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What's Not to Love About Being a Teen Docent?!?

Published July 7, 2010 Art & Teaching , Creativity , Museum Insight , People 4 Comments
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Did you know that we have a group of twenty-seven Teen Docents who lead tours at the DMA each summer?  We are lucky to be the fearless leaders of the Teen Docent program, and we both love working with this talented and enthusiastic group of students.  The Teen Docent program was started because the Museum believes that teens have a unique ability to capture the interest of our youngest visitors and help them to see how works of art relate to their lives.  

Amy and Shannon with some of the Teen Docents

 

Teen Docents are wonderful at sparking imagination in the children they tour, and their enthusiasm in the galleries is contagious.  Some of the teens are new to the program this summer, and some have been with us for three or more years.  The Teen Docents come from a variety of backgrounds, but one thing that they all have in common is their excitement for sharing works of art with children.  

Amy and Shannon with even more Teen Docents

 

We asked some of the teens to reflect on their role at the Museum, and here are their responses: 

  • “If I were able to better someone’s experience at the DMA, and not only mine, it would make being a Teen Docent at the DMA worth every minute of my time.”
  • “I enjoy assisting others in creative ways.  It is wonderful to be around warm smiles and beautiful pieces of art.”
  • “I just want to be able to contribute to the greatness of the museum and in the process learn more about it.  I want to show people how much fun museums are and that it’s not nerdy to love museums.”
  • “I like touring children that have an excitement for the art.  I want to hear their perspectives about certain pieces and try to pass on interesting information they might not know.”
  • “My whole life, I have had an interest in art and I want to continue to feed that interest.  I enjoy learning about different styles of art and artists and what better way than at the museum.  Last year, I enjoyed my time as a Teen Docent enormously and I look forward to making new friends, memories, and continuing my study of art.” 

 

It’s not too late to schedule a visit to the DMA for your group this summer.  Teen Docents will be touring through mid-August, and we would love to welcome your students for a Color My World or A Looking Journey tour.  Email tours@DallasMuseumofArt.org to schedule your visit! 

Amy Copeland and Shannon Karol
Coordinators of Go van Gogh and Museum Visits

Summer Exhibition: Luc Tuymans

Published June 23, 2010 works of art Closed
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The first U.S. retrospective of Luc Tuymans’ paintings is currently on display at the Dallas Museum of Art.  Approximately 80 paintings by the Belgian artist are on view in our Barrel Vault and Quadrant Galleries through September 5th.

Part of what I love about these paintings is Tuymans’ interest in history and culture.  I am also intrigued by the sense of mystery in his canvases.  An image may appear ordinary, but through reading the label you learn that it is actually beyond ordinary, sometimes bordering on the grotesque.  For example, the painting The Heritage VI looks like a portrait of a smiling average Joe, but he is actually far from average.  His name is Joseph Milteer, and he was a right-wing extremist and Klansman who played a role in conspiracy theories about the Kennedy assassination.      

Luc Tuymans, The Heritage VI, 1996

Tuymans is also very interested in World War II.  One of my favorite paintings is Schwarzheide, which shares its name with a concentration camp.  At his public Artist Talk on June 3rd, Tuymans talked at length about this painting.  He said that artists in concentration camps and work camps would often tear their paintings and drawings into strips so they could distribute them.  Although many people read the vertical lines on this canvas as the bars on a window, they are actually meant to remind us of how artists continued to produce images during the most difficult circumstances.   

Luc Tuymans, Schwarzheide, 1986

 There are several opportunities for teachers to learn more about Luc Tuymans throughout the summer:   

  • The annual Museum Forum for Teachers: Modern and Contemporary Art will be held from July 19-23.  Teachers will spend Wednesday, July 21st, immersed in the Tuymans exhibition, as well as viewing other contemporary works of art in the DMA’s collection.  The application deadline for Museum Forum has just been extended to July 1st. 
  • Gallery Talks relating to the exhibition have also been planned, including a series called Perspectives.  Jim Falk, President and CEO of the World Affairs Council, will moderate discussions with artists, historians, and scholars to investigate the artistic and cultural issues that inform Luc Tuymans’ work.  Visit our Web site for more information.
  • Experience the smARTphone tour for the Tuymans exhibition.  Bring your smart phone to the Museum to access new and interactive content.  A limited number of iPod Touches are also available for check out from the Visitor Services Desk.  You can also access the smARTphone tour online.

I hope you enjoy this exhibition as much as I do!

Shannon Karol
Coordinator of Museum Visits     

Images:
Luc Tuymans, The Heritage VI, 1996; oi on canvas; Courtesy David Zwirner, New York; © Luc Tuymans; photo: courtesy David Zwirner, New York
Luc Tuymans, Schwarzheide, 1986; oil on canvas; Private collection; © Luc Tuymans; photo: courtesy David Zwirner, New York

Looking Back and Thinking Ahead

Published May 27, 2010 Museum Insight 1 Comment
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It’s hard to believe that the 2009-2010 school year is already over.  We will have our last Museum visits and Go van Gogh trips tomorrow, and we wanted to take this opportunity to share some of the highlights of the year with you.

Go van Gogh Classroom Outreach
Volunteers are at the core of our programs, and without their invaluable assistance, we would not be able to reach the number of students we do each year.  A great big thanks to:

  • all of our Dallas volunteers.  We visited 406 1st-6th grade classrooms in Dallas, seeing over 8,330 students.  
  •  all of our volunteers outside Dallas.  We presented a total of over 240 programs to 4,800 students in schools outside Dallas city limits.  These are especially impressive numbers as each and every program that takes place outside Dallas is scheduled, coordinated, taught, and otherwise made possible by volunteers. 

Go van Gogh volunteers work with local artist Ann Marie Newman

The year also brought new initiatives for the Go van Gogh program:

Go van Gogh volunteers work with local artist Ann Marie Newman

All in all, it was a great year.  Go van Gogh volunteers, we appreciate your hard work and dedication to bringing fun and meaningful art experiences to North Texas students.  Teachers, we thank you for bringing Go van Gogh into your classrooms.

Museum Visits

Our schedule has been jam-packed with Museum visits all year.  Thank you to the students and teachers who visited the Museum, and thank you to our docents who make all of these tours possible. 

Docent Denise Ford welcomes her group to the DMA.

We had many highlights during the year, including:

  • providing docent-guided and self-guided Museum visits for 51,821 K-12 and higher education students.
  • sharing several wonderful exhibitions with students.  We were able to make works of art come alive in All the World’s a Stage, and we transported students to 19th century Normandy in The Lens of Impressionism. 
  • continuing relationships with several school districts.  This was the third year of our partnership with Dallas ISD where every 4th grader comes to the Museum for a docent-guided visit.  We welcomed 11,535 DISD 4th graders for A Looking Journey tours this year, and we can’t wait to see DISD’s 4th graders again next year.

4th grade students examine the Pair of Lokapalas

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So there you have it, the highlights of thirty-two weeks of programs for the 2009-2010 school year.  The 2010-2011 school year will be here before we know it, so we encourage you to start thinking about your DMA and Go van Gogh visits now.  Be on the lookout for our postcard this summer, reminding you to visit our Web site on August 1st to schedule your programs.  Have a wonderful summer!

Amy Copeland and Shannon Karol
Coordinators of Go van Gogh Outreach and Museum Visits

Mesquite Week Visits

Published May 13, 2010 Art & Teaching , Museum Insight 2 Comments
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For the past two weeks, we have been welcoming 5th graders from Mesquite ISD for docent-guided visits.  This isn’t a new program, though.  For the past twenty-five years, students from Mesquite ISD have been coming to the DMA for docent-guided visits of our collection.  When this partnership began in 1985, each 5th and 6th grade student received a tour that aligned with their classroom curriculum.  Over 2,100 Mesquite students toured the DMA that first year.  Since then, this partnership (and the district) have continued to grow.

Today, we see every 5th and 6th grade student, as well as every 7th and 8th grade art student, for a docent-guided visit that aligns with their curriculum.  For the 2009-2010 school year, that totals almost 6,800 students!  This partnership is affectionately known as Mesquite Week because in 1985 the visits did only last for one week.  It now takes five weeks for the Museum to be able to tour that many students. 

DMA Docent Susan Cuellar talks about The Icebergs with 5th graders from J.H. Florence Elementary

Mesquite ISD has a wonderful Fine Arts Coordinator, Debi Waltz, who makes these visits a success year after year.  Debi schedules each school’s visit, orders the buses, and works with us to decide which works of art students will see while they’re at the Museum.  She’s one of the most organized people I have ever met, and I don’t think Mesquite Week could happen without her. 

I recently learned that it was one of our docents, Susan Cuellar, who took on the task of coordinating Mesquite Week visits in 1985.  The district wanted students to have the same types of experiences with art that they were having with music, and they decided that they wanted their students to visit the DMA each year.  Susan wrote the tour outlines for that first year, and she continues to give Mesquite Week tours today.  She says that starting the Mesquite Week program is “one of the most exciting things I have ever done.”  We’re excited that this program is still going strong twenty-five years later.

Shannon Karol
Tour Coordinator

Skyway, JFK, What Else Do I Have to Say?

Published April 15, 2010 works of art 3 Comments
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Robert Rauschenberg, Skyway, 1964

One of my favorite works of art in the DMA’s collection is Robert Rauschenberg’s Skyway.  If you have dined in the Atrium Cafe, you have probably noticed Skyway hanging on the East wall.  It’s a very large work made of oil and silkscreen on canvas.  The canvas is covered with images of 1960s popular culture: astronauts, outer space, a freeway, construction equipment, and even a portrait of John F. Kennedy. 

Part of the reason that I love Skyway is because of Rauschenberg’s inclusion of Kennedy.  Ever since I was nine years old, I have been fascinated by JFK.  Between 4th and 10th grade, I did a report or presentation on JFK or his wife Jackie every year in school.  I don’t know what it is about them that I love–their youth, their glamour, his tragic death?  I think it’s probably a combination of all three.

With the Kennedys at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in Washington, D.C.

Skyway is also one of my favorite works of art because it is a visual time capsule of the 1960s.   This canvas was created to hang on the facade of the U.S. pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York.  It celebrates contemporary history, modernity, and the achievements of the United States.  We can look at this work of art and know what decade it represents based on the images that have been included. 

It’s also fun to think about what images would be included if a work of art like Skyway were to be created today.   Would we see Barack Obama?  Would we see symbols of new technology like the iPad or a flatscreen TV?  Would we see Miley Cyrus or Robert Pattinson, the icons of pop culture in 2010?  This is always a fun topic to explore with students on tours, and I always love hearing their responses.

To learn more about Skyway, or to explore other contemporary works of art in our collection, check out the Contemporary Art and Design online teaching materials.  You also need to come see Skyway at the Museum–it’s so much better in person!

Shannon Karol
Tour Coordinator

Get to Know a DMA Docent

Published April 1, 2010 People Closed
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If you have scheduled a docent-guided visit to the DMA, you already know how wonderful our docents are.  We have a corps of over one hundred volunteer docents who lead tours for K-12 and higher education students, as well as our adult visitors.  I recently talked with Lisa Jacquemetton to learn more about her experience as a DMA docent.

 
 

Docent Lisa Jacquemetton with Franz Kline's Slate Cross

How long have you been a DMA docent?
I am in the middle of my third year.

Why did you become a docent?
I had just finished my Masters in Liberal Arts at SMU and I loved that but I didn’t really want to take my formal education any further.  One of my friends was a docent, and she suggested that I contact Molly .  I became a docent primarily for the art history education, or so I thought.

Tell me about your experience in the docent program.
I’ve just loved it.  I have made all kinds of new friends with similar interests—fellow docents, educators, and even getting to know the curators has been fun.  I have learned much more than art history.  I’ve learned how to teach, I’ve learned a lot about comparative religion, science, world history– so much more than art history.  I’ve learned that I really love being around kids.  Who knew?

So what makes you love being around kids?
I think it’s seeing their reaction.  When you have a kid really get into a work of art, you see their faces light up, or at the end of the tour when they saw “aw, are we done” and you know that they want to keep going—it’s a high.

What is your favorite work of art in the DMA collection?
That’s like asking me what my favorite color is.  I’m partial to contemporary art and Abstract Expressionism.  My favorite, but it was just taken down, was The Eye by David Altmejd.  I also love Franz Kline’s Slate Cross—so dramatic, so powerful, and for me, so emotional.  I tend to react to art on an emotional level first, and that’s one of those pieces that makes me swoon.

Share your best tour experience.
The best tour experience I had was an Arts of the Americas tour last year.  First we headed to the elevators to go up to the 4th floor, and the reaction of these kids—they were so into it.  We went through the Ancient American galleries, looking at the Inca tunic first.  Then we looked at Xipe Totec, and I gave them the gory details, which they loved.  And then we ended at the Olafur Eliasson exhibition which was a huge hit. We ended up in the Room for One Color, and I gave them pieces of paper inside so they could decide what color it was.  One boy in my group was in a wheelchair and did not have fully formed foot, so he took off his sock and held his piece of paper between his toes.  (He wasn’t able to use his hands.)  When we came out, he was so into the whole experience.  And here’s the best part—the kids asked me for my autograph and I wrote it on their little pieces of colored paper.  I felt like a rock star.  It was the first and only time I’ve been asked for my autograph.  I practically flew home off my own energy that day.  When the kids react like that, that’s the best.

Shannon Karol
Tour Coordinator

Schedule Soon for the Spring

Published March 25, 2010 Museum Insight Closed
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It’s hard to believe that there are only a few months of school left.  The spring is always a very busy time for us, and this year is no exception.  This is a good opportunity to let you know what types of programs for students and teachers are still available for the 2009-2010 school year.

Go van Gogh
All Go van Gogh programs have been booked for the spring. 

Museum Visits
There are a limited number of times still available for docent-guided Museum visits.  Many of these slots are during the month of April, so this is the best time to bring your students to visit The Lens of Impressionism.  We have a very limited number of docent-guided openings in the month of May, and most of them are during the 1:00 p.m. time slot. 

If you are unable to schedule a docent-guided visit to the Museum, schedule a self-guided visit.  We have a self-guided tour resource available online that you can use to guide your students through the DMA.

To request a docent-guided or self-guided visit for your students, you will need to submit an Online Visit Request Form as soon as possible.  Remaining spaces will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Programs for Teachers
We will have two additional Thursday evening programs for teachers.  Visit our Web site to learn more.

We also have one more Teacher Workshop scheduled for this year.  Exploring Photography: The Lens of Impressionism is a two-part workshop offered on April 24th and May 1st.  Teachers will spend time in The Lens of Impressionism with Dr. Terry Barrett.  Photographer and educator Frank Lopez will also demonstrate the ambrotype process.  Reserve your spot now before remaining spaces fill.

We hope to see you and your students at the DMA this spring!

Shannon Karol
Tour Coordinator

Green Screen Fun

Published February 19, 2010 Friday Photos Closed
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The DMA Tech Lab is not only a great place to learn about works of art in our collection, but it’s also a fun space in which to explore new technology.  Last week, Nicole, Jenny, Melissa, Amy C., Logan, and I took photos in front of the new Tech Lab green screen.   I then used Adobe Premiere Elements to place us into some of my favorite works of art in the DMA collection.  Here we are in Isaac Soyer’s Art Beauty Shoppe, with Tom Friedman’s Untitled (big/small figure), jumping on the Gothic Bed, and popping out of David Altmejd’s The Eye.  Click on the photos below for a larger view.

If you would like to experiment with the green screen, visit us during Spring Break week–March 16–21.  Our friends in the Family Experiences department will be offering a variety of programs for families, including tours, storytelling, and green screen technology workshops.  Visit their website for more information.
Shannon Karol
Tour Coordinator

Jacob Lawrence, Toussaint L'Ouverture, and Connections to the DMA Collection

Published February 11, 2010 Art & Teaching Closed
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Last Saturday, Logan Acton and I led a teacher workshop focused on making connections between the exhibition Jacob Lawrence: The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture and other works of art in the DMA’s collection.  We began by looking closely at the fifteen prints in the exhibition–each teacher focused her attention on one screenprint.  It was fascinating to hear the teachers’ observations about the prints.  I tend to emphasize context and the “big picture,” and the teachers focused my attention on aspects like line, shape, and color.  As one of the teachers put it–“We see history through all of the images.  We see the art elements when we look at just one print.” 

The prints in this exhibition were created between 1986 and 1997 and are based on a series of 41 paintings made in 1938.  We compared and contrasted images of the original paintings with two of the prints in the exhibition.  Lawrence made significant changes in these prints, such as including a wound on the chest of a man that is not present in the 1938 painting.  We discussed why Lawrence may have made these changes and how they might alter our interpretation of the prints.

We couldn’t discuss General Toussaint L’Ouverture without also looking at Rembrandt Peale’s portrait of George Washington.  Both men are shown in uniform, and both led revolutions that were happening around the same time, resulting in their respective countries gaining independence.

We also spent time making connections between Jacob Lawrence and artists like Renee Stout, and Romare Bearden.    Bearden and Lawrence were contemporaries, and both were very interested in showing scenes from African American life and history in their artworks.   Renee Stout is a contemporary artist who is inspired by African works of art, such as nkisi, and creates her own power figures. 

 If you would like to learn more about Jacob Lawrence and Toussaint L’Ouverture, I hope you’ll attend the Arts and Letters Live program on March 4th at 7:30 p.m., featuring Samella Lewis and Madison Smartt Bell.  I will lead a program for teachers in the exhibition beginning at 6:30 p.m. that evening.  We’ll explore the exhibition together before joining the program in the Horchow Auditorium.  I hope to see you on March 4th! 

Shannon Karol
Tour Coordinator

A Day in the Life of the Tour Coordinator

Published January 22, 2010 Friday Photos Closed
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Today’s “Photo Post” gives you a behind the scenes look at a typical day for me.  I spend a lot of time at my desk communicating with teachers (and docents) over the phone and email.  But I also like to greet students as they come into the Museum–nothing beats hearing their “oohs” and “aahs” as they see the Barrel Vault for the first time!   Happy Friday, everyone! 

Shannon Karol
Tour Coordinator

Buses lined up on Harwood Street--it was a busy day for tours!

Some of our wonderful docents waiting for their group to arrive

Thanks for visiting, Pearson Elementary!

My desk--I like to call this Tour Schedule Still Life

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