Title: Art Museum Docents: An Integral Part of Art Education
Stream: Teaching and Learning the Arts
Presentation Type: Workshop Presentation
Authors:
Lynn Zimmerman, Independent Scholar, United States
Abstract:
Over the years, the role of docents in museums has changed with the times. In the 21st century, the shift has been away from lecture-style tours to visitor-centered and inquiry-based tours. This workshop will focus on some of the activities used by volunteer docents at Weatherspoon Art Museum located on the University of North Carolina at Greensboro campus. The workshop will provide some background information on the museum which is embedded in an educational institution and its docent program, which is structured to be an educational experience for the docents and for their visitors. While the training for docents is about the art in the exhibitions, more importantly, it focuses on how to teach visitors to see art not just look at it. Rather than imparting a fact-filled lecture about numerous artworks, the docents engage visitors with a few pieces through slow looking. Docents prompt visitors to express their opinions and their connections to these few pieces of art, then encourage them to explore on their own. In this way, visitors make their own meaning of the art which deepens their experience as attentive viewers of art. This workshop will include several interactive activities that demonstrate some of the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic strategies that the docents use to help visitors think critically about the art on display and discover a personal connection to it.
Conference Comments & Feedback
Place a comment using your LinkedIn profileShare this Presentation
Comments
Powered by WP LinkPress