Docent Resource Guide
Revised 2017 Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Docent Resource Guide
Welcome to the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts
Docent Resource Guide
2 Docent Resource Guide Table of Contents
KIA and Docent Mission Statements and Goals 5
KIA and Docent Histories 7
Docent By Laws 13
KIA Fast Facts 17
Museum Job Descriptions 19
KIA Emergency Procedures 21
KIA Tour Guidelines and Procedures 25 Emergency Procedures Tour Procedures Post-Tour Self-Evaluation
Tour Techniques 31 Touring Adults Ways to Say “Don’t Touch” Talking About Nudity Visitors With Special Needs School Children: Vocabulary, Ages, and Stages Inquiry Methods and Interactive Activities
Art Reference: Vocabulary and Art Movements 47 www.kiarts.org, Wiki page
Building and Gallery Map 61
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KIA Mission Statements and Goals
Do-cent (n.) from the Latin “do-cere” 1: a teacher or lecturer 2: a person who conducts groups through a museum or art gallery
KIA Belief Statement: Mission and Goals The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts is a leading nonprofit art museum and school. Since 1924, the institute has offered art classes, exhibitions, lectures, events, activities, and a permanent collection. The KIA's mission is to cultivate the creation and appreciation of the visual arts in West Michigan. We believe the visual arts are for everyone. They inspire, fulfill, and transform. Throughout the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, numerous individuals work every day to enrich the lives of others through the visual arts. In addition, faculty members in the Kirk Newman Art School instruct students of all ages in a wide variety of media. KIA Educational Philosophy: The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Museum Education Program works to cultivate curiosity and interest in, as well as knowledge of the visual arts in our visitors.
5 Docent Resource Guide Docent Mission Statement KIA Docent Mission Statement: The mission of the KIA docents is to aid visitors of all ages and abilities to enjoy the experience of the museum, appreciate and understand works of art. We achieve this through programs and materials that develop our audience’s ability to: Describe, analyze, interpret, and evaluate works of art. Construct meaningful questions for investigation. Discuss and analyze information discovered. Appreciate art from different time periods and cultures. Be aware of creativity, imagination, and expressiveness found in visual art. Become regular museum visitors and supporters of the arts. Docents meet these objectives by designing tours according to the educational objectives of each group, using a variety of techniques including inquiry-based discussions and hands-on activities to keep visitors actively engaged. Above all, we want visitors to have enjoyable museum experiences, feel comfortable in the galleries, and make personal connections with the objects. Docents Must Have: A love of learning. The ability to relate to people. Be friendly and visible as ambassadors for the KIA to the community. The ability to gather and organize information in a style appropriate for teaching and sharing. Docent Benefits and Privileges: Gain new insights and information about current exhibitions and the KIA collection. Gain additional knowledge from visiting scholars, curators, jurors, and artists. Share fellowship with other KIA docents and docents nationwide. Experience the joy involved with opening up the world of art to visitors of all ages. Share information with other docents through study groups and trips to other museums. Use of the KIA Library, including books, videos, and other educational materials. Receive monthly newsletter announcing educational opportunities, trips, and docent business.
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KIA and Docent Histories studio art. Visiting instructors included Judson Smith, George Rickey and Philip Evergood. 1933: The Board of Education reduced funding for the museum, although they offered the use of the space. The Curator’s salary and all other expenses were covered by a small endowment, gifts and membership fees. The KIA continued to use the house for the next 1924: The Kalamazoo Chapter of the 11 years, receiving annual requests to vacate American Federation of Arts is incorporated the premises from the Board of Education. into the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. Its first 1934: Diego Rivera is the first of many location was a rented room in the old YWCA lecturers including Thomas Hart Benton, Frank on Rose Street. Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. Exhibitions 1928: KIA affiliates with the Board of included Picasso, Klee, Japanese prints and Education and moves with the Kalamazoo ceramics. Annual area exhibitions, student Library and Public Museum into the old Peck exhibits, and shows by local artists helped Mansion, 335 S. Rose St. promote and encourage both new and 1930: Due to overcrowding, the KIA and established artists. Public Museum move into the Kauffer House 1947: KIA moves from Kauffer House after at 347 S. Rose St. W.E. Upjohn provided purchasing the American Legion building at $40,000 towards its purchase with the Board of 421 W. South St. The large Victorian mansion Education supplying the remaining $20,000. enabled the KIA to expand exhibitions as well After modest renovations, Mr. A.M. Todd as programs in studio art and art appreciation. placed paintings from his collection in the 1951: The Clothesline Fair, now the Annual rooms on the first floor and the upper floor was Arts Fair, begins in Bronson Park. The fair turned over to the KIA. The arrangement began as an art show to provide an opportunity between the KIA and Board of Education for local artists to exhibit and sell their work. It included space for exhibits, classes and other has grown into a juried show which now brings activities as well as the services of a curator. artists from across the U.S. and Canada. As activities for the KIA consumed more of 1955: The Kalamazoo Art League is founded the curator’s time, the idea of a unified to provide auxiliary art enrichment. Museum of Arts, Science and History was 1956: W. E. Upjohn estate makes a gift to the abandoned and the union with the Board of Kalamazoo Foundation of 500 shares of Education was dissolved. Upjohn Company stock for the benefit of the 1931: KIA begins offering art classes to both KIA. In 1958, the Foundation announces the children and adults. By 1932, the local Palette establishment of a $500,000 endowment. Mr. and Chisel Club, whose members promoted and Mrs. Donald S. Gilmore announce their adult classes in the visual arts, joined with the intended gift of an art center building. KIA to provide a strong, unified program of 1960s: New $1 million Art Center, designed
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by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, opens with 1982: Candidate classes were formed every a staff of 15. Over the next 30 years space other year, and a formal 18-month curriculum becomes scarce as the exhibition schedule, was designed including media, art history, tour school offerings, outreach services, and techniques, observations and practice tours. museum education programs, as well as staff Active docents were requested to come to continued to increase. The building was in training sessions for each new exhibit and need of a renovation to improve the air study groups were formed for further handling system, upgrade the school class- enrichment. Organized trips also became part rooms, and accommodate new technology. The of continuous learning. The first Docent Friends of Art, a fund-raising arm of the KIA Council was formed with Peggy Strong as was also responsible for tour requests. Marge President and Marcia Kalb as Secretary. The Meyer scheduled volunteer guides to give tours KIA Board of Directors agreed that the of the building. Informational cards were President of the Council should represent the distributed to the guides. docents on the Board. 1975: Peggy Strong began a group called 1985: Linda Young was hired as Education Gallery Greeters so that visitors would feel Coordinator and attends National Docent welcome at the KIA. Greeters spent afternoons Symposium to present a workshop on the at a desk in the back gallery. ARTist Program as a school-community 1976: Millie Pritchard hired as part-time collaboration. Total attendance for tours that Librarian, Public Relations and Tour year was 3,480. Coordinator. 1990: James A. Bridenstine becomes 1979: The Upjohn Company offered funds to Executive Director of the KIA. Linda Young
bring 5th graders from the Kalamazoo Public is promoted to Curator of Education. Schools. This was the beginning of the ARTist 1994-97: Power of Art campaign kicked off Program, a two-hour visit including a gallery with a goal of raising $12.5 million dollars for tour and hands-on studio project. The program the expansion and renovation project. Peggy eventually expanded to include all Kalamazoo Strong represents the Midwest Docents on the County schools. Some of the Friends/Gallery National Docent Symposium Council. Tour Greeters stayed to become ―docents.‖ attendance grows to 6,778. Instructors for docents were KIA school 1997-98: Construction begins under direction faculty and staff as well as educators from of Boston architectural firm, Ann Beha and other museums, colleges, and universities. Associates. The staff and gallery spaces 1980: Millie Pritchard became Education and relocated to 458 South Street. Classes were Information Coordinator. Peggy Strong taught held at community sites throughout the county. an art history survey course and a six-week No touring due to KIA renovations. Docents training in various media as part of basic spend the year studying American art history docent training. and the permanent collection in preparation for 1981: Millie Pritchard and Peggy Strong touring in the new building. In June 1998, the attend the National Docent Symposium school wing reopens and classes resume. In in Milwaukee. September, the new facility was opened to the 8 KIA and Docent Histories Docent Resource Guide
public. All About Art tour program begins Fall American West: Adams and Muybridge; 1998. Michelle Burkhead hired as Assistant Journey to Freedom; Punch’s Progress: A Curator of Education. Century of American Puppetry; Memory, 1999: KIA celebrates its 75th anniversary and Struggle, Affirmation: The KIA African- hosts its first ticketed exhibition, A Taste for American Arts Initiative. Splendor. New guidelines and handbook 2003: All About Art Tours are revised to drafted. Docents attend monthly education ARTventures Tours, featuring more thematic sessions and give 18 tours a year. The Docent based tours, with connections to Michigan Council now consists of a President, Vice Education Benchmarks. Docent numbers top President, Past President, Secretary, Trip Chair, 45 active docents with the graduation of 12 Study Group Chair and Historian. new docents. Candidate Docent Training 2000-01: Linda Young promoted to Director reduced to nine months. Tour numbers break of Museum Education, Michelle Burkhead is 10,000. Exhibition highlights: Jun Kaneko: now Associate Curator of Education. Tour Ceramics/Paintings; American Legacy: 300 numbers break 8,000. Emeritus Docent Years of American Art; The Searle Collection category established. Exhibitions highlights: of Contemporary Art; A David Small World. Testimony: Vernacular Art of the African- 2004: KIA hosts Millet to Matisse, a summer American South; 20th Century Drawings from ticketed exhibition that brings in over 47,000 Arkansas Arts Center; Your Dr. Speaks: visitors. Docents host over 70 docents from Pharmacia Corporate Collection; Going Southwestern Michigan and Northern Indiana Home: The Art of David Diaz; The Artist as at the first Michiana Docent Forum in October. Explorer: Prints by Catlin and Bodmer. Tour numbers break 11,000 with Millet to 2001-02: In 2002, American Legacy: 300 Matisse: 19th and 20th Century French Years of American Art installed as a two-year Paintings from the Kelvingrove in Summer exhibition of American paintings from the 2004. Other exhibition highlights: Pursuits and Detroit Institute of Arts and the Manoogian Pleasures: Baroque Paintings from the DIA; Collection. A collection of Pre-Columbian art Gerald Brockhurst Retrospective; Tim Rollins from Mary and Edwin Meader is gifted as well and K.O.S. (Kids of Survival). as Oceanic works from Richard Manoogian. 2005: KIA organizes Chihuly in Kalamazoo, Cases are built in the Long Gallery to its most ambitious and popular exhibition to accommodate these gifts. Linda Young leaves date, bringing in over 59,000 visitors. Docent
KIA. Maryjo Lemanski is now Director of 25th (Silver) Anniversary is celebrated with a Museum Education. Susan Eckhardt is hired as party that brings together past and present Curator of Education. Education Liaison and docents as well as a display of docent artwork. Candidate Docent Liaison positions added to Maryjo Lemanski leaves the KIA in January. the Council. Docents tour A Bountiful Plenty: Susan Eckhardt is promoted to Director of Folk Art from the Shelburne Museum, the Museum Education and Michelle Stempien is KIA’s second ticketed exhibition. Other promoted to Curator of Education. Exhibition exhibition highlights: Splendors of the highlights: Worlds Collide; Toko Shinoda;
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Second Sight/Insight: Poets Look at Art; In 2009: KIA hosts Georgia O’Keeffe and Her Good Company: Selections from Bank One; Times: American Modernism from the Lane Luis Jimenez. Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, 2006: KIA acquires the First Church of Christ Boston. Both Spared from the Storm and the Scientist, located at 414 S. Park St. which Georgia O’Keeffe exhibitions were considered becomes known as 414. Discussion begins as excellent quality but ticket sales do not match to the building’s future. Docents tour Chihuly Millet to Matisse or Chihuly in Kalamazoo. in Kalamazoo which exceeds all attendance KIA hosts the second annual meeting of the records (59,000) followed by Goodnight Moon W. Michigan Art Museum docents. The to Art Dog. Tour numbers break 12,000, an Museum Education department launches a new all-time record. Annual Girl Scout program preschool tour program that is theme-based started in memory of Docent Laurie Pierce. and features a storybook and optional art Graduated new class of docents. Other project. KIA partners with the Michigan exhibition highlights: Kirk Newman: The Next Humanities Council on their statewide Step; Tea Time: The Art of the Teapot. ―Picturing America‖ funding initiative. 2007: Lorna Simpson, a mid-career Exhibition highlights: Picturing Health, retrospective exhibition featuring photo/text Norman Rockwell and the Art of Illustration. and video installations by this important 2010: KIA organizes its first ―garage sale‖, a contemporary artist is the featured summer two-day event during Art Fair. Because of a exhibition. Docents tour unusual exhibits: generous gift, the KIA opens the new Joy Magic and Intrigue: Mexican Masks, A Light Gallery for Asian Art, located in the Parallel World: Small Scale Houses and lower level in the site of the previous Miniatures, The Car as Art and Lorna ARTworks Interactive Gallery. The Upjohn Simpson. Tour numbers are steady. A new Mason Grandchildren Interactive Gallery is position is added to the Docent Council: redesigned and moved to a completely new Member-at-Large. space. Both galleries open in September. The 2008: Vicki Wright is hired as Director of Joy Light Fund for Asian Art also supports Collections and Exhibitions. The KIA hosts its purchasing Asian art for the KIA collection as fifth ticketed exhibition: Spared from the well as other Asian-related exhibitions and Storm: Masterworks from the New Orleans programs. Docents begin to learn about Asian Museum of Art. First meeting of the KIA, art. KIA Docents celebrate its 30th (Pearl) Muskegon and Grand Rapids docents in anniversary. The W. MI Art Museum Docents Muskegon. This becomes an annual event that gather at the new Grand Rapids Art Museum. switches between the three museums. A new Docents Christina Griffin and Ann Marks class of KIA docents graduates in June. attend the National Docent Symposium in Fall Exhibition highlights: Gus Foster and Ando 2009, Toronto, Ontario. Exhibition highlights: Hiroshige: The Tokaido Road; Jacob Speed Bump: The Comic World of Dave Lawrence: Prints, 1963-2000; The Figure Coverly; Embracing Diverse Voices: African- Revealed: Contemporary American Figurative American Art in the KIA Collection; The Art of Paintings and Drawings. Warner Bros. Cartoons; Woodcuts in Modern
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China, 1938-2008; Fear and Folly: Goya and collection; In Focus: National Geographic’s Castellon in the KIA Collection; On Paper: Greatest Portraits; and Yousuf Karsh: The Lincoln Center/List Art Collection. Regarding Heroes. 2011: KIA organizes and hosts the ticketed 2012-13: KIA display more than 120 original exhibition, The Wyeths: America’s Artists drawings from some of the world’s best known which brings in approximately 17,000 visitors. children’s book illustrators in Fantastic KIA Art Fair expands to two full days and Rumpus: 50 Years of Children’s Book celebrates its 60th anniversary. The almost Illustration. Birds from John James Audubon 4000 works in the collection have been and Video Art by Lee-nam Lee also graced the purchased or received as gifts from KIA walls. In 2012-13, the KIA Docents swell their friends and members, including Mr. and Mrs. numbers with a new class of candidate docents Donald S. Gilmore, long-time Kalamazoo joining the ranks of active docents. The philanthropists. During their lifetimes and in Muskegon docents celebrated their 100th bequest, the Gilmores gave 233 works. Each anniversary as hosts for the Annual Docent year, the KIA added works by both nationally Gathering. There was further development in known and regional artists of established our Touch tours for the Visually Impaired and reputation as part of our emphasis on Connections: Tours for Adults with Memory contemporary art. The KIA is also sensitive to Loss this year. Exhibition highlights: Double the need to reflect the area’s ethnic diversity in Take, Arts from Japan and China, Tiffany, its collection. To this end, the KIA continued to Environmental Impact, Cultural Encounters: add works by recognized African-American, Art from India, Burma, and Tibet, Inside Hispanic, Native American and Asian artists to Steinway: Photos from Chris Payne, and BOO! the collection, in addition to organizing and Images of the Macabre. presenting exhibitions reflecting the significant 2014-15: KIA celebrates its 90th anniversary fine arts contributions of these constituencies. with promotions and the exhibit, Lasting Museum Education starts developing new tour Legacy. Jim Bridenstine stepped down as initiatives: Touch tours for the Visually Executive Director of the KIA. Belinda Tate is Impaired, Connections: Tours for Adults with brought on to replace him. The KIA celebrated Memory Loss, and tours based on the NEH one of America’s most influential designers, Picturing America Program. Jerre James Louis Comfort Tiffany, (1848-1933) in three attends National Docent Symposium in San exhibits. Inside Steinway: Photographs from Francisco. KIA again hosts the W. MI Art Chris Payne showed an inside look in the Museum Docents during the Wyeth exhibition Steinway and Sons piano factory in Astoria, so Muskegon can host in 2012 during their NY. In September 2015, the National Docent 100th anniversary. Exhibition highlights: Symposium was held in Cincinnati. Along with Beauty Amid Thunder: Two Centuries of Michelle Stempien, KIA docents Frank Wolf Chinese Art; Strong Women, Beautiful Men: and Tracy Klinesteker presented, ―Engaging Japanese Prints from Toledo Museum of Art; Through Touch: Tours for the Visually Ukiyo-e Redux: Contemporary Japanese Prints Impaired.‖ Docents Jan Wolf and Norma from former docent Christina and Bill Collins’ Strong also attended the conference. The
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Annual Docent Gathering was held at GRAM Coordinator, join the KIA family. The Annual in the spring of 2015. Two new pieces were Docent Gathering was held at GRAM in the acquired for our Touch Tour collection: spring of 2016. In 2016, another piece for Kulane, by Paul Ponchillia, and The Art Ark by our Touch Tours was acquired, Head by Steve Curl. Exhibition highlights: Common Jana Hanka. Ground: African-American Art from Flint, 2015-16: The 2016-17 class of docents will KIA, and Muskegon museums, Adaptation: complete training and become a welcome Transforming Books into Art, Second Sight/ addition to our ranks. The KIA hosts Insight: a poetry/art exhibition, and Wired and Muskegon and GRAM docents for the annual Wrapped: Sculpture by Seungmo Park. gathering in May. Art Lab tours were added to 2015-16: KIA features exhibitions from the the list of programs. Exhibition highlights: permanent collection of nearly 4,700 objects, Barbara Takenaga: Waiting in the Sky II, including American painting, European and Poetry of Content: Five Contemporary American prints and photographs, and Representational Artists, Out of Fire: Pre-Columbian gold. Laura Wilson joins the Masterworks of Ceramics, Pressed For Time: KIA as Tate’s admin secretary. Candie History of Printmaking, and Impressions: Waterloo is hired as Assistant Curator of Youth Printmaking in Japan in the Asian Gallery. & Family Programs. Cindy Kole, Director of Later in 2017, we welcome Kay Walkingstick: Advancement, Cindy Trout, Membership An American Artist. Manager, and Carianne Zomonski, Events
12 Docent Resource Guide Docent By Laws Article 1 Description of Program few active docents, the candidate The name of this organization is the Volunteer docent may begin to guide tours Docents of the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. immediately following completion of The KIA Docent Program operates on a the candidate year. nine-month (September-May) schedule. 3. The candidate docent must agree to a Participation in the program during the minimum two-year commitment to the summer is optional, but greatly welcomed as Docent Program. requests for tours continue June-August. The 4. Candidate docents must become program is open to both men and women who members of the KIA, if not already can give a minimum two-year commitment. members. The Docent Program maintains a volunteer B. An Active Docent conducts tours of the force of approximately 40 members. All collection and special exhibitions and active and candidate docents are required to helps with special programs. be members of the Kalamazoo Institute 1. Service as an active docent shall follow of Arts. directly upon successful completion of Article 2 Education Department the candidate training requirements as Mission Statement specified above. Active docents must The mission of the KIA docents is to aid maintain active status for at least visitors of all ages to enjoy the experience of two years. the museum, appreciate and understand works 2. Active docents are expected to attend all of art. monthly education trainings or to catch up on material missed. Absences must be Article 3 Membership reported to Museum Education staff in I. Classification of Members: Candidate, advance, if possible. Active, Inactive and Emeritus. 3. A goal of at least 18 tour hours a year A. Candidate Docent is an accepted applicant is expected, however, this may be who is in training. determined and adjusted by the needs 1. The candidate docent must complete of the institution, and the availability of all training requirements including each docent. attendance at two to three training 4. It is the responsibility of each docent to sessions/month for nine months, maintain his/her volunteer record by successful completion of all written and recording all tours, other volunteer time oral assignments as well as tour and special events on Docent Time shadowing and practice tours. Sheets, on paper, or online. Exceptions shall be made only upon 5. Active docents must maintain a high recommendation of the Museum standard of excellence and demonstrate Education staff. strong knowledge of exhibitions, the 2. It is the responsibility of the candidate collection and tour techniques. docent to maintain his/her volunteer 6. Active docents must maintain their KIA record. After pairing and shadowing a membership. 13 Docent By Laws Docent Resource Guide
C. An Inactive Docent has been granted a A. The purpose of the Docent Council is to leave of absence for a period not to exceed establish policies regarding membership, one year. training, and special activities in 1. To be eligible for inactive status, an cooperation with the Museum active docent must provide service to the Education staff. program for a minimum of two years. B. The Council shall be composed of the 2. An inactive docent may attend training following: President, Vice President, sessions and events and shall receive Secretary, Past-President, Education mailings during the time of his/her leave Liaison, New Docent Liaison, Historian, of absence. At-Large Member, Curator of Education, 3. A leave of absence must be requested in as well as the chairs of standing (trips/ writing and submitted to the Curator of study groups) and special committees. Education. Docents must indicate a C. The Docent Council shall hold regular return to active status at the conclusion meetings. The Council President will of the leave. schedule meetings at regular intervals D. An Emeritus/Emerita Docent has retired during the touring year. from active docent service but remains a D. A simple majority of Council members member of the docent corps. present shall constitute a quorum. 1. An active docent may achieve Emerita/ II. Election, Terms of Office, Vacancy Emeritus status after 10 years of service. A. The President shall appoint a nominating Any exception must be made by vote of committee to present a slate of officers to the Docent Council and approval of the Docent Council for approval. Museum Education staff. B. Notice of the nominating process shall be 2. Emeriti Docents may attend all training announced at an education session and sessions and events and shall receive published in the docent newsletter so that mailings. interested docents may self-submit. 3. Emeriti Docents have the option to tour C. Selection of officers shall be completed in special exhibitions, serve on committees June; terms begin in August. and assist the Docent corps in D. The term of office shall typically be for other capacities. one year for President, Vice President, II. Resignation: Any member wishing to Past-President and New Docent Liaison. resign may do so by giving written notice to Other positions such as Secretary, the Docent Council. All Docents must Historian, Education Liaison, At-Large complete two years of service before Member and chairs of various standing submitting their resignation. committees such as Trips and Study Article 4 Administration Groups may be renewed by agreement I. Docent Council: The organizational body between the individual and the for the docent program shall be named the Docent Council. Docent Council.
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E. The Docent Council shall appoint a 2. Historian records special events through replacement for any office vacated during photographs and other documentation. the year. F. Education Liaison III. Council Duties/Responsibilities 1. Education Liaison represents the A. President Education Committee to the Council. 1. President schedules and presides over all 2. Education Liaison and committee works council meetings. with Museum Education Staff to develop 2. President represents the Docent Council tour aids and other new approaches to on the KIA Board of Directors. help the docents fulfill their mission. B. Vice President G. New Docent Liaison 1. Vice President organizes special events 1. New Docent Liaison represents the most including Holiday Brunch and Spring recent graduating docent class during luncheon. their first year as active docents. 2. Vice President presides at Council H. At Large Member meetings in the President’s absence. 1. At-Large Member will be a voting 3. Vice President becomes President member on the council. immediately following the one-year 2. At-Large Member is eligible to move VP term. into other council positions after C. Secretary one year. 1. Secretary takes minutes of all Council I. Standing Committees Meetings. 1. There shall be standing and special 2. Secretary sends cards of condolence, get committees as deemed necessary by well, etc. on behalf of the docents. the Council. D. Past-President 2. The chairs of these committees shall be 1. Past-President provides advice and appointed annually by the Incoming counsel to the current President. President and serve as voting members of 2. Past-President attends all council the Docent Council. meetings in an advisory capacity. IV. By-Law Review: The Docent Council E. Historian shall review and amend, if necessary, the 1. Historian maintains the Docent by-laws every three years. scrapbook and other historical records.
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16 Docent Resource Guide KIA Fast Facts Hours of Operation: Galleries and Gallery Shop are open Tues.-Sat. 10:00 am-5:00 pm; Sun. 12:00-5:00 pm. Museum is closed on Mondays and Sundays from July through Labor Day. Kirk Newman Art School is open during museum hours, evenings and weekends. Library is open Tues.-Thurs. 11-3 pm, Sat., 11-3 pm, closed Fridays, Sundays, Mondays, and major holidays. Administrative offices open Monday-Friday 8:00-5:00 pm. Founded in 1924, the KIA is a private, non-profit organization led by an elected Board of Directors. Annual revenue comes from membership, gifts, grants and bequests as well as tuition and fees, exhibit and program sponsorships, art sales, special fund-raising events and endowment income. The original building was designed by Chicago architecture firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, 1961. A 33,000 sq. ft. addition designed by Ann Beha and Associates, was completed in 1998. The KIA Collection contains around 4500 works: prints, paintings, photographs, sculpture and ceramics. Collecting emphasis is 20th-century American art. Other collecting interests: German Expressionism, 19th-20th-century European and American painting, as well as Pre-Columbian, Oceanic and African artifacts. In 2010, the Joy Light Gallery for Asian Art opened which features rotating exhibitions of Korean, Japanese and Chinese art. Collection galleries are located on the lower level and contain long term installations as well as rotating thematic exhibitions. The Upjohn-Mason Grandchildren Interactive Gallery encourages learning about the KIA Collection through high and low-tech interactive stations. Special exhibition galleries are located on the first floor. The temporary exhibitions are selected with the advice of exhibition committee and may include touring exhibitions, exhibitions drawn from the collection, one-person and group shows as well as juried competitive exhibitions. Museum Education Programs and Services KIA Library: Fine arts research library with books, videos, periodicals and vertical file information. Plus on-line catalog, electronic resources, and image databases. Materials circulate to KIA members. Adult programs: ARTbreak-weekly program of discussions, lectures, videos, demonstrations. Regular Thursday Evening Programs includes lectures, demonstrations and films (Unreeled Film Series). Get The Picture (1x/month) engage guests with one to two works in the KIA Collection. Tours: For pre-school–adult groups on topics related to temporary exhibitions and the KIA collection. By reservation only. Art Lab tours include a hands-on activity (free for all 3rd-5th graders, fee for others). Touch Art Tours for the Visually Impaired and Connections: Tours for Adults with Memory Loss. Adult tours have a $5/person admission fee, college students are $2/person, and school tours remain free. There is a $2 per docent fee for college and adult tours. 17 KIA Fast Facts Docent Resource Guide
Other programs: student art exhibitions, Family events, Teen Filmmaker Festival, and Portfolio Day as well as lectures and exhibition-related events. KIA Kirk Newman Art School Classes for adults, children and special needs groups offered in ceramics, painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, digital and still photography, graphic design, jewelry, weaving and other media. Weekend and week-long workshops are led by nationally recognized artists. Class listings and registration available on-line. Special Programs/Events Arts Fair - Volunteer-organized juried art fair in Bronson Park the first Friday and Saturday in June. Holiday Sale - Features ceramics, paintings, works on paper, sculpture and jewelry by school staff and students. The first Saturday in December. Art Hop - First Fridays of the month series of music, art and socializing. Gallery Shop Sells unique gifts and specialty items related to the KIA collection and special exhibitions. Website Up-to-date information on exhibitions, programs, and events at www.kiarts.org
18 Docent Resource Guide Museum Job Descriptions Executive Director Registrar) to store, install and ship artworks as Provides conceptual leadership through needed. Responsible for hanging and installing specialized knowledge of the financial artwork in gallery as well as production and discipline of the museum and is responsible for mounting of text panels and related policy-making, management, fundraising (with interpretive materials. Development and governing Board), directing Director of Education/Curator of and/or supervising and coordinating activities Education/Asst. Curator of Youth through staff. & Family Programs Advancement Director Develops, implements, evaluates and/or Responsible for fundraising–including supervises the museum’s educational programs sponsorships, grants and grant writing, with the goal of facilitating access to and and fundraising events. Oversees other understanding/interpretation of the museum’s development activities including membership, collections and resources. Programs may planned giving as well as public relations/ encompass educational exhibitions, printed promotion and volunteer services. materials such as self-guides, classes, tours, Director of Collections and Exhibitions demonstrations, films, lectures, special family (Curator)/Assistant Curator events, workshops, teacher training programs, Specialist in an academic discipline relevant to school and other outreach programs as well as museum’s collection. Directly responsible for docent training. care and academic interpretation of objects, Librarian materials and specimens belonging or lent to Maintains art research facility including artist the museum; makes recommendations for files, video and slide library as well an acquisition, de-accession, attribution, and ever-expanding collection of books, authentication. Researches the collection and periodicals, and other research materials, responsible for publishing the results of that including electronic resources. Materials research. Also has administrative and/or circulate to staff and museum members. exhibition responsibilities and should be Specialized Services sensitive to sound conservation practices. There are many administrative and technical Registrar services necessary for the functioning of a Responsible for creating, organizing and museum. While each individual must be maintaining forms, legal documents, files and skilled in a specific area, such a person must retrieval systems associated with the also understand the application of these skills following: acquisitions, accessioning, in the museum context and be aware of the cataloging, loans, packing, shipping, inventory, philosophy and ethics that should govern insurance and storage, pursuant to the care, actions in this context. Some of those who custody and control of the objects in perpetuity. provide specialized services are: Secretarial/ Preparator Clerical/Support Staff, Facilities Staff, Security Coordinates with other museum staff (such as and Personnel/ Bookkeeping staff. Director of Collections and Exhibitions and 19 Docent Resource Guide
20 Docent Resource Guide KIA Emergency Procedures EMERGENCY INSTRUCTIONS the South Street parking lot. Do not assume the For all emergencies impacting the building situation is a drill or a false alarm. Do not and/or the artworks located in the building, reenter the building until instructed to do so. call the Director of Facilities, the Director of During a thunderstorm or lighting storm, stay Exhibitions and Collections, and the indoors and away from electrical equipment, Executive Director. telephones, televisions, metal pipes, water
Title Director of Facilities faucets and sinks. Name Ron Boothby During a tornado warning, stay indoors and take shelter in the east/west lower level Work Phone 269-349-7775 x3170 hallway near the elevator. Persons with Cell phone 269-532-0935 mobility challenges can seek shelter in the Pager 269-232-0184 lobby level restrooms. During a severe winter storm or blizzard, staff Title Director of Exhibitions and members should not travel. Collections Remember: Name Report the fire first; do not try to put it out Work phone 269-349-7775 x first. If you are in immediate danger, Work email evacuate first, then report the fire. Cell phone Know where the nearest fire extinguisher Home email is located. Do not try to extinguish the fire if it is Title Executive Director larger than a small garbage can. Always keep your back to your Name Belinda Tate escape route. Work phone 269-349-7775 x3120 Active Shooter Procedures Work email [email protected] (The following is adapted from the Department Cell phone 336-817-3253 of Homeland Security's Active Shooter: How to Staff Do’s and Don’ts Respond booklet, https://www.dhs.gov/ In an emergency it is important to keep in mind xlibrarv/assets/active shooter booklet.pdf) that human safety is always the highest An Active Shooter is an individual actively priority. No actions should be taken to protect engaged in killing or attempting to kill people or salvage the collections that might endanger in a confined and populated area; in most cases human safety, and damaged collections should active shooters use firearms and there is no be addressed only after injuries have been pattern or method to their selection of victims. attended to and the building is secure for Active shooter situations are unpredictable and people to enter. evolve quickly. Typically, the immediate In the case of an alarm, fire, gas leak, or deployment of law enforcement is required to sewage backup, all persons are required to stop the shooting and mitigate harm to victims. evacuate the building and preferably gather in Because active shooter situations are often over 21 KIA Emergency Procedures Docent Resource Guide within 10 to 15 minutes, before law do so. Assist anyone who requires help in enforcement arrives on the scene, individuals leaving the building. must be prepared both mentally and physically Evacuate in an orderly fashion according to deal with an active shooter situation. to the evacuation routes that have How to respond when an active shooter is in been established. your vicinity: Move away from the building to the South 1. If there is an accessible escape path, Street parking lot. Be sure not to block the evacuate the premises. street, driveway, or entrances. 2. If evacuation is not possible, find a place to Do not reenter the building until instructed hide where the active shooter is less likely to do so. to find you. Do not use cell phones to call family or 3. As a last resort and only when your life is friends until after you have exited the in immediate danger, take action against building safely. the active shooter. Emergency Evacuation Procedure during Protecting People during an Emergency: Special Events Evacuation of Staff, Students, and Patrons In the event that an alarm or disaster/severe In the case of an emergency, the Executive weather emergency occurs during a special Director, Head of Security, Mark Watson, the event, the following steps will be followed by Director of Facilities, or other personnel on KIA staff: duty at the time of the emergency must 1. The event manager (designated KIA determine how to best protect staff and patrons contact in charge of the event, a renter and/ by implementing one or more of the four or the Education Curator) will follow the following incident management protocols: directions of the Disaster Team Leader and 1. Evacuation should at all times have access to a cell 2. Room Clear Procedures phone in order to receive emergency alerts 3. Reverse Evacuation or to report emergencies. 4. Shelter in Place 2. KIA staff will determine the level of danger and direct procedures. Evacuation Procedures In the case of an alarm, fire, gas leak or 3. If the event must be stopped, the following sewage backup, all persons are required to procedures will be followed: evacuate the building. a. Inform internal staff first (security, General Procedures: facilities, receptionist, etc.) and designate staff to assist event attendees Remain calm. to the nearest exit or safety zone. Always respond to an evacuation order. Do not assume the situation is a drill or a b. Use the public address system to read false alarm. script to instruct everyone to move immediately and in an orderly fashion Remember that human safety is always the highest priority. to the nearest exit or safety zone. 4. Assembly Area: Staff, docents, patrons, Turn off electrical equipment if it is safe to and students should gather in the following 22 KIA Emergency Procedures Docent Resource Guide
location after an evacuation: Persons Needing Emergency Medical a. If possible, exit the building via the Assistance: If someone appears to need urgent South Street entrance. Proceed across medical assistance: the street to the South Street parking lot. Call 911 immediately and describe the If it is not possible to exit the South exact location of the injured person in Street entrance, use the nearest, safest the building. exit and proceed to the South Street If the person is responsive, ask if the parking lot. person has an emergency contact or b. Move students to the multipurpose room physician who should be notified. or an alternate classroom. Send another student, chaperone, docent or c. In the galleries, gallery guards should staff person to notify the department head limit guests to other gallery spaces not on site or the front desk for assistance. The impacted by the emergency or to other Head of Security is trained in CPR. The public areas. Head of Security will also interface with d. During special events, the staff in emergency personnel once on-site. charge of the event can direct guests Remain with the person until help is to the auditorium, lobby or courtyard found. Direct others to move to an as appropriate. alternate location. Reverse Evacuation: Return to the Building: Reassure the injured person, but do not In most instances, a reverse evacuation will verbally apologize for or accept require the reverse execution of the evacuation responsibility for the accident. duties and procedures, including: Faculty must manage all classroom The Disaster Response Team Leader or the emergencies for their area of responsibility, Director of Facilities will issue an "all clear" administer first aid and obtain medical notice to inform staff that the threat or assistance for students when possible. incident no longer exists, remind everyone Procedures for managing emergencies are to remain calm and provide instructions for posted in each classroom. For minor resuming normal operations. scrapes and cuts, first-aid kits are located in The facilities staff, gallery guards and the School Registrar and Security offices. receptionist will re-enter the building first; the receptionist will track staff attendance for the building re-entry. Secondly, the KNAS Faculty and docents will then supervise the safe and orderly return of students and patrons to the school wing and the galleries. The Librarian and the Gallery Shop Manager will lead patrons to their respective areas. Lastly, the administrative staff will return to offices.
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KIA Tour Guidelines and Procedures Injuries/Illness During Tours in the Tour Notebook at least a couple of days The Chief of Security is trained in CPR. before their visit. Study and prepare for If a visitor in your group appears to need each tour. assistance, tell the guard in your area. Remain Substitutes with the person until security is able to give It is your responsibility to obtain a substitute assistance. Security is responsible for when necessary. If an emergency arises, please administering first aid and for obtaining contact one of the Museum Education staff as medical assistance when needed. Do not soon as possible. attempt to move or treat a visitor, or to Arranging Tours dispatch medical assistance yourself. Although we encourage you to invite friends to Fire Alarms the museum for tours, docents should not React to all alarms as though they are real. Exit privately arrange tours for any special group the building via the South Street Entrance and without going through the Museum Education bring groups to the South Street Parking Lot. office. If you are aware that a group wishes to Have groups move quickly but calmly. Look have you do a tour, tell them to make that for Museum Education Staff person. Enlist request when they call. help of teachers, chaperones, and group leaders Day of Tour to count everyone in the group. If someone is 1. Arrive 20-30 minutes before tour time. missing, tell Museum Education or Security Wear your name tag. Dress comfortably staff immediately! Please remain in area until but professionally. the All Clear has been announced. 2. Check in with Museum Education staff. Severe Weather/Tornado Lock up belongings if not left in your car. When a tornado warning is issued for this area, 3. Check Tour Notebook for any last minute sirens will alert the City of Kalamazoo. The information. Be familiar with your receptionist will announce the tornado warning audience and their tour objectives and plan over the public address system. All tours your tour accordingly. should be taken to Area C (lower level hallway 4. Meet with other docents to discuss tour outside of elevator and print study room). rotation and last minute information. Enlist help of teachers, chaperones and/or 5. Gather any tour aids/pictures, etc. to help group leaders to be sure everyone is accounted with your tour objectives. for. If someone is missing, inform Museum 6. Walk your tour route–note gallery changes, Education or Security staff immediately! removal of objects, etc. and make Remain in area until the All Clear has necessary adjustments. been announced. Lead Docent Responsibilities Signing Up for Tours The first docent listed (*1) is responsible for When you sign up for a tour, please check the organizing the groups and establishing the tour group’s SignUp/Volunteer Spot website on rotation with the other docents. The Lead https://signup.com/volunteerspot/index for Docent is responsible for distributing the Tour your schedule and the Tour Information Form Evaluation form to the group leader and filling 25 KIA Tour Guidelines and Procedures Docent Resource Guide
out any Tour Behavior forms to be sent to the children with the following terms as schools. Lead Docent also: appropriate to the age/stage of the group: 1. Greets the group leader and introduces 1. Docent - a volunteer/person who other docents. If late, follow Late Arrival introduces and facilitates discussion about procedures (below). the works of art. 2. Assists leaders in dividing students into 2. Kalamazoo Institute of Arts - a museum separate groups. Use colored paddles (at that collects, preserves and exhibits art. front desk), if applicable. The KIA also has studio classrooms to 3. Assigns a docent to each group and create art. provides a brief welcome and introduction. 3. Gallery-special rooms where works of art Coats are displayed/shown. Adult visitors should be directed to coat room. 4. Interactive Gallery-a special room where School groups should be instructed to leave guests play and explore. Mention only if coats on bus, use the coat hooks, or coat bins. you plan to visit. Backpacks, large bags, lunches, etc. should all 5. Exhibition-a public show or display of art be left in the coatroom or at the front desk. 6. Collection-art work that is collected and owned by the KIA. Late Arrivals If your group does not arrive within 10 minutes Museum Manners of their scheduled time, call Museum Discuss Museum Manners with school groups, Education (ext. 3160 or 3162) from the lobby. stressing how important it is to follow the rules They will call for information. If a group so everyone can enjoy the museum: arrives late, the Lead Docent will check with Please do not touch the art because the oils other docents and the visitors to see if the tour on your fingertips will make the work of can be extended. If either the docents or the art dirty. If everyone touched, the art would group cannot extend the visit, then adjust the be ruined, and no one would be able to tour rotation accordingly. Be certain that all enjoy it. We want it to last as long docents and visitors understand what time they as possible. are to return to the lobby. If a group has not Please walk in the museum. We don’t want arrived on time and there has been no contact you or the art to get hurt. from the group, docents should wait 20 Please do not lean on the walls. minutes and then consult with Museum Use quiet voices during your tour; other Education staff. people are trying to enjoy their visit too. Stay with your group. Be ready to look Getting Started on Your Tour Once you have collected your group, take them carefully and think about what you see. to your first stop to begin your introduction. Gum, food and drinks are not allowed in the galleries because spills could damage Introduce yourself and welcome the group to the Museum the works of art. No photos and please turn off all cell Briefly outline what they can expect to see and discuss on the tour. Familiarize phones during the tour.
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Ask the Teacher or Chaperone to bring up the communicating effectively with them. rear and assist you in the galleries. Relate to your audience at their level. Use Tour Tips comparisons that they can relate to. Remember to be yourself. Enjoy your tour. 8. Involve the group. Encourage them to Your enjoyment will be contagious. participate. Ask questions and wait for 1. While discussing an object, stand to one their answers. Curb the impulse to side facing the group. Be certain to ―lecture‖ and focus on providing the skills maintain a minimum one-foot distance for analyzing and interpreting art. Get them between object and yourself (ask the group to use these skills to tell you what they see. to do the same). Seat children on floor 9. Vary the pace, activities and format some- if wiggly. what throughout the tour. 2. If visiting the Interactive Gallery, it is 10. Some ideas: helpful to briefly explain each activity Stand in a half circle and talk about a before letting them explore. Enlist the help sculpture, sit on the floor for discussion in of the other adults to assist students at the another gallery, and break into pairs for activities, maintain order and to protect the observation games. activities from abuse. Relate one object to another-compare/ 3. Confine tours to one hour or the time contrast. specified. Be sure to wear a watch and Be sensitive to limited attention spans. follow the Tour Rotation. If an Art Lab If you see their attention start to lag, tour, be sure to get your group to the don’t press for more information. Switch classrooms on time for the exchange. to a different approach or move to 4. Be flexible. Expect that occasionally you another work! will be unable to use the object you want or Be aware of reasons for stragglers. If that something unexpected will occur (i.e. people do not have enough time to look at an unscheduled group arriving to visit the the works, make adjustments in your tour galleries). Be sure to check galleries to accommodate them. Remember, to see if there are any changes to quality not quantity! minimize surprises. Stop talking and let the group look on 5. Be considerate of fellow docents. If you their own for two or three minutes. notice that a docent is waiting for an object Do a gallery game. Have these planned or gallery, try to move on as quickly as out in advance and take any necessary possible. If you are the docent who is materials needed with you. waiting, quietly indicate that you Listen carefully to what everyone says have arrived. and use communication stimulators: a 6. Remember that sounds echo in the galleries nod, ―um-hum‖, ―tell me more about...‖, (especially the upper level). Moderate your ―let me be sure I understand‖, voice accordingly. ―Interesting observation‖...etc. There may 7. Understanding your audience, their be many responses to a single question. interests and expectations, is essential to You might have a specific answer in 27 KIA Tour Guidelines and Procedures Docent Resource Guide
mind, but don’t ignore the student who previous experiences for your next tour. comes up with something unexpected. Sharing your experiences with your fellow Give feedback to all the observations. Try docents is also a good means of assessment. to involve as many people as possible. 1. What was the theme/focus of my tour? Use transitions to move group from one Was it appropriate? Was it interesting for object to the next. Plan your path through the visitor? the gallery so that an orderly progress 2. Did my introduction convey the theme to of thought and movement can be my group? maintained. Too much jumping back and 3. Did the theme/focus guide me in selecting forth is confusing. At each stop, position what information to present about each the group quickly and smoothly so that object? Was I able to comfortably follow all can see and hear. the theme during the entire tour? If no, Always remember that our main why not? objective is to make our visitor’s 4. Did my transitions reinforce thematic experience as pleasant, comfortable and ideas and help to make connections informative as possible. Take a deep between objects? breath, relax and enjoy your tours! 5. Did I refer back to objects I had showed Ending Your Tour earlier to reinforce ideas? Before rejoining all the groups in the lobby: 6. Did I select a tour route which Summarize the main points and invite flowed smoothly? visitors to recall favorite objects. 7. Did I pull together the ideas in a summary Thank the group for coming. Encourage at the end? them to return. 8. What did I do to actively involve the Return group to lobby or escort them group? Did I use inquiry? When using to the area they wish to see if they are inquiry, did I allow enough time for their staying longer. responses? Did I ask follow-up questions Discuss with other docents how the tour to encourage discussion? Did I use any went, what went well, what would you games or activities to involve my group? do differently. 9. Did I really listen to visitors’ responses and Be sure to inform Museum Education Staff incorporate them into the tour or was I of any immediate concerns. concentrating on what I was going to Record volunteer hours on time sheet say next? located in your docent file, or online, and 10. What things did I do to vary the pace of conduct the Post-Tour Self-Examination my tour? (see below). Did I approach different works in different ways? Post Tour Self-Examination It might be helpful to think about these things Did I sit my group down at any point? immediately following any tour. Take the Did I use any visual aids? opportunity to reflect and learn from your
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11. Was I flexible enough in my expectations 16. Was my information accurate and and presentation to adjust the tour to the thorough? Did I try to present too level or interest of the group? many ideas? 12. Did I speak too rapidly or too slowly? 17. Did I check the pronunciation of terms and 13. Did I allow some time for looking in names I was unsure of? silence, for visitors to digest what had just 18. Did I try to make connections between the been pointed out? works of art and my visitors’ lives? 14. Did I point out any works in passing that 19. What was the greatest strength of my tour? the group might want to come back and 20. What do I want to improve upon? view on their own at their leisure? 15. Were the objects I chose appropriate for my theme and age group? Did I use too many or too few objects? Did I clearly relate what I was saying to what was present in the work?
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Touring Adults or non-representational examples. Because There are definite differences between the these questions are open-ended, adults will interests and motivation of children and adults often respond to them. in a museum situation, and it is important that 2. Use references appropriate to the age of the we modify our ―school‖ techniques when group. (High school groups may know guiding adults. nothing about WWII and older adults Group Background Information are usually not familiar with the latest 1. Find out what you can about the group rock groups.) before starting (Use Tour Notebook and ask 3. Give your information in an enthusiastic, questions of the group) Where are they lively way, keeping a professional from? Why are they visiting? demeanor. Do not talk down to the group 2. When the group arrives, find out their level or overwhelm them with data or dates. of interest/knowledge and whether there 4. Include some interesting items besides the are any artists or docents in the group (if content, techniques, historical context of yes, refer to them during your tour). the exhibit: the museology of the show, 3. Walk though the exhibition, viewing it as how it was hung and why, special gallery an adult. What excited you about the treatment, etc. exhibition? Which pieces are you drawn 5. Some trivia about the artist, something to? Why are these particular works humorous about the work adds interest and important? Is there a historical significance a personal touch to the tour. or are they locally important? Is the 6. If you can’t answer a question, don’t fake collector significant? Why or why not? it! Say, ―I don’t know, but what an Plan your tour around a theme: subject interesting question. I will try and find out matter, media, point of view of the artist, the answer‖. Postcards are available in the political statements, etc. Museum Education office to send an answer to a group. Contact staff for help Introduction 1. Introduce yourself and tell them enough in answering the question and sending about yourself to develop a rapport with the card. the group. 7. As you begin, be sure to let the group know 2. Briefly talk about the KIA (see KIA how long the tour will last and stay on time! Take time at the end to wrap up and Fast Facts). 3. Give some background about exhibit, the say good-bye. collector and/or collection and why it is at Avoiding Pitfalls the KIA. 1. If you are losing the group’s attention, you might ask if they have questions, or The Tour 1. Adults want to learn and perhaps get a new whether they see some thing that perspective on art. VTS (Visual Thinking particularly interests them. Go to another Strategies) works best with representational part of the building, visit the school, etc. works but you can try it with more abstract 31 Tour Techniques Docent Resource Guide
2. If the group is having side conversations, will have reviewed the rules in you might just stop until they cease. their classroom. 3. Avoid dates, saying instead, ―Before World 1. If your group is composed of mostly War II‖ or ―in the 1890s.‖ first time visitors, you may wish to offer 4. Be sure to face the group when you are a brief explanation of why it is speaking so that everyone can hear you. important not to touch. Consider the 5. If the group is elderly, have gallery stools following approaches (depending on the available before tour begins. If some in the age of the group): group need the elevator, escort the entire Ask them what happens when group down in the elevator (make as someone presses their hands against many trips as needed). Ways to Say, a window or glass. ―Don’t Touch.‖ Ask if they can think of something To insure the safety of the works of art, all at home that is worn because of use visitors are asked to maintain a 1-2 ft. (the arm of a chair or a stuffed distance from the objects on view. This animal). Explain that surfaces break rule applies not only to all visitors, but to down when they are constantly docents and staff members as well. touched. What would happen to the While it is the primary responsibility of the art if everyone touched it? security staff to enforce museum rules, Why are museums important? To each of us can help by reminding visitors preserve the art so our children and when necessary and by setting a good grandchildren will be able to enjoy example with our own actions. it someday. Explain that visitors must also refrain from 2. With groups of younger students, who touching the display cases, frames, bases, find it irresistible to touch, suggest they etc. If leaned on, tapped on, or pushed, clasp their hands behind their backs so many display cases (and the objects in they won’t ―forget‖. Reduce the them) will move. touching by keeping a one-foot (arm Always explain the ―No Touching‖ rule to length) distance between the children visitors before a tour, regardless of age. It and the object (standing behind the floor is far more considerate to explain a rule lines in the Main level galleries helps). before visitors have made a mistake than Sitting on the floor also works. Provide having to tell them after they have done it. props that the children can touch. Many adults who are acting as chaperones 3. At the mid-point of the tour, praise the are often less aware of this rule than students for respecting the rules. This the students. not only rewards them for their good How do you say ―Don’t Touch‖? Be polite, behavior, but reinforces the rule in case brief and clear. There is no need to go into they are beginning to forget! long explanations of why touching is not 4. If you see a visitor, not on a tour, allowed in the museum. Many students will touching objects in the gallery, quietly have been to the museum before. Others alert a guard (if they are in the vicinity). 32 Tour Techniques Docent Resource Guide
If you feel comfortable in doing so (or if style, techniques and iconography you feel the art is in immediate danger), across cultures and time. you may politely ask the person not to Teach about the history of drawing from touch the objects. life in workshop or academic settings. Talking About Nudity With older students, introduce art If a particular exhibition features nudes or if historical literature and debate, such as students will pass by a nude, you may have to differing viewpoints on the definitions deal with their questions and reactions. Some of nude and naked. things to think about: Visitors with Special Needs 1. Be sensitive to the personal and academic The American Disabilities Act (1990), needs of students. Consider: requires that all public and private age/stage of physical development organizations take steps to make their culture/religion facilities and programs accessible to people parents’ reactions with disabilities. comfort level with you What is a disability? A disability is a 2. Be comfortable with the subject functional limitation that interferes with a matter yourself. person’s ability to walk, talk, learn, hear, Practice talking about it with family see, etc. Disabilities include, but are not or friends. limited to, speech, hearing, and visual Take a ―no big deal‖ attitude. Kids will impairments; cerebral palsy; mental respond with ease, if you teach the sub- retardation; and specific learning ject with ease. disabilities. What do we call a person who Take control of the discussion to get has a disability? Address the person first, through moments of discomfort. then the disability. A disability is only one 3. Make wise choices about which artworks aspect of a person. Like everyone else, a you present. person with a disability has a name, a Include a variety of body types-skinny, personality, a lifestyle, personal likes and tall, short, pudgy, male, female. dislikes and a variety of interests. He or she Works should represent multiple is a person with a disability rather than a cultures, geographical regions, functions disabled person. and artistic styles. What can we do as docents to meet the Present the works within social, special needs of our visitors and to make historical, cultural and geographical them feel comfortable in the museum? contexts. People with disabilities have had a lot of Take your students’ needs and interests practice in dealing with their disabilities. into consideration when selecting They are used to a variety of people’s objects. reactions to them. It is those of us who 4. Boost knowledge of artistic training and are unaccustomed to being around art theory. people with disabilities who are most The body is common in art. Discuss uncomfortable, but we need not be. Our 33 Tour Techniques Docent Resource Guide
special visitors are generally patient, visitors with special needs as to any and they will help us to know how to other group. help them. Exposure to visitors with 7. All restrooms and entrances are disabilities and learning about the wheelchair accessible. nature of their disability is the best way 8. Be sure to check the Tour Notebook for to overcome our fears about saying “the further information about your group. We wrong thing”. will learn much information about the General Guidelines for Tours of Visitors group’s special needs when the tour with Special Needs: reservation is made but you may need 1. Relax. Converse with Special Needs to speak with the group leader for visitors as you would with any other group. more details. You will discover that they have many 9. The KIA has four wheelchairs: two are interests beyond those connected to located in the coat room and two more are their disability. available upon request. 2. Respect the visitor’s right to ask for help. Touring Visitors with Physical Disabilities If you don’t know what you should do, ask 1. Visitors with physical disabilities usually them to tell you. arrive at the museum with people to assist 3. If the subject of the visitor’s disability them. However, doors can be awkward to comes up naturally, do not shy away from enter when you are in a wheelchair. Many discussing it. But there is no reason to ask visitors will appreciate your assistance in about their disability if they do not meeting them and helping them enter/exit. volunteer the information. They are here to Always ask if someone would like enjoy the museum, not talk about their assistance before attempting to push a disability. If specific information would wheelchair. Simply holding the door open help you make their visit more pleasant, let is sufficient in most cases. them know that. 2. Crutches and wheelchairs are necessary 4. Speak directly to the person, rather than to accessories for visitors with special needs. an interpreter or companion who might be Do not remove or store their equipment accompanying them. Never assume that unless the person requests it. because a person has a disability that their 3. As you conduct the tour, encourage visitors mental capacities are affected also. Most in wheelchairs to move to the front. people with disabilities have normal Visitors with hearing impairments also will intelligence. Do not speak down to them. benefit from moving near you. If showing 5. Appreciate what the visitors can do for something in a case, position the themselves and allow them to set the pace wheelchair alongside the case, rather than of the tour. Extra time is often required for directly towards it. Do not begin talking a person with special needs to move until wheelchair is in position. through the museum. 4. Adjust your pace to the needs of the group. 6. The same general museum rules apply to Allow extra time to move around and for
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restroom breaks. Each group will have up the largest number of people with different needs. After you have discussed hearing impairments. Many have normal one object, it is a good idea to ask if you voices and good speaking skills. are meeting their needs. Can they hear, see Touring Hearing Impaired Visitors and understand you? Do you need to slow 1. When a student with a hearing impairment down? Do they have questions? is coming to the museum as part of a 5. In the unlikely event of a fire or other regular school group, that information will emergency, the stairs must be used instead be indicated in the tour request. Schools of the elevators. If you are told to evacuate bring their own interpreters. the building, immediately contact a guard 2. Whether the group is composed entirely of who will assist you in getting your group hearing impaired students or not, ask the to safety. contact person the same questions you Visitors with Hearing Impairments would for any group: Is this their first visit? Hearing impairment is a term used to What are the students studying? How can describe a wide range of hearing loss. we connect the tour to their studies? Do Deafness is the most profound form of they have special interests? What part of hearing impairment, but the vast majority the collection or specific objects do they of people with hearing impairments have wish to see? some hearing ability. 3. Speak to the interpreter before you begin. Deafness is defined as a hearing Inform them of the logistics of the tour and impairment which is so severe that a discuss any objects that you might be person is unable to understand speech describing that have unusual or through hearing alone, but must rely on a unfamiliar names. visual method (sign language, total 4. Present your tour as you usually would, communication, or lip reading). using a combination of description, inquiry Hard of hearing describes a loss of hearing and visual aids. Speak in a normal voice that markedly affects a person’s ability to and speak directly to your visitors, not to communicate, but is not included in the the interpreter. definition above. 5. The interpreter will sign the tour as you People with hearing impairments differ speak. As you are discussing objects, the dramatically in their ability to speak and visitors are watching the interpreter, so listen. When children are born deaf or lose allow some time after you finish speaking their hearing before age three, they have for them to look at the object or to make difficulty learning language skills, because eye contact with you. children learn to control and use their 6. Ask your visitors if you need to slow down voices by hearing those around them. The or repeat anything. Keep your language lack of ability to speak does not in any way clear and direct. You will want your indicate an absence of a voice. Deaf and information to be very concise. hard of hearing individuals who have lost 7. The interpreter will in turn orally translate their hearing after learning to speak, make the visitor’s questions to you. When you 35 Tour Techniques Docent Resource Guide
answer, look at the person who asked it, Which works of art can be used? even though that person will be looking at Sculpture are generally the best choice. A the interpreter. This may seem awkward at variety of works that are not part of the KIA first, but gradually you will be accustomed Collection are available for tours. The to the interaction that occurs between curatorial staff have approved several works in visitor, interpreter and docent. the KIA Collection for Touch Tours as long as 8. Face the group as you speak. Some visitors gloves are worn. Written detailed descriptions will be reading your lips, even with an are available for some of the paintings in the interpreter present. KIA Collection. Touchable tour aids and props 9. Do not speak as you move from one object are also helpful as substitutes for real works to another. The interpreter is responsible of art. for translating everything you say from Currently approved sculptures for Touch Art start to finish. Wait until you have tours are: Kulane-Paul Ponchillia, Head– Jana everyone’s attention at the next object Hanka, Marriage of Hiawatha-Edmonia before you begin to speak. Lewis, Nathan Hale-Frederick MacMonnies , 10. There are no limitations to the objects you Hoku-Deborah Butterfield, The Art Ark-Steve can use on a tour for visitors with hearing Curl, and various indigenous masks and impairments. As with any group, you need small sculptures used in the upstairs to gear the tour to their interests. Two conference rooms. considerations to keep in mind: Touring Visually Impaired Visitors Select objects in well-lighted areas so 1. Find out as much as you can about your that visitors can see the interpreter or visitor beforehand. Explain that read lips. information about their visual disability Avoid areas with tight spaces. Both will help you prepare. Is the person totally you and the interpreter will need to be blind? Can they see light or shadow, in close proximity to the object so that general shapes, blocks of color? Have they you are equally visible to the visitor been blind since birth or have they had and not obscuring the object. sight? What do they hope to achieve during Visitors with Visual Impairments their visit? A visual impairment is a severe reduction 2. When you approach your visitor, tell him/ in vision that can not be corrected with her who you are. If the visitor has never standard glasses or contact lenses and been here before, he/she may appreciate reduces a person’ ability to function at some guidance through the doors into the certain or all tasks. lobby. If the visitor has a guide dog, they Touch Art and Description Tours for blind will probably not need your help. Don’t or visually impaired visitors are conducted interfere with their normal procedures. by request only. All Docents who conduct 3. Ask your visitor how they would like to be these tours are required to participate in guided through the museum. Some prefer specialized training. to hold your arm, touch your back or use a
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guide dog. Do not touch the person’s cane short attention span, below-average or guide dog. As you approach stairs or any speech abilities, inability to conceptualize other obstacle, give a verbal warning. Give Touring Visitors with Developmental specific verbal directions like ―to our right‖ Disabilities or ―directly in front of you‖. 1. Slow your pace down dramatically. Take 4. Before touching any approved artwork, ample time for introductions. Tell your give it a brief visual exam, looking for any group your name and have them repeat it. insecurities or damage. Lifting paint, Allow each of them to give his or varnish or gilding, loose parts, splinters, her name. etc. are examples. Be sure to report any 2. Keep your introduction simple and clear. findings to museum education staff so they Most students will retain only one idea or can take appropriate action. Do not touch direction at a time. As you continue the objects with insecure features. tour, reinforce your basic idea by repeating 5. Anyone touching works in the KIA it in relation to each object. Collection must wear disposable vinyl 3. Be open-minded, as you are with any gloves. Bring extra gloves on the tour in group. Use inquiry to involve the case they get dirty midway through the tour individuals. Use many visual aids and to avoid transferring dirt from one object props that can be handled. Students with to another. short attention spans benefit from short 6. Do not feel uncomfortable saying ―see‖ or exposure to a variety of media. Try simple ―look‖. Don’t feel compelled to talk all the games, if appropriate. time. If your visitor enjoys it, allow a 4. Do not be discouraged if the visitors do not certain amount of time to quietly explore respond as you anticipate. Some will the works of art after you have spoken. register no emotion at all, but will be Take their directions on how you can help. having a great time. Others may throw Visitors with Developmental Disabilities their arms around you in an affectionate What is a Developmental Disability? hug with little or no provocation. A person who has developmental disabilities is 5. Special education students have varied one whose mental growth and social disabilities within the group. Some have development are low compared to the average. difficulty articulating their ideas, questions Although persons with developmental or comments. Give them plenty of time to disabilities differ greatly from one another, in respond. Give each member of the group general they have difficulty in learning and some individual attention. applying knowledge. Degrees of disability 6. Whether your group is six years old or vary from mild to severe. 35-years-old, discuss the basics of Most developmentally disabled individuals art-shapes, colors, lines, etc., much as you have some combinations of the following would for K-2. Many adults with develop- characteristics: mental disabilities are functioning at this sensory or motor coordination disability, level. The teacher should be able to guide low tolerance, poor self-esteem you to the appropriate level for the group. 37 Tour Techniques Docent Resource Guide
School Children: Ages and Stages You will certainly want to tell them a few Pre-School (3-5 yr olds) things, but for the most part at this age, Fascinated by textures and colors children should be given the chance to Bundles of physical activity and feelings discover for themselves the joy of making Very imaginative and eager participants sense of objects. Very short attention spans Grades 4-6 (ages 10-12) Wiggling and giggling is to be expected Basic understanding of reading, writing Exert very little impulse control and mathematics skills Preschoolers in particular cannot remember Study content-driven subjects, ie. not to touch something just because you asked Colonial America them not to. Their touching is not so much Respond to specific questions disobeying you as it is responding to their Awareness of other’s feelings own, strong internal impulse to feel something. Enjoy working in groups The best to control this situation is to keep Becoming dependable and responsible them busy. If they are engaged in imaginative Often like to have some un-structured play, they will not even think about touching time to look a display. Captivated by odd or unexpected facts Grades 1-3 (6-9 yr olds) or objects Love being challenged to find objects Vary in maturity between the sexes from visual clues Children of this age do quite well at Continue to enjoy using their imagination independent assignments. They like observing Great sense of humor and enjoy objects on their own, although they still need silly jokes help in drawing conclusions from their Learning to read, write and interact with observations. They are good at categorizing their classmates objects into groups, and love to do it. Enthusiastic to raise their hands to answer Grades 7-12 (ages 13-18) a question Accept information as offered by also Encourage looking closely and want to know reasons for things. describing accurately Like discovering new ideas and have a Love challenging games sense of fun as well as the ridiculous. Understanding of historical time is not Can be self-conscious, susceptible to peer yet developed group pressure and may reject what they Have a limited interest span and can do not want to see, feel, or learn about. usually grasp only one idea at a time Will participate in lively discussions Are easily fatigued when their ideas seems well-considered. Activities that allow children to experience the Can formulate complicated abstract ideas excitement of discovery are critical for and make solidly based judgments children this age. If you think about your tour and decisions. in this way it will lead you to discover the Vary enourmously in stages of physical, kinds of concepts you should be presenting. intellectual and emotional maturity.
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Some individuals tend to be bored Close-ended questions often ask visitors to easily and can feel alienated in a gallery recall remembered factual information; they do environment. not stimulate reflective thinking. Inquiry Methods and Activities Sequencing Questions Inquiry Teaching, or instruction by asking Questioning will be most successful if you questions encourages museum visitors to sequence your questions. Begin with really look at and engage with works of art. observation questions that encourage visitors Questions invite visitors to discover more to look closely (e.g. What do you think this about art works, analyze artists’ intentions, sculpture represents?). Follow up their examine their own responses and attitudes, responses with questions that asks them to and share with others. explain their observations with evidence from Teaching is a dynamic process. By asking the art work itself (e.g. What makes you think questions, you involve your audience in the so?). This can often be followed up with a learning process. By encouraging visitors to question that asks them to think about their generate their own ideas and construct explanations (e.g. Why might the artist have meaning on their own, you teach them, and carved it this way?) Sequencing questions will allow them the opportunity to develop skills encourage visitors to look, explain and they can use to become independent learners. generate ideas. There are other good reasons to use inquiry on Ultimately, it is up to a docent to determine the your tours. balance between information and interaction You learn about where your group is at: on a tour. Ask as many open-ended questions attitudinally, intellectually, verbally, as your group will allow. Keep in mind that visually, etc. every time you offer a fact or a judgment about Creating an atmosphere of trust because it an art work, you limit discussion. If you need shows that you are interested in what the to incorporate information to complete a lesson group thinks. at a work of art, do so only after you have Being able to answer questions and talk asked the group to observe and discuss it. about art empowers young people The more experienced a group is with and adults. looking at art, and the more knowledge People remember best when they they have, the more ready they will be to construct the meaning of absorb information presented by you. With something themselves. groups like this your role as teacher is Open-Ended Questions lessened; you become more like a peer Questions should be open-ended to talking to them about something that is accommodate the divergent perspectives of the near and dear to them. With groups that members of any tour group. To encourage seem uninterested in responding to ques- observations or ideas, open-ended questions tions, rhetorical questions can encourage have many appropriate answers. If you ask a them to think on their own. question that has a brief and predictable answer, the question is close-ended. 39 Tour Techniques Docent Resource Guide
Avoiding Inquiry Pitfalls problem cooperatively. Ask open-ended question that encourage VTS is the creation of cognitive psychologist multiple responses Abigail Housen and museum educator Philip Ask follow-up questions that encourage Yenawine. Housen has spent over 20 years even closer looking studying the ways people develop from novice Ask questions that are appropriate for the to expert viewers. She developed a stage model group you are talking to. which illustrates five distinct patterns of Avoid run-on questions thinking about art (Aesthetic Stages). Avoid asking ―yes or no‖ questions. Stage 1: Accountive Viewers These types of questions stop a discussion. Accountive Viewers are storytellers. Using Avoid asking questions that begin with their senses, memories, and personal ―Can you...‖ or ―Who can...‖ These types associations, they make concrete observations of questions set up group members to fail about the work of art which get woven into a if they ―can not’ see or do whatever it is narrative. Judgments are based on what is you are asking. known and what is liked. Emotions color Do not be afraid of silence. Allow people their comments, as viewers seem to enter the time to observe, process and respond. work of art and become part of the Listen to responses and treat all serious unfolding narrative. responses as equal even if you think some Stage 2: Constructive Viewers are not the ―right‖ answers. Constructive Viewers set about building a Be flexible enough to let responses framework for looking at works of art, using determine how the discussion will unfold. the most logical and accessible tools: their own Visual Thinking Strategies perceptions, their knowledge of the natural Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), is an world, and the values of their social, moral and approach to inquiry-based teaching designed conventional world. If the work does not look for ―beginning viewers‖ of art, both children the way it is ―supposed to‖–if craft, skill, and adults. VTS is based on a body of technique, hard work, utility, and function are empirical findings about how people grow in not evident, or if the subjects seems their understanding of art. In museums, VTS inappropriate–then this viewer judges the work can help beginner and less experienced viewers to be ―weird,‖ lacking, and of no value. The grow in both confidence and the ability to viewer’s sense of what is realistic is a standard derive meaning from art. It is based upon often applied to determine value. As emotions careful looking and facilitated group begin to go underground, this viewer begins to discussions in the galleries. distance him/herself from the work of art. Acknowledging that art carries multiple Stage 3: Classifying Viewers meanings, VTS encourages group discussions Classifying Viewers adopt the analytical and that give rise to a number of reasonable points critical stance of the art historian. They want to of view, in an informal, nonthreatening identify the work as to place, school, style, context. Young people and adults can explore time and provenance. They decode the work ideas freely in a group-solving a complex using their library of facts and figures which 40 Tour Techniques Docent Resource Guide
they are ready and eager to expand. This Question 2: What do you see that makes viewer believes that properly categorized, the you say that? work of art’s meaning and message can be Question 3: What more can you find? explained and rationalized. Ask these questions to initiate an active Stage 4: Interpretive Viewers process of discovery. The first two questions Interpretive Viewers seek a personal encounter suggest that the image is about something that with a work of art. Exploring the canvas, can be figured out. Therefore the work must be letting the meaning of the work slowly unfold, fairly representational and tell some sort of they appreciate the subtleties of line, shape and story. The questions encourage the finding of color. Critical skills are put in service of these stories and play into the natural behavior feelings and intuitions as viewers let the of Stage 1/Stage 2 viewers (storytellers). These underlying meanings of the work–what it questions allow comments of any sort. symbolizes–emerge. Each new encounter with The question ―What do you see that makes you a work presents a chance for new comparisons, say that?‖ asks that all opinions be grounded in insights and experiences. Knowing that the visual evidence, visible to all. This question work of art’s identity and value are subject to should only be used if the initial comment reinterpretation, these viewers see their own needs more clarification or justification in the processes subject to chance and change. work of art. Requiring students to explain their Stage 5: Re-Creative Viewers observations allows them to listen to each Re-Creative Viewers, having established a other, change their minds and develop new long history of viewing and reflective about ideas that go beyond their original ones. works of art, now ―willingly suspend Accept all interpretations as reasonable disbelief.‖ A familiar painting is like an old as long as they can be grounded in the friend deserving attention on a daily level but student’s observations. Let group also existing on an elevated plane. Drawing on interaction sort out the ―truth‖. It usually their own history with one work in particular, does. Variations on the basic question such and with viewing in general, this viewer as ―who sees something else?‖ or ―does combines personal contemplation with views anyone see something different?‖ can help that broadly encompass universal concerns. move the conversation along. Here, memory infuses the landscape of the Remain neutral. This will facilitate the painting, intricately combining the personal most fruitful conversations. If students and the universal. ground their observations in what they see, VTS: Step by Step they will more often than not coincide with Choose a representational work. Figures must what an artist intended. be engaged in some sort of action. Therefore, Very young children may find it difficult to portraits, still lifes and landscapes as well as back up their responses with evidence. abstract paintings do not work as well as They tend to list things that they see. history and genre paintings. Accept their views as reasonable. Let them Question 1: What is going on in this work talk and don’t worry about repetition. of art/painting/picture? As viewers progress in experience, leading 41 Tour Techniques Docent Resource Guide
questions are added to the initial ones. students active. Beginning viewers have These questions are still open-ended, more to say than to ask. But after a certain however. For example, ―what more can amount of experience curiosity develops. you say about the people in this picture?‖ Adults depend on information more and leads the group to focus the discussion on trust themselves less, but even then, one aspect. beginning viewers are more likely to Listen carefully to and acknowledge every believe what their eyes tell them than to answer by looking with them, pointing accept someone else’s view. and paraphrasing. Try to anticipate some of the questions To facilitate good discussion (and promote your viewers might have. When you get a individual growth), it is critical that you question, your first response should be: acknowledge all response in ways that feel Can we answer that by examining the supportive, and which signal to everyone work? Or ask the group: What do you think that all responses are worthwhile. The the answer to that might be? Depending on sense that one will be heard and respected the question, such as ―who is the artist?‖ encourages participation. reply by asking, ―where can we look to Point and be physically expressive. Look at find that out?‖ Always try to deal with the student who is speaking. Nod or smile, questions in a way that reveals how one whatever seems appropriate to let him/her can gain knowledge. Help them to find the know that you value their contribution. Use answer rather than telling it. body language to make sure the viewing Concluding a VTS Discussion experience is active. Point so that everyone There is no prescribed length of time for a can see what is being discussed. discussion. 15-20 minutes is a good length. Paraphrase each person’s response, as if Move on when you sense they have finished you were saying ―what I hear you saying with an object. To close, you can ask, ―what is...‖ By putting comments in your own have we missed?‖ or ―what don’t we know for words you prove to them that their ideas sure?‖ Or you can let them you were impressed make sense to you. Change only the words, by something they said or did. NOT the content. Relating VTS to other Inquiry Strategies Facilitate the discussion, linking various VTS is a great way to hone other kinds of converging and diverging opinions and inquiry skills. VTS insists that viewers look at helping student to synthesize a variety of the painting and express what they see. As points of view. with inquiry-based teaching, you cannot Keep track of various strands of control what direction in which the discussions. Acknowledge agreements and conversation will lead and you have to give up disagreements. Link thoughts. Tracking the desire to tell information. Through VTS, discussions is difficult but worthwhile you can develop the skill of accepting every- since it shows you are listening and one’s observations as valid. By asking viewers following along. to explain their responses based on what they By answering questions you can keep the see, they make you see familiar art works in 42 Tour Techniques Docent Resource Guide
new ways. Remember—your job as a permitted in the galleries (pencils, paper, discussion facilitator is to remain neutral. and no sharp objects). Other Interactive Activities It must be able to be completed in a (or Games Docents Can Play) relatively short time. Educators recognize that people learn Activities must be in an area where they effectively in different ways. Some learn best do not interfere with other programs in by listening and discussing ideas; some by the galleries. reading and reflecting on information; and No game should involve any activity that others learn best by becoming physically poses a threat to the safety of the art. involved in the learning process. Since many Keep in mind that the art object is the reason games involve one or more of the senses, for the game–not the other way around. The all learners will benefit from a tour that game should always relate in some way to the incorporates activities or games. By content you are trying to convey and should introducing a variety of approaches on a tour, ultimately direct the student’s attention to we can teach to every visitor’s learning style. looking at art. Activities should enhance–not Additionally, activities can keep children replace–other components of the tour. interested and help you vary the pace of Some docents will enjoy including activities your tour. on tours. Others will be uncomfortable playing 1. Activities are intended to heighten interest games. Don’t feel compelled to do anything and help students experience the museum that you are not personally comfortable with. as a friendly place where they can learn Likewise, not all students will be equally at and have fun. Activities personalize a visit ease. Do not insist that a student participate if by involving the children in various ways they don’t want to. of experiencing the art. I Spy (Grades 1-3) 2. Activities offer ways of sharpening Designed to help recognize the basic elements students’ observation skills by guiding of art. Prepare some cut-out shapes, drawn them to experience aspects of art they lines, colored papers, or materials with a haven’t noticed before. Many activities variety of textures. You may choose to focus involve experiencing art through all of on one element or several. Give one sample to their senses. each child to carry on the tour and ask them to 3. Activities provide a means for students to look for their color (shape, line, texture) as you express themselves physically as well as view the works of art. Allow ample time for verbally (which is difficult for some the children to do their ―spying‖. children) and to stimulate their Opposites Attract-Complementary Colors imaginations. Student's realize their (Grades 1-5) perceptions, opinions, and reactions to the Say an adjective to the group. Invite them to world around them are important and valid. respond with its opposite. Example: black/ To be suitable for use on a tour, an activity white, hot/cold, big/small. Using the color should meet the following basic requirements: wheel, find color ―opposites‖. Talk about Use minimal materials and only those primary, secondary and complementary colors. 43 Tour Techniques Docent Resource Guide
Using pieces of colored paper, demonstrate line, and a zigzag line. How did they feel in how a color becomes stronger when placed each position? Next, explore line in art to see if next to its complementary. Find works that they can tell why an artist used the type of line show complementary colors. he/she did. Have the students mimic the Moods and Colors (Grades 4-6) gestures to create the kinds of lines in the State an emotion and ask the children to painting–painterly, linear, abstract respond by telling you what color they think it expressionist, etc. Give each student a piece of is. Discuss the association that our language paper and string to create a composition using the has with color. ―Tickled Pink,‖ ―Green with string as their line. What can the line express? envy,‖ ―Feeling Blue.‖ Go on to explore sad Shape Up! (Grades 1-3) colors, angry colors, excited colors, etc. Then Have the students name things that are round. ask the students to apply their awareness of Have them make a circle with their fingers or expressive colors to the paintings. This activity arms. Make a circle by joining hands with a can work equally well with exploring different partner, then join hands as a group to make a kinds of lines. What kind of lines are angry or larger circle. Now make the circle into a square excited or calm? or a triangle. Look for these geometric shapes How Red is Red? (Grades 3-6) in the art objects. Later, ask the students to Sit the group in front of a painting. Ask all look for organic shapes in the art. those wearing blue to stand. How many Touching with the Eyes (Grades 1-6) ―shades‖ of blue do you see? Have those Help children experience texture visually. children sit down and ask those wearing red to Have tactile materials for them to touch while stand. Repeat the discussion of ―shades‖ of they look at art will facilitate the experience. color. This can lead to a discussion of values in Provide a variety of materials–fabrics, wood, painting. Ask the students to identify the colors clay, bronze, marble. In addition, you can in each painting and count the number of invite the students to feel the textures of the different values or shades of each one. A paint museum itself or textures of their clothing sample strip is a good prop to use to teach (even shoes). value because it illustrates how color changes Becoming a Work of Art (Grades 4-6) as you add more white. Ask students to become figures in a painting or The Five Senses (Grades 1-6) sculpture. The rest of the students will position Begin by discussing the five senses. Which them to imitate overall composition and ones do they think are the most important? individual poses of the figures. Have each Have them close their eyes and think of their student describe how his/her ―pose‖ feels. favorite color. How does it sound? How does it Discuss the balance of the ―composition‖ taste? How does it smell? How does it feel? created by students. Talk about symmetry and Have them use all their senses to explore a asymmetry. Rearrange your composition by work of art. moving a student. How does that affect the What’s My Line (Grades 3-6) composition? Use this activity to discuss why Have the students pose their bodies like a the artist composed the work of art in this straight vertical or horizontal line, a diagonal particular arrangement. 44 Tour Techniques Docent Resource Guide
The World Around Us (Grades 3-6) stand in front of his/her favorite work. Each Good way to start a tour! student should defend his/her choice. If several Ask students to examine a familiar, everyday students choose the same work, let them take objects (ex: pencil). Each student makes one turns telling one thing that influenced their observation about the object–color, lines, choice until they have run out of things to say. textures, etc. Emphasize how much there is to Take a Hike (Grades 3-6) see in every object. Take an imaginary walk into a landscape. Do You See What I See? (Grades 4-6) Perhaps you will want to take a picnic lunch if Great way to get started! it is a nice day. What season is it? What is the Pair up the students. Each pair should look weather like? What are you wearing? What closely at their partner and make mental notes noises do you hear? What do you smell? What about the person’s appearance. Have the kind of animals do you see? Which area would students turn their backs to one another and you most like to be? In the sun or the shade? change one thing about their appearance (ex: On the grass or in a boat? What would you do take off their glasses). Look again and ask if you were here? What would you need to them if they can tell what is different. Artists bring with you? have to be careful observers, very aware of Scavenger Hunts (all ages) their environment and the people around them. Scavenger hunts which fit the theme of your We need to be observant too, so we can really tour are always fun for any age group. Limit see the works of art. the space for the hunt to the gallery you are in Snapshots (Grades 5-6) or have different objects to look for as you go Lead the group to a painting and arrange them through different galleries. before it. Let them look for 30 seconds. Then Who am I? (Grades 2-6) have them close their eyes and take turns This works well with portraits. Have the reporting what they can recall. Emphasize that students make deductions about the person students should report only what they depicted. About how old do you think this remember. Once no one can recall any more, person is? Why do you think he/she had the take another 30-second peek and repeat. Once portrait made? this has been exhausted, with eyes open, pick What do the surroundings say about this out what wasn’t seen and discuss what was. person? When might this person have Discuss why some parts of the painting were lived? Where? more obvious, how the elements were used, What does the clothing suggest about the why the artist included them, etc. person’s status? Twenty Questions (all ages) What kind of work did this person do? Students often have questions that we might Is there anything in the portrait that never think of. To add variety, have them ask tells you? you anything they would like to know about– Do you think this was a happy person? A but never dared ask. proud person? Why do you think so (or My Favorite Work (all ages) not so)? Students look around a gallery and have each 45 Tour Techniques Docent Resource Guide
Archaeology Game How was it made? What kind of tools (use with Long Gallery Objects) could have been used? This game teaches students to analyze an art What kind of site might these objects object as a source of information about the have been found in? (temple, tomb, culture that produced it. They will discover palace, etc.) What makes you think so? that they can draw some conclusions about its Are there images of animals or people? religion, economy, geography, social values, Do they have symbolic meaning? technology. What kind of activity is occurring? Preface your tour with a brief discussion Are there any tools or weapons? If so, about what archaeologists do. You can even what kind? discuss the tools that would be needed on By looking at these objects, what can we the expedition. tell about the people who produced them? What do you think this object is? Do you think the objects belong to people Examine its size and shape. who lived in cities or did they move from What do you think it is made of? Does place to place? What makes you think so? this suggest anything about when and Use sketching to help with their observations. where it was made? Stress that they are not producing works of art, What might the object have been used but rather making a record of what they see. for? Do you think its purpose was Thus everyone’s drawing is important and utilitarian or ceremonial? What makes valid. You may give specific assignments, you think so? What kind of decoration such as drawing the symbols or patterns does it have? on the objects.
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Art Reference: Vocabulary and Art Movements Vocabulary Aquatint A type of intaglio printmaking Abstract, Abstraction Any art that does that produces an area of even tone without not represent observable aspects of nature or laborious crosshatching. Similar in technique transforms visible forms into a pattern to an etching, the aquatint is made through use resembling something other than the of a porous resin coating of a metal plate, original model. which when immersed in acid allows an even, Acrylic A synthetic paint popular since the all-over biting of the plate. When printed, the 1950s combining properties of oil and water- end result has a granular, textural effect. colors, which has a very fast drying time. Automatism Method of producing art Aesthetics The philosophic theories where the artist suppresses conscious control relating to the concept of beauty in art and, by over technique and medium. extension, to the history of art appreciation Background The area of the image at the and taste. greatest distance from the picture plane. Alla Prima Method of painting using layers Bronze A metal made from copper alloy, of pigment usually on a white ground without usually mixed with tin. the use of underpainting, glazing or Calligraphy Ornamental writing done retouching. Italian for ―at once.‖ either with pen or brush and ink. Allegory The representation of an abstract Cancelled Plate Any printing plate marked concept or idea using specific objects or with a slash of some kind to indicate that the human figures in art. edition is finished. Appropriation Term used to describe an Canon of Proportions A set of ideal artist’s practice of borrowing from an external mathematic ratios in art, especially sculpture, source for a new work of art. While in originally applied by the Egyptians and later previous centuries artists often copied figures, the ancient Greeks to measure the various parts motifs, or compositions; in modern times, the of the human body in relation to each other. sources for appropriation extend from material Cartoon Originally, a full-scale preliminary culture to wholesale lifting of others’ works drawing for a painting or tapestry. Also used of art. for stained glass windows. From 19th century Armature Rigid form or skeleton used by a on-a caricature or comic drawing. sculptor to support his material. Classical A term referring to the art and Artist’s Proof A small number or prints architecture of the ancient Greeks and Romans. which are usually the first pulled and when Classical, Classicism Any aspect of later approved by the artist are marked A/P-E.A. art or architecture reminiscent of the rules, (Epreuves d’Artiste, fr.) or with a Roman canons and examples of the art of ancient numeral. These prints are not always the best Greece and Rome. Also: in general, any art or rarest, however. aspiring to the qualities of restraint, balance, Attribute The symbolic object or objects and rational order exemplified by the ancients. that identify a particular deity or saint in art. Cloisonne A technique in enameled decoration of metal involving metal wire 47 Art Reference: Vocabulary and Art Movements Docent Resource Guide
(filigree) that is affixed to the surface in a in art history of recent origin, which focuses on design. The resulting areas (cloison) are filled the cultural background of an art object. Unlike with decorative enamel. connoisseurship, contextualism utilizes the Collage A technique in which cutout paper literature, history, economics and social forms (often painted or printed) are pasted onto developments of a period, as well as the object another surface in a composition. Also: an itself, to inform the meaning of an artwork. image created using this technique. Crosshatching A technique primarily used Collographa Printmaking process where in printmaking and drawing, in which a set of the artist constructs his plate using objects such parallel lines (hatching) is drawn across a as cardboard cut-outs, fabric, string, etc. They previous set, but from a different (usually are glued to a flat surface such as illustration right) angle. Cross-hatching gives a great board and inked. density of tone and allows the artist to create Colophon An inscription (postscript, poem the illusion of shadows efficiently. or comment) appended to a work of art or its Cycle A series of artworks depicting a mounting. Often, colophons provide important single story or theme and intended to be information about the history of the artwork displayed together. and how it and the artist were regarded. These Daguerreotype Invented by Louis writings could be by the artist, the recipient, or Daguerre, the first practical photographic later admirers. process. Image was a direct positive on a Complementary Color Colors opposite polished silvered copper plate sensitized with each other on the color wheel (red/green, blue/ Iodine and/or Bromine vapor. orange, yellow/ purple). When juxtaposed, Drypoint An intaglio printmaking process both colors appear brighter. When mixed where an image is drawn directly onto the together, they negate each other to make a metal plate with a ―needle‖. The incised line neutral gray-brown. creates a rough burr on the edges of the cut, Composition The arrangement of elements which holds the ink and gives the line a velvety in an artwork. quality. The depth and strength of the line Connoisseurship A term derived from the depends on the materials used, pressure exerted French word ―connoisseur‖, meaning ―expert‖, and the angle at which the tool is held. The and signifying the practice of art history based burr diminishes during successive printing, primarily on formal visual and stylistic therefore most drypoints come from analysis. A connoisseur studies ―the style‖ and small editions. technique of an object with an eye to deducing Edition A single printing of a book (or its relative quality and possible maker. print). An edition can be of differing numbers Content When discussing the work of art, but includes only the objects printed at a the term can include all of the following: its particular moment (and pulled from the same subject matter; the ideas contained in the work; press by the same publisher). the artist’s intention; and even its meaning for Enamel A technique in which powdered the beholder. glass is applied to a metal surface in a Contextualism A methodological approach decorative design. After firing, the glass forms 48 Art Reference: Vocabulary and Art Movements Docent Resource Guide
an opaque or transparent substance that is or distorted form, things perceived in the fused with the metal background. Also: any visible world (also representational art). object created with enamel technique. Folk Art Art and objects made by people Encaustic Painting technique originating in who are not artists using styles and materials ancient times, using pigment mixed with hot from where they live. wax as a binder. Foreground The area that is closest to the Engraving Intaglio method where lines are picture plane. cut into a hard surface such as wood, metal or Foreshortening The illusion created on a stone. Cuts are made with a graver, burin or flat painted or drawn surface in which figures other tool. A broad term, used to refer to any and objects appear to recede or project sharply intaglio print that is the result of having the into space. image inscribed by hand or mechanical means Form In speaking of art or architecture, the into the plate. (wood engraving is done on the term refers to purely visual components: line, end grain of a piece of wood). color, shape, texture, mass, spatial qualities, Etching An intaglio print where a ground and composition-all of which are called formal (thin coating of wax and asphaltum) is brushed elements or formal qualities. onto a metal plate (usually zinc, copper or Formalism The understanding, brass). The image is drawn onto the plate, appreciation, and valuation of art based on cutting through the ground. The plate is considerations of form. This approach regards immersed in an acid bath which eats away the an artwork as independent of its time and place metal wherever the ground has been removed. of making. A plate may be immersed several times, Fresco (buon or true) Painting done with allowing lines that are to be darker to etch mineral or earth pigments upon wet lime or longer. To print, the ground is wiped away and gypsum plaster. Base is a rough cast wall the plate is inked thoroughly so that the ink covered with a layer of plaster on which the goes into all the depressed areas. Then the composition is sketched in charcoal. Only plate is wiped clean. The paper is dampened so enough wet plaster is applied for a day’s work that it will reach into all of the lines of the plate allowing pigments to bond firmly with the when pressed through the printing press. plaster before drying. A secco fresco painting Expressionism, Expressionistic Terms is carried out on dried plaster. It can be done in describing a work of art in which forms are tempera with pigments in a medium of created primarily to evoke subjective emotions limewater. Easier to add details but much less rather than portray objective reality. permanent and frequently flakes off over time. Fan Two types of fans appear in Chinese Frottage A design produced by laying a painting. The first type is of silk mounted on a piece of paper over a relief or incised pattern rigid frame in a small round or oval shape. The and rubbing with charcoal or other second type, thefolding fan is made of paper soft medium. pressed into folds with thin sticks of bamboo Genre A type or category of artistic form, inserted for support. subject, technique, style or medium. Figurative Art Art that portrays in a natural Genre Painting A term used to loosely
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categorize paintings depicting scenes of Graphic Design A concern in the visual everyday life, including domestic interiors, arts for the geometric shape, line, and merry companies, inn scenes, and patterning, often especially apparent in works street scenes. including typography and lettering. Gesso A thick medium usually made from Hand Scroll A continuous horizontal glue, gypsum, and/or chalk and often forming surface of silk or paper on which to develop the ground, or priming layer, of a canvas or composition. Hand scrolls are meant to be board. A gesso ground gives a smooth surface viewed by only one or two people, and for painting and seals the absorbency of the unrolled from right to left two or three feet at a canvas or board. time. In this way, the viewer may ―travel‖ Gesturalism The motivation behind through a story or landscape that conveys a painting and drawing in which the brushwork progression of time. Separate papers or line visibly |records the artist’s physical containing titles or colophons may also be gesture at the moment the paint was applied or attached and the complete scroll mounted with the lines laid down. silk boards. A wooden dowel is attached on the Gilding The application of thin gold leaf to left end of the scroll and a semicircular rod at an object made from another medium, usually the other end. After viewing, the scroll is a sculpture or painting. Used as a decorative rolled up from left to right and secured finishing detail. with ties. Glazing In ceramics, a method of treating Hanging Scroll A vertical painting surface clay objects with an outermost layer of of paper or silk mounted with decorative silk vitreous liquid (glaze) that, upon firing, borders. A wooden rod is attached at the renders a waterproof and decorative surface. In bottom to give the scroll the necessary weight painting, a technique used with oil mediums in to hang smoothly on a wall, as well as a means which a transparent layer of paint (glaze) is of being rolled up for storage. A thin wooden laid over another, usually lighter, painted or strip with a cord is attached at the top for glazed area. hanging the scroll. The composition of a Golden Section A linear measurement said hanging scroll usually places the foreground at to be of ideal proportions, supposedly the bottom of the scroll with the middle and far discovered by the ancient Greeks. When the distances moving upward toward the top of the measurement is divided in two, the smaller scroll. Hanging scrolls are displayed only for part is the same proportion to the larger as the short periods of time and are then rolled up larger is to the whole. from bottom to top and secured with ties Gouache A type of opaque watercolor that for storage. has a distinct, chalky effect. History Painting The term used to denote Graphic Arts A term referring to those those paintings that include figures in any kind branches of the arts that utilize paper as of historical, mythological, or biblical primary support. Whether drawn, or printed, narrative. In western art since the Renaissance the graphic arts often have an emphasis on (until the 20th cen.), history painting was linear means of expression. considered the noblest form of art, as they 50 Art Reference: Vocabulary and Art Movements Docent Resource Guide generally conveyed a high moral or intellectual bath to cut the lines into the metal that hold ink idea, and often adopted a grand pictorial style. below the plate’s surface. Sub-categories of Horizon Line A horizontal ―line‖ formed intaglio prints: etching, engraving, drypoint, by the actual or implied meeting point of the aquatint and mezzotint. earth and sky. In scientific perspective, the Kiln An oven designed to produce enough vanishing point or points are located on heat for the baking, or firing, of clay. this line. Kinetic Art Art that incorporates an Hue Pure color—the saturation or intensity element of mechanical or random movement or of the hue depends on the purity of the color. which gives the illusion of movement by use of The value depends on its lightness optical techniques. and darkness. Landscape Painting A painting in which Icon Painting by Greek or Russian a natural outdoor scene or vista is the Orthodox believer; usually on a panel and primary subject. generally of a religious subject strictly Linear, Linearity A descriptive term prescribed by tradition and using a prescribed indicating an emphasis on line, as opposed to pattern of representation. mass or color. Iconography The study of the significance Lithograph Planographic printing process and interpretation of the subject matter of art. based on the antipathy of grease and water. An Idealization A process through which image is drawn on a stone or plate with a artists strive to make their forms and figures greasy crayon (tusche). The flat surface is attain perfection, based on pervading cultural treated by a solution of gum arabic, water and values or their own mental image of what the nitric acid that sets the drawing, freeing the ideal is. grease in the crayon and allowing it to be Illumination A painting on paper or parch- absorbed into the stone. The greasy image ment used as illustration and/or decoration for becomes more receptive to the ink, and the manuscripts or albums. Usually done in rich blank areas more resistant to it. The image is colors, often supplemented by gold and other then wiped off with turpentine so that only a precious materials. Also: the technique of faint image remains. To print, the stone is decorating manuscripts with such paintings. dampened, then inked and the image ―comes Illusionism, Illusionistic An appearance of up‖. Lithograph paper is laid flat on the stone reality in art created by the use of certain and the stone is rolled through the press. pictorial means, such as perspective and Lost Wax Casting (cir-perdue) A method foreshortening. Also: the quality of having of casting metal, such as bronze, by a process this type of appearance. in which a wax mold is covered with clay and Inlay A decorative process in which pieces plaster, then fired, melting the wax and leaving of one material are set into the surface of an a hollow form. Molten metal is then poured object fashioned from a different material. into the hollow space and slowly cooled. When Intaglio (It.: To cut into or incise) Category the hardened clay and plaster exterior shell is of printing where the artist cuts into a metal removed, a solid metal form remains to be plate with a sharp tool, and/or using an acid smoothed and polished. 51 Art Reference: Vocabulary and Art Movements Docent Resource Guide
Maquette (Fr.: model) A small, 3D sketch, separated from the whole for the purposes of usually roughly finished, for a sculpture. copying or study. Matte A surface that is smooth but without Mural Any painting done directly on shine or luster. a wall. Medium (Media) In general, the material Naturalism, Naturalistic A style of from which any given object is made. In depiction in which the physical appearance of painting, the liquid substance in which the rendered image in nature is the primary pigments are suspended to create paint. inspiration. A naturalistic work appears to Mezzotint Intaglio technique in which resemble visible nature. surface of a plate is roughened with a curved Negative Space Empty or open space serrated tool called a rocker which makes within or bounding a painting, sculpture, or indentations in the plate. The surface retains architectural design. Negative space the ink and prints a dark background. emphasizes the overall form of the work. Technique differs from etching in that artist is Niello An inlay technique in which a black working from dark to light. To achieve lighter sulfur alloy is rubbed into fine lines engraved areas, the image is burnished or polished out of into a metal (usually gold on silver). The alloy the textured surface. becomes fused with the surrounding metal Middle Ground The area that takes up the when heated, and provides contrasting detail. middle distance of the image. Non-Representational (or Non-Objective) Mobile Work of art constructed of moving Art that rejects any attempt to reproduce the parts, hanging or standing, which can be either appearance of the natural world. wind-driven or mechanically powered. Form Oil Painting Any painting executed with continually changes as each shift creates new the pigments floating in a medium of oil. Oil sets of relationships. paint has properties that allow for greater ease Modeling In painting, the process of or working (slow drying time, which allows creating the illusion of three-dimensionality on for correcting and a great range of relative a two dimensional surface by use of light and opaqueness of paint layers, which permits a shade. In sculpture, the process of molding high degree of detail and luminescence). a three dimensional form out of a Oil Sketch An oil painting, usually on a malleable substance. small scale, intended as a preliminary stage for Monumental A term used to designate a the production of a larger work. Oil sketches project or object that, whatever its physical are often very painterly in technique. size, gives an impression of grandeur, Orthogonal Any line running back into the excellence and simplicity. represented space of a picture perpendicular Mosaic A method of creating designs with to the imagined picture plane. In linear small colored stone or glass pieces (tesserae), perspective, all orthogonals converge at a which are affixed to a cement surface. vanishing point. Motif Any discreet element of a design or Panel Painting Any painting executed on a composition, especially those that can be easily wood support. The wood is planed down to
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provide a smooth surface and easy two-dimensional surface by delineating a transportation. A panel can consist of several horizon line and multiple orthogonal lines. boards joined together. These recede to meet at one or more points on Pastel A drawing material in stick or crayon the horizon (called vanishing points), giving form. Composed of dry pigment, chalk, and the appearance of spatial depth. Called gum, pastel imparts soft color tones to scientific or mathematical because its use drawings. Also: any work composed of requires some knowledge of geometry and pastel materials. mathematics, as well as optics. Pentimento Part of a picture that has been Perspective, Reverse A Byzantine over-painted by the artist but which has perspective theory in which the orthogonals or become visible again, often as a ghostly rays of sight do not converge on a vanishing outline, because the layers of pigment have point in the picture, but are thought to originate become transparent through age. in the viewer’s eye in front of the picture. Perspective A system for reproducing three- Thus, in reverse perspective the image is dimensional space on a flat surface. There are constructed with orthogonals that diverge, several different techniques. giving a slightly tipped aspect to objects. Perspective, Atmospheric A method of Picture Plane The theoretical spatial plane rendering the effect of spatial distance on a two corresponding with the actual surface of -dimensional plane by subtle variations in a painting. color and clarity of representation. Piece Mold casting-a casting technique in Perspective, Intuitive A method of which the mold consists of several sections that representing three-dimensional space on a two- are connected together during the pouring of dimensional surface by the use of formal molten metal, usually bronze. After the cast elements that act to give the impression of form has hardened, the pieces of the mold are recession. This impression, however, is then disassembled, leaving the completed achieved by visual instinct, not by the use of an object. Because it is made in pieces, the mold overall system of scientific or mathematic can be used again. principles, for depicting the appearance of Pieta (It.: pity) representation of the dead spatial depth. Christ lying in the lap of the mourning Virgin. Perspective, Oblique An intuitive spatial Plasticity The three-dimensional quality of system used in painting, in which a building or an object or the degree to which any object can room is placed with one corner in the picture be modeled, shaped, or altered. plane, and the other parts of the structure all Pluralism An adjective describing the state recede to an imaginary vanishing point on its of having many valid contemporary styles other side. Oblique perspective is not a available at the same time to artists. comprehensive, mathematical system. Polychromy Multicolored painted decora- Perspective, One-Point and Multiple-Point tion applied to buildings, sculptures, or pieces (also called linear, scientific, or mathematical of furniture. perspective) A method of creating the Porcelain A type of extremely hard and fine illusion of three-dimensional space on a pottery made from a mixture of kaolin and 53 Art Reference: Vocabulary and Art Movements Docent Resource Guide
other minerals. Porcelain is fired at a very high reliefs are created. Thin sheets of metal are heat, and the final product has a translucent gently hammered from the back to create a surface. primary colors: blue, red, and yellow, protruding image. the three colors from which all others Representational Any art that depicts the are derived. external, natural world in a visually Primitivism Any art which deliberately understandable way. adopts primitive characteristics. Restrike Intaglio plates are usually marked Provenance The history of ownership of a after an edition is closed or after the death of work of art from the time of its creation to an artist. Sometimes, however, the plates are the present. found and another edition is made with them. Punchwork Decorative designs that are This type of printing is unethical and, although stamped onto a surface, such as metal or still originals, are called restrikes. leather, using a punch (a handheld Sometimes there is authorization for such a metal implement). posthumous printing. Raku A type of ceramic pottery made by Revivalism The practice of using older hand, coated with a thick glaze and fired at low styles and modes of expression in a heat. The resulting vessels are irregularly conscious manner. shaped and glazed. Raku ware is used in the Romanticism Artists commitment to Japanese tea ceremony. expression of feelings/emotion and to the Realism The representation in art of things individual sovereign right of expression. and experiences as they appear to be in actual, School of Artists An art historical term visible reality. describing a group of artists, usually working Relief Print A category of printmaking around the same time and sharing similar where image is printed from raised surface as styles, influences, and ideals. The artists in a opposed to the incised surface of the intaglio particular school may not be directly print. Cutting away part of the surface reveals associated with one another. the image. What is left is inked and printed Scumble Painting technique in which a (ex. woodcuts and wood engravings, layer of opaque color is brushed lightly over a rubber stamps). previous layer of another color in a way that Relief Sculpture A sculpted image or the lower layer is only partly obliterated and design whose flat background surface is carved shows through irregularly. away to a certain depth, setting off the figure. Sculpture in the Round Three-dimensional Called high or low (bas) depending upon the sculpture that is carved free of any attaching extent of projection of the image from the background or block. background. Called sunken relief when the Serigraph A silkscreen print where the image is modeled below the original surface of artist prepares a tightly stretched screen, the background, which is not cut away. usually of silk and blocks out areas not to be Replica A very close copy of a painting printed. The mesh of the screen can be blocked or sculpture. by a varnish-like substance or stencils. Paper is Repoussé A technique by which metal placed under the screen and ink is forced 54 Art Reference: Vocabulary and Art Movements Docent Resource Guide through the open areas of the mesh with a Still Life A type of painting that features squeegee, creating the image below. Each inanimate objects (food, dishes, fruit, or color of a serigraph requires a different screen. flowers) as its subject. Sfumato (It.: smoky) blending of tones or Stucco A mixture of lime, sand, and other colors so subtly that they melt into one another ingredients into a material that can be easily without perceptible transitions. molded or modeled. When dry, it produces a Shade Any area of an artwork that is shown durable surface used for covering walls, through various technical means to be in architectural sculpture and decoration. shadow. Also: the technique of making such an Style A particular manner, form, or effect. Also, hue with black added. character of representation, construction, or Sinopia Reddish-brown chalk used for expression typical of an individual artist or of under drawing of a fresco and also the term for a certain school or period. the drawing itself. Stylization A manner of representation that Slip A mixture of clay and water applied to conforms to an intellectual or artistic idea a ceramic object as a final decorative coat. rather than to naturalistic appearances. Also: a solution that binds different parts of a Sugar Lift An aquatint where the image is vessel together, such as the handle and the drawn on the clean plate with a brush using a main body. saturated sugar solution. Once the plate is dry, Soft-Ground Etching An intaglio print the plate is completely covered with a thinned technique where the ground is mixed with out asphaltum. Once the asphaltum has dried, tallow, or Vaseline, so that it remains soft and the entire plate is immersed in water. The sugar sensitive to pressure and will impart more solution literally lifts off the layer of textures to the image during the print process. asphaltum, exposing bare metal where the A drawn line through soft ground will etch image has been drawn. The plate can then be more coarsely than one through hard ground. aquatinted and bitten in acid. An intaglio If an image is drawn onto a plate from a paper printmaking process. overlay, the soft ground will pick up the Tapestry A decorated piece of woven texture of the paper and give the etched lines a fabric hung from a wall or placed on a piece grainy, crayon-like effect. of furniture. Spit-Bite An aquatint where acid is directly Tempera A painting medium made by applied on selected areas, usually with a brush blending egg yolks with water, pigments and to achieve an soft, watercolor effect. An occasionally glue. intaglio printmaking process. Terra Cotta A medium made from clay Stained Glass A decorative process in fired over a low heat and usually left unglazed. glassmaking by which glass is given a color Also: the orange-brown color typical of (whether intrinsic in the material or painted this medium. onto the surface). Stained glass is most often Tint The dominant color in an object, used in windows, for which small pieces of image, or pigment. Also: a color plus white. differently colored glass are cut and assembled Tintype Photograph on small plate of tinned into a design, held together by lead cames. iron. Invented in 1853. Easier to handle than
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glass negatives or positives and the photograph Warp In any fabric, the fixed and thicker could be completed in a few minutes. threads set up on a loom to provide the frame- Tone The overall degree of brightness or work through which the thinner weft threads darkness in an artwork, often combined with a are taken. particular hue. Wash A diluted watercolor. Often washes Triptych Picture made of 3 panels, the two are applied to drawings or prints to add tone or outer ones usually hinged so that they fold like touches of color. doors in front of the main scene. Watercolor A type of painting using water Undercutting A technique in sculpture by soluble pigments that are floated in a water which a form is carved to project outward, medium to make a transparent paint. The then under. Undercutting gives a highly three- technique of watercolor is most suited to a dimensional effect with deep shadows behind paper support. the forms. Weft Threads thinner than the fixed threads Value The relative relationships in a of the warp, and crossing them at right angles painting between darks and lights, as well as to make a woven fabric. How they cross the differing hues. warp determines the pattern. Vanishing Point In a perspective system, Woodcut A relief print made by cutting into the point on the horizon line at which the side grain of a block of wood. Artist’s orthogonals meet. drawings can be drawn directly on the wood or Veneer In architecture, the exterior facing transferred to it. The wood is then carefully cut of a building, often in decorative patterns of away with sharp tools, leaving the drawing as fine stone or brick. In decorative arts, the thin a raised image. The block is then inked and exterior layer for decoration laid over wooden applied to absorbent paper for printing. objects or furniture. Made of fine materials Art Movements such as rare wood, ivory, metal, and Abstract Expressionism A consciously semiprecious stones. American style of art which emerged in New Volumetric A term indicating the concern York during the 1940s and continued until the for rendering the impression of three- late 1950s. Two categories: ―calligraphic,‖ dimensional volumes in painting, usually with freely scribbled marks covering the whole achieved through modeling and the manipula- surface; or ―iconic,‖ where the composition is tion of light and shadow. dominated by a single usually centralized Wall Painting A large-scale painting form. Also called Action Painting. KIA work: intended for a particular interior space, usually Franz Kline’s, Red Crayon. as part of a scheme for interior decoration. American Scene Painting Painting of the Ware A general term designating the 1920s and 30s, committed to a realistic different techniques by which pottery is depiction of American life, mostly small town produced and decorated. Different wares and rural, rather than urban subjects. Much of utilize different procedures to achieve different its subject matter is in the rural Midwest. KIA decorative results. work: John DeMartelly’s Looking at Sunshine.
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Appropriation Art In the 1980s, artists WWI. Using rapid sketches of scenes of began to appropriate (to take or make use of everyday city life, they painted slum life, but without permission) images from diverse their main interest was the picturesque aspects sources such as art history, mythology and the rather than the social issues they raised. mass-media. Artists combined pre-existing Barbizon School A group of French images with their own work or presented the landscape painters who lived and worked in appropriated image as their own. KIA work: the village of Barbizon (1835-1870). They Jerry Kearns’ Right of Way. made sketches out of doors and finished Art Brut (Raw Art) A term invented by paintings in their studios. Their style was quite French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art by realistic and sentimental, often idealizing the non-professional artists, particularly art created French peasant and country life. by children, psychotics, etc. where the artistic Baroque A term coined by art historians to impulse seems to appear in a ―raw state‖. describe the prevailing style in W. European Art Deco An eclectic artistic and design art from c.1580-18th century. Although style that began in Paris in the 1920s and associated with the Catholic Counter flourished internationally throughout the 1930s Reformation, Baroque art is any art that shows and 40s. The style influenced all areas of qualities of vigorous movement, emotional design, including architecture and interior intensity, and dramatic contrasts of light design, industrial design, fashion and jewelry and dark. as well as visual arts such as painting, graphic Bauhaus A school of architecture and arts and film. Art Deco represented elegance, applied arts which was the center of modern glamour, functionality and modernity. The design in Germany during the 1920s and term ―Art Deco‖ was not coined until played a key role in establishing the relation- the 1960s. ship between design and industrial techniques. Arts and Crafts Movement An Color Field Painting Abstract paintings international design philosophy that originated that feature large expenses of un-modulated in England and flourished between 1860 and color. Developed in the U.S. in the late 1910, continuing until 1930s. The philosophy 1940s-1950s. KIA work: Helen advocated traditional craftsmanship using Frankenthaler’s Code Blue. simple forms and often medieval, romantic or Conceptual Art Art of the 1960s, 70s, and folk styles. It is also considered anti-industrial. 80s, based on one or more of the following Art Nouveau An exaggeratedly asymmet- principals: 1) Art consists of basic ideas which rical decorative style, which spread through do not have to be embodied in a physical form. Europe, from 1880 to 1920. It makes use of 2) Language becomes the basic material of art. undulating forms of all kinds and was a 3) Artistic activity becomes an inquiry into rejection of 19th century Historicism, as well the nature of art itself. KIA work: Patrick as an offshoot of the Symbolism and Arts and Ireland’s Promenade. Crafts movement. KIA works: Tiffany vases. Contemporary Art Art produced after Ash Can School A group of eight the Modern Period (after WWII). Also: American painters working from 1908 to ―contemporary art‖ is any art produced in the
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current times. KIA work: Lorna Chicago artists founded in 1966, specializing Simpson’s Odds. in 2D art. KIA work: Gladys Nilsson’s Sheets Constructivism Russian art movement that of Rain. aimed to make art a detached scientific Hudson River School A group of North investigation of abstract properities (picture American painters active from 1820-1850, surface, construction, line and color). whose chief subject matter was the scenery of Cubism An attempt to represent fully on a the Hudson River Valley and the Catskills flat surface, all aspects of what the artist sees Mountains. KIA work: Robert Scott in three dimensions. KIA work: Charles Duncanson’s Heart of the Andes. Alston’s Untitled (Couple). Impressionism A movement in painting Dada An art movement begun in Europe originating in 1860s in France and comprised and America in 1922, characterized by a revolt of a loose association of artists linked by against traditional values. Emphasis was given similar approaches–style and subject matter to the illogical and the absurd, and the (the objective recording of contemporary importance of chance was exaggerated. Dada French life). artists did not cultivate a particular style, but Junk Art Art constructed from worthless went to extremes in provocative behavior to materials, refuse, rubbish and urban waste. disrupt public complacency. Luminism Polished and meticulous realism Earth Art Term used from mid-1960s to in which there is no sign of brushwork or describe works of art which made use of impressionism. The atmospheric effects are natural materials such as earth, rocks, turf achieved by careful gradations of tone, by and snow. exact study of relative clarity of near and far Fauvism A style of painting based on the objects and by a precise rendering of variations use of vivid, non-realistic colors and bold, in texture and color produced by directed or apparently crude draughtsmanship dating from reflected light rays. between 1900 to WWI. Mannerism A term coined in the 20th Futurism Originally a literary movement century to describe European art from founded in 1909, embracing sculpture, 1515-1610. Typified by stylistic trickery and architecture, music, theatre and photography. liking for bizarre effects, such as elongated Its aim was to break with the past and its figures and unusual poses. academic culture and to celebrate modern Minimalism Movement in the 1960s in technology, dynamism and power. which artists abandoned all pretensions at Gothic Style characterized chiefly in terms either expressiveness or illusion. Art is of architecture, in particular by the use of generally 3D and either shaped by chance or pointed arches, flying buttresses and elaborate made up of simple geometric forms often used tracery. Term is also applied to ornament, repetitively. KIA work: Beverly Pepper’s sculpture, and painting of period when Torre Piene nel Vuoto. Gothic architecture was prevalent (mid Modernism General name given to 12th-16th century). succession of avant-garde styles of art and Hairy Who Name adopted by group of architecture which have dominated Western 58 Art Reference: Vocabulary and Art Movements Docent Resource Guide
culture throughout the 20th century Orphism Short-lived movement in French (1900-1950s). KIA work: Richard Pousette- painting that developed out of Cubism (1912). Dart’s By the Sea. Color was made the principal means of artistic Nabis (Hebrew “prophets”) Group of expression and pictures were totally French artists founded in 1888 under the non-representational. influence of Gaugauin’s work at Pont-Aven in Pop Art Art which makes use of the Brittany. Mingled Gauguin’s doctrines imagery of consumerism and mass culture (e.g. concerning expressive (vs. realistic) color with comic strips, pin-ups and packaging), with a ideas borrowed from Symbolism (also called mixture of irony and celebration. Began in the Pont-Aven school). 1950s and was a major influence into the Naturalism An artistic tendency prevailing 1960s. KIA work: Andy Warhol’s Gerald Ford throughout Europe in the second half of the or General Custer. 19th century which led painters to become Post-Impressionism General term to more interested in the depiction of ordinary describe work of late 19th century European life and the natural world around them. artists who developed various styles away Neo-Classicism Style of decoration based from Impressionism. on ancient Greek and Roman examples which Post-Modernism Term used to describe the appeared in the 1750s as a reaction to the plethora of artistic styles that formed in the late excesses of the Rococo and which was 20th century (1950s-present). KIA works: Jack established by the 1770s. Characterized by a Beal’s Sense of Smell; Richard Diebenkorn’s preference for the linear and symmetrical and Sleeping Woman. for flatness rather than plasticity. KIA work: Precisionism School of North American Edmonia Lewis’ Marriage of Hiawatha. artists (c.1915), who painted industrial scenes Neo-Expressionism Violent figurative art, and architectural motifs in simple, formal, largely a revival of early 20th century German clean-cut way, usually avoiding human Expressionist forms, manifested itself in the reference, thus making representational work U.S., Italy and especially W. Germany during seem almost abstract. the late 1970s. Pre-Raphaelites Group of English artists, New York School Name given to those who in 1848 formed the Pre-Raphaelite artists working in New York City in the 1940s. Brotherhood (PRB), to produce work in the Group included Abstract Expressionists but manner of Italian artists. The movement was also other artists working in different styles. a mixture of romantic medievalism and a KIA work: Franz Kline’s Red Crayon. realistic depiction of nature. It was Op Art Abstract art movement of the 1960s instrumental in creating the Arts and concerned with certain optical phenomena Crafts movement. which cause a work to seemingly vibrate, Primitivism Russian art movement pulsate or flicker. KIA work: Donald c. 1905-20 which combined influences from Willett’s Red #1. Russian Folk Art with ideas borrowed from Cubism and Futurism.
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Realism 19th century art movement depicted in minute and impersonal exactitude characterized by a rebellion against traditional of detail. Also called Hyperrealism or historical, mythological and religious subjects Photographic Realism. KIA work: Mark in favor of un-idealized scenes of modern life. Sijan’s Security Guard. Regionalism American art movement Surrealism Art movement originating in during the 1930s and early 40s. Motivation France that flourished in the 1920s and 30s. derived from patriotic desire to establish a Characterized by fascination with the bizarre, genuine American art by utilizing American incongruous and irrational. Dadaism was its subject matter. Also moved by the desire to principle source, although it also drew liberally glorify and record rural and small town life, from Freud’s theories about the subconscious especially in the Midwest and South. KIA and its relation to dreams. work: John DeMartelly’s Looking at Sunshine. Symbolism Loosely organized movement Renaissance A cultural and artistic flourishing in 1880s and 1890s. Main precept movement marked by a greater command of was that color and line in themselves could anatomy and the techniques of linear and express ideas. Artists also stressed suggestion atmospheric perspective, as well as and evocation over direct description and increasingly secular subject matter, with explicit analogy. Religious feeling of an themes taken from classical legend, history and intense mythical kind was a feature of the religion (14th-16th centuries). movement but so was an interest in the erotic Rococo A lighter, more playful version of and perverse. Death, disease and sin were the Baroque, associated with the reign of Louis favorite subjects. XV in France. Typified by asymmetry, use of Synthetism Manner of painting associated florid S-curves and C-scrolls and the with Pont-Aven painters involving a naturalistic motifs derived from rocks, shells simplification of forms into large-scale and plants. More immediately identifiable in patterns and expressive purification of color. the decorative arts than architecture or painting. Popular in the 1880s. Romanticism 18th century revolt Wiki Page (KIA) The KIA has an online movement against formality, containment and Wiki page dedicated to Docents. The URL is: intellectual discipline of Neo-Classicism. http://kiadocentresources.wikispaces.com/. On Eventually modulated into Realism. the Wiki page, docents will find final assign- Stijl, De Name of a group of Dutch artists ments from previous candidate docents, and founded in 1917 and of a journal they papers written by docents about pieces in the published to discuss their ideas. Sought laws of Permanent Collection throughout the years. equilbrium and harmony applicable to life and WPA/FAP (1935) (Works Progress society as well as art. Style was one of austere Administration/Federal Art Project) abstract clarity, most often seen in architecture Program established by the U.S. government (International Style) and furniture design. under the New Deal legislation in 1935. Under Super Realism Style of painting and the FAP, artists were hired to produce works of sculpture, popular particularly in Britain and art for tax-supported institutions, mostly large U.S. from the late 1960s in which subjects are murals for government buildings. 60 Docent Resource Guide Building and Gallery Map
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