Art Museum Docents Attend Symposium in Denver

Art Museum docents and education staff outside the Denver Art Museum.

Photo courtesy of the Art Museum.

UW Art Museum Docents attended the Denver Art Museum's (DAM) Volunteer Symposium on September 24 and 25. Docents Sue Ettema, Genevieve Legowski, Margaret Plumb, Karen Maxfield, Sid Walter, and Judy McBride, along with Art Museum educators Wendy Bredehoft and Heather Bender, attended sessions that presented new information on visitor trends, and ways to engage museum visitors. Workshops included "New Perspectives on Thinking about Traditional Arts" by Michael Cassin, Director of the Center for Education in the Visual Arts, The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute and "New Perspectives on Thinking about Contemporary Art" by Shelly Casto, Director of Education, The Wexner Center for the Arts.

These sessions provided lots of talking points over lunch and wherever the group convened. It was agreed that "museums are places that contain the most wonderful things in the world" (Cassin) and that "artists are people on a quest for knowledge" (Casto).

UAM Docents explored exhibits with DAM docents and other participants through gallery walks and discussions, putting into practice models for investigating traditional and contemporary art. Additional highlights of the trip included a visit to the exhibition, Tutankhamen: the Golden King and the Great Pharaohs, and the DAM's three gift shops.

For more information on the UW Art Museum's docent program, please call the education office at 307.766.3496.