The Museum hosted its first ever BooksmART Festival on June 11. Thousands of visitors heard presentations and attended workshops led by noted authors and illustrators, including Rick Riordan, Norton Juster, and Jerry Pinkney. Rick Riordan spoke to a full house, where he shared a sneak peek of Chapter Two from the second Lost Heroes book, Son of Neptune. There was audible excitement in the crowd when Percy Jackson’s name was mentioned in that chapter. Riordan was obviously the big draw for the day, and his book signing line stretched all the way from Ross Avenue to Flora Street!
Members of our staff were on hand to help during the festival, too. Nicole set up two mobile Tech Labs, which allowed visitors to connect with works of art through technology. In the European galleries, visitors plugged words into Wordle to create Word Clouds inspired by works of art. In the Sculpture Garden, visitors used digital cameras to photograph Dallas Snake. Over 600 photos were captured in a two-hour time span.
I coordinated all of the tours that were offered during the day. Our former intern Karen led the “Heroes” tour, which looked at heroes, including Perseus, throughout our collection. I led visitors on an “Animal Safari” through the galleries to look for animals in works of art. And, two of our Teen Docents led “A Looking Journey” tours, which focused on stories in works of art. We’ll offer Animal Safari and A Looking Journey tours throughout the summer. Email tours@DallasMuseumofArt.org if you want to schedule one of these tours for your student group.
I snapped photos throughout the day and thought you might enjoy this look back at the BooksmART Festival.
Shannon Karol
Manager of Docent Programs and Gallery Teaching
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