National Docent Symposium

October 2-5, 2011

Saint Louis

1

The Mint Team !

2

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

3

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

4

Sunday Social/Dinner

World’s Fair Pavilion in Forest Park

5

Sunday Evening Saint Louis Museum of Art

6

Sue Phillips: National Docent Symposium Council President

7

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

8

Monday Morning

9

Breakout Sessions #1, #2, #3

In each case, choice of eight topics from

different museums

10

Monday

25 Docent-led Roundtable

Discussions

• Touring with Technology

• Docent-Staff Relations

• Casual vs. Structured Tours

• Elementary School Tours

• Touring Contemporary Art

11

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

13

Monday Evening: Four Museum Dinner Sites

Citygarden

Outdoor sculpture garden

14

Monday Evening: Four Museum Dinner Sites

Magic House

Hands-on Children’s

Museum

15

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

16

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

17

Tuesday

Laumeier Sculpture Park

18

19

Breakout Sessions #4, #5

In each case, choice of eight topics from

different museums

19

Tuesday Afternoon

Showcase of Ideas

Several stations to visit

20 20

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?

21

22

Michael Murawski – Director of

School Services, Saint Louis Art

Museum

Daneil Reich – Curator and Director

of Education, St. Louis Holocaust

Museum

22

Wednesday Morning

Questions from the delegates –

answers from the speakers

Panel: "Evolving and Irreplaceable: Docents in the 21st Century"

23

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

24

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

25

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

26

Breakout Highlights

“Observation Becomes Inspiration: Adapting Visual Thinking Strategies

for Writing in Galleries” – Carnegie Museum of Art

27

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

28

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.

29

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

30

Breakout Highlights

31

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

32

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

33

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?

34

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

35

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)

36

National Docent Website: www.nationaldocents.org

37