touring Contemporary Art
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Monday Evening:
Four Museum Dinner Sites
• Cahokia Mounds
• Citygarden
• Magic House
• Pulitzer Foundation/Contemporary Art Museum
• Center of Mississippian Indian culture
• AD 900-1200
• Population 10,000 - 20,000 at height
• Distinguishing feature – over 120
earthen mounds
• Most sophisticated civilization north of
Mexico
• Contemporary with Toltecs; after high
Mayans; before Aztecs… but no contact
• Located just east of Saint Louis 12
Monday Evening: Four Museum Dinner Sites
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Monday Evening: Four Museum Dinner Sites
Citygarden
Outdoor sculpture garden
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Monday Evening: Four Museum Dinner Sites
Magic House
Hands-on Children’s
Museum
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Monday Evening: Four Museum Dinner Sites
Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts
Richard Serra’s sculpture, “Joe” (Named in
homage to Joseph Pulitzer) Photo by Hiroshi Sugimoto
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Tuesday Morning:
Off Site Workshops
Cahokia Mounds, Campbell House, Citygarden,
Laumeier Sculpture Park, Holocaust Museum, Magic
House, Mercantile Library, Missouri Botanical
Garden, Pulitzer Foundation, Kemper Art Museum,
Missouri History Museum, Saint Louis Art Museum,
Saint Louis Zoo (13 sites)
Tuesday – Kemper Art Museum
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Tuesday
Laumeier Sculpture Park
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Breakout Sessions #4, #5
In each case, choice of eight topics from
different museums
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Tuesday Afternoon
Showcase of Ideas
Several stations to visit
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Tuesday Evening
After Dinner Speaker: Elizabeth Semmelhack
– Curator, Toronto’s Bata Shoe Museum
“ Why Ask Why: How Curiosity Can Transform
How We See”
• Why?
• Why?
• Why?
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Michael Murawski – Director of
School Services, Saint Louis Art
Museum
Daneil Reich – Curator and Director
of Education, St. Louis Holocaust
Museum
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Wednesday Morning
Questions from the delegates –
answers from the speakers
Panel: "Evolving and Irreplaceable: Docents in the 21st Century"
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Breakout Highlights
“Observation Becomes Inspiration: Adapting Visual Thinking
Strategies for Writing in Galleries” – Carnegie Museum of Art
(Judith Toman)
“Docents Select: Gateway to Collaboration” – Huntington Museum
of Art (Verna Witt)
“Let’s Talk: New Approaches to Conversation and Docenting at the
Portland Art Museum” (Renee Reese)
“Educating Docents to Educate Students” – National Gallery of Art
(Ann Dunnam)
“Cultivating Connections: Classroom Curricula and Object-Based
Learning” – Rhode Island School of Design Museum (Ross
Loeser)
“Observation Becomes Inspiration: Adapting Visual Thinking
Strategies for Writing in Galleries” – Carnegie Museum of Art
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Breakout Highlights
• Writing as basis for gallery tours to
increase/improve writing by students
• Tours for History, English, Social Studies,
Art, Creating Writing classes
• End result is students write a short story • Comfortable format for students
• Thread character, setting , theme and plot through
their stories
“Observation Becomes Inspiration: Adapting Visual Thinking Strategies
for Writing in Galleries” – Carnegie Museum of Art
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Breakout Highlights
• Allow students to look silently, then start and
continue discussion using three prompts
– What’s going on?
– What makes you say that?
– What more do you find?
• Avoid judgmental reactions to writing or
comments
• Spend 10-12 minutes at each of 4 stops
“Observation Becomes
Inspiration: Adapting Visual
Thinking Strategies for Writing
in Galleries” – Carnegie
Museum of Art
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Breakout Highlights
“Observation Becomes Inspiration: Adapting Visual Thinking Strategies
for Writing in Galleries” – Carnegie Museum of Art
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Breakout Highlights
• Begin by looking at gallery painting,
sculpture or object
• Describe character
• Give him/her a name
• Write one thing the character would tell
you about himself
• Begin writing in Idea Books
“Observation Becomes Inspiration: Adapting Visual Thinking Strategies
for Writing in Galleries” – Carnegie Museum of Art
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Breakout Highlights
• Tour stops include paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, landscapes, abstract works
• Students select work on which to base their story
• Spend last 30 minutes of 90 minute tour selecting piece that inspires them
• They jot notes, take a photo
• Complete short story in classroom
“Docents Select: Gateway to Collaboration” –
Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV
• Huntington museum has approximately 15,000 art objects.
• 41 Docents participated
• Guidelines:
o Work with Curator, Education and Librarian staff.
o Label would be edited by staff
o Certain objects could not be chosen (e.g., Chilhuly)
• Write label – (20-150 words) may be personal or educational or
both.
• Record phone tour.
• Introductory Signage done by Education staff – definition of docent,
# of active docents, concept of exhibition, scope of collection.
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Breakout Highlights
“Let’s Talk: New Approaches to Conversation and
Docenting at the Portland Art Museum”
• Conversation: Concepts with
practical application for our tours
• Exhibit and programs specific to
Portland Art Museum
o Museum Installation – Object
Stories
o Conversations About Works of
Art
o Docents in Conversation
o Pilot Program for Middle
Schools
• Resources
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Breakout Highlights
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Resources
WEBSITES
• Center for the Future of Museums -
http://www.futureofmuseums.org/
• http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/
http://objectstories.org/
• http://www.portlandartmuseum.org/multimedia/permanent/
BOOK
Teaching in the Art Museum – Interpretation as Experience; Rita
Burnham and Elliot Kai-Kee
“Rewarding gallery experiences depend upon visitors’ active
participation in the art of discovery”
“Good museum teaching helps visitors find pathways to
engagement and understanding of works of art”
“Let’s Talk: New Approaches to Conversation and Docenting at the
Portland Art Museum”
Breakout Highlights
“Educating Docents to Educate Students” –
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
• A separate School Docent Program is organize around several themes:
1. Visual Literacy
2. Art History
3. Audience
4. Tour Development and Techniques
• Cultivating a “Culture of Thinking” for School Tours
Cultural Forces Involved:
1. Expectations Communicated
2. Opportunities Created
3. Time Allocation
4. Modeling by Docent
5. Routine Established
6. Language of Art and Conversation
7. Gallery Environment
8. Interactions and Relationships
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Breakout Highlights
“Cultivating Connections: Classroom Curricula and Object-Based
Learning” – Rhode Island School of Design Museum
Two offerings:
• One-Part Visit – One hour around themes:
o All Grades: Learning to Look (highlights)
o Grades K-3: Picturing Stories; Places Real and
Imagined; Peasants, Presidents & Pioneers
o Grades 3-12: Exploring America; Art of Our
Time; Gods, Heroes & Myths; Artists’ Ideas,
Materials & Process
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Breakout Highlights
• Multi-Part Programs: “Dig the Museum” (grades 4-12) o Incorporating works of art into the school curriculum; no more than four works; use
the experience to develop critical evaluation / thinking skills
o RISD Museum educators visit classroom, then group comes to museum
o Themes: Exploring America; Think Like an Archeologist; Gods, Heroes, Myths;
Artists’ Ideas, Materials and Process; Invention & Innovation; Art & Literature; The
American Experience; Rhode Island Past & Present; The Enduring Myth; Society &
Politics; Comparative Religions
o “It’s no longer enough when students leave excited and want to come back…”
“Cultivating Connections: Classroom Curricula and Object-Based
Learning” – Rhode Island School of Design Museum
“Dig the Museum” program example: explore Alonzo Chappell, The Landing of
Roger Williams in 1636 (painted 1857)
• What’s happening? How do you know?
• Why did the artist construct it as he did?
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Breakout Highlights
• How realistic is it?
• It was painted 221 years
after the event
• How is history made?
• Is it always factual?
• What implications might
this have over other “facts”
of history?
“Cultivating Connections: Classroom Curricula and Object-Based
Learning” – Rhode Island School of Design Museum
RISD Museum Docent Program:
• Provide learning experiences for ~10,000 K-12 students (last year)
• 40 touring docents, each conduct minimum of 20 tours/year
• All touring docents attend continuing education every Tuesday afternoon.
• Also a week long program during RISD’s Wintersession
• Docent Museum Council meeting are held monthly… all docents invited
• Annual dues are $25
o Support basic activities including attendance for two at the National
Symposium
o Also raise funds for Angel Project to pay transportation for inner city
schools to come to the museum
• Docent Newsletter (fully done by docents)
• Year-end picnic hosted by Museum
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Breakout Highlights
Quick Takes – Other Learnings and Ideas
• Use of iPads at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art o Use 4 iPads for school tours:
1. Show a piece of art
• Ask which pieces in the gallery are by same artist (why?)
2. Show video clip of artist
o SFMOMA has developed Apps that have pictures/videos
o Volume is an issue; have purchased speakers carried around neck
• Many museums still give tours to every 5th grader in their city
(from Roundtable discussion)
• St. Louis Museum of Art docent: “I have a conversation with a
piece of art…” (a way of engaging kids)
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National Docent Website: www.nationaldocents.org
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