Warm greetings, everyone! My name is Kay (they/them/theirs) and I am so excited to learn about your internship experiences and share more about mine, too.
Briefly, a bit more about me: I am an artist, teacher, and learner with a background in studio art (MFA, 2017) and an interest in teaching and programming in art museums. I work full time at UNT as a technician in the Foundations Program and I have been involved in the behind-the-scenes work at arts organizations like 500X Gallery in Dallas and the soon-to-be nonprofit Radical Intersectional Printmakers Guild. I find that collaborating on exhibitions, programming, teaching, and mentorship are incredibly enriching and things I aspire to do no matter my position!
My internship is a bit unconventional due to circumstances created by COVID-19, in addition to balancing my full time and part time positions, and taking courses. I am so grateful for this flexibility as I complete this certification!
For my internship, I applied to the nine-month Docent Training Program at the Amon Carter (the Carter) in Fort Worth. After interviewing and being accepted in January 2021, we started meeting as a class on Thursday, February 25th, 2021 and have met just about every Thursday each week since then. Additionally, we meet for education sessions with curators and other specialists to discuss the collection, operations, and Carter's values. Back in September, I was lucky enough to volunteer during the 60th Birthday Bash, too! I met so many champions of the Carter - from board members and trustees to emeritus docents. Interacting with the visitors was my favorite part though!
Initially, I was drawn to the Carter after seeing the collection in person a few times. There is more to the collection than what meets the eye and their dedication to education, programming, and working with contemporary artists really got my attention. My interest intensified after meeting curators Maggie Adler and Kristen Gaylord and hearing how they are working internally to challenge the traditional ways in which museums display collections. Their thoughtful approach to curation and exhibition design can be felt as you walk through each gallery at the Carter.
My cohort is comprised of 12-15 folks, majority of whom are retired, and a few of us still work full time. Each Thursday, we meet as a group to discuss what I like to call the "anatomy of a tour." That anatomy includes aspects such as, how to insightfully ask questions and deliver information; how to create a welcoming and inclusive environment; and how to balance historical contextual information with the visual qualities of an object. Our lead instructor, Nancy Strickland, also emphasizes the importance of integrating the values of the Carter into our tours. Similarly to teaching, a thoughtful tour can be quite complicated to craft!
Initially when I began the internship, my intentions were to develop a tour for visitors that 1. was impactful in such a short amount of time (1 hour spend with visitors) and 2. closely aligned with my teaching values. I hope to work on and hone the following skills during my internship:
- craft effective and engaging interpretation of artworks within the collection
- deliver historical content of art objects and find innovative ways for viewers to relate
- develop a tour that utilizes embodied and dialogic strategies
- integrate ways to connect with a diversity of museum visitors in my tour and interpersonal skills
Currently, I am finishing up my tour development and for the last month or so, all meetings have been spent presenting tour stops to each other and getting/giving critical feedback about what is working and what could be improved upon. The theme of my tour is "Choices: Radicalism in the Everyday." I am interested in using works where I can analyze significant and/or radical choices (made by the artist in life or in their aesthetic choices) that rejected prescribed traditionalism at the time in some way or another. I also want to encourage those on my tour to interpret the work without necessarily being right or wrong about the historical information. What questions can I ask that engage their individualized experiences? How can I encourage them to think more about the experience of seeing and making? How can I make this tour really fun and memorable!?
Lastly, finding overlaps between subtlety and the obvious (typically seen as direct opposites) are what I am drawn to. Yes, a still life painting can be radical!
Below are a few of the artworks I have used to develop tour stops:
Stuart Davis, Egg Beater No. 2, Oil on Canvas, 1928
John Singer Sargent, Alice Vanderbilt Shepard, Oil on Canvas, 1888
Robert Laurent, Plant Form, Stained Fruitwood from Direct Carving, 1924-28
Charles White, Love Letter III, Color Lithograph, 1977
Martin Johnson Heade, Thunder Storm on Narragansett Bay, Oil on Canvas, 1868
I'm very excited to present my tour in its entirety in November and begin touring each month at the Carter. Thank you for reading. I also can't wait to share more with y'all!
Wonderful Kay! Thank you for such a thoughtful introductory blog post. You did a lovely job of providing a thorough overview while also making me feel comfortable as a reader... you are going to be a natural in doing that with your visitors as a docent! I love the theme for your tour. I remember when you did your teaching demo in my class using two chairs at the DMA. I thought that was such a bold and "radical" move so I am not surprised to read about what your cool theme is for your tour :) I can't wait to hear more about it!
ReplyDeleteKay - "Choices: Radicalism in the Everyday" is such an interesting focus and I would love to hear more about how it interacts with some of the works you included. I know that the tour you gave us when the class visited the Amon Carter you had to switch artworks last minute so I'm not sure how much of your focus/goals we got to see (but I'm impressed with how strong your discussion leading was with the artwork change).
ReplyDeleteI would love to hear your version of the talk about "Love Letter III." When we were observing the educators working with the K12 groups (I don't remember what grade they were) I briefly got to see a group focus on that work and was interested in how the subject matter stood out from other works included on the tour.
I look forward to hearing more about your experiences in the spring!