Georgia Museum of Art Seeks New Volunteer Docents

Docents at the Georgia Museum of Art help lead tour groups of all ages

In addition to the programs, exhibitions and special events that visitors enjoy at the Georgia Museum of Art each week, there is currently another unique opportunity to get involved at the museum. We are accepting applications for volunteer docents, who help lead museum tours. Through these tours, docents help museum visitors feel welcome and comfortable, enhance their educational experience and facilitate relevant connections with works of art.

The ideal candidate for our docent program has a passion for art and is looking to share that passion with groups of all ages. There are no age or education requirements for this position, as we have had docents ranging from students to retirees. All of our volunteer docents are key in contributing to the success of the museum.

Applicants do not have to worry if they do not have a strong background in art or education, as all training is provided. This program requires a 2-year commitment, 12 tours per each year and continuing education attendance on select Monday mornings. The training program allows docents to learn tour techniques, shadow experienced docents and eventually practice their own tours.

If you are currently a student, you can apply for our student docent corps, which requires a fall and spring semester commitment, 12 tours and continuing-education attendance on select Thursday evenings.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer docent, you can contact Sage Kincaid at sagekincaid@uga.edu or 706.542.0448 for more information. You may also click here to fill out our online docent application or here to fill out our student docent application.

Art Adventures!

This summer, the Georgia Museum of Art holds host to groups of bite size detectives—art detectives that is. The theme of this summer’s Art Adventures, a program for larger groups such as day camps or day-care centers, is Museum Mysteries. In the interactive, educational program designed by previous intern Caroline Warner, local elementary-school-aged children learn how to answer questions about art and even create some of their own.

The young investigators begin their adventure with an interactive tour of objects in the museum’s permanent collection, where they will answer questions such as “who,” “what,” “when” and “where.” Docents, members of the education department and education interns lead the tours with an interrogative theme in attempts to engage the kids; props, signs and duplications of the art also help maintain interest. While collaborating on what seems like simple questions, the kids are essentially learning how to interpret and evaluate art.

After the tour, the group walks together to the classroom, where the education department has set up pieces of fabric and supplies for kids to create their own individual works of art based on the questions asked during the tour. After everyone completes their fabric art, the pieces are put together to create a collaborative object for the group’s classroom or community center.          

Watching the young sleuths apply what they learned—how to ask and answer questions about art—to their own crafts is evidence of their education. The program will run through June and July.  

GMOA Docents

Every Wednesday at 2 p.m., one of the museum’s 24 active docents leads a tour of the permanent and temporary exhibition galleries. Volunteers range from students to retirees but share a love of art and people. Although no formal experience is required, volunteers are required to go through an application and interview process, and typically maintain a personal interest in art. They then make a minimum two-year commitment to represent the museum by giving tours, among other activities. The first year consists solely of a training program that continues throughout their relationship with the docent program. During this first year, volunteers learn tour techniques, shadow experienced docents and eventually practice their own tours. Because tours bring in a variety of visitors, this time and practice allow docents to be flexible enough to alter and adjust tours to suit the visitors’ needs.

 

Julia Sanks, a veteran docent at the museum, quickly realized that a small group of two young boys and their mother would appreciate a different approach to the typical “Tour at Two” than a larger, adult audience. Sanks smoothly set her more in-depth notes aside and engaged the young visitors by asking them to verbalize their responses and observations. After close to 11 years of affiliation with the museum, Sanks is comfortable molding herself to the needs of her audience.

“I’ve been here for around 11 years, but all docents, including myself, have to commit to training every week; there is always more to learn,” said Sanks.

Kitty Donnan utilized this same flexibility when she gave a tour of the permanent and temporary galleries to around 15 visitors from Hong Kong, China. Donnan gave an eloquent synopsis of art composition and history; because the visitors were interested in local history, she also drew attention to local artists and subjects like George Cooke’s “Tallulah Falls” and a self-portrait of Lamar Dodd. As an avid traveler, Donnan easily connected with the group not only as an art enthusiast, but also as a visitor to Hong Kong. She has traveled to places like the Louvre in Paris and the Vatican, although her favorite visit was to the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Donnan looks forward to the exhibition “Exuberance of Meaning: The Art Patronage of Catherine the Great,” and its display of Russian art.

Docents don’t always wait for visitors to come to the museum. Docents participate in “suitcase tours,” an outreach program that caters to grades K-3 in the Athens-Clarke County area. These programs consist of volunteers literally packing up a suitcase of art reproductions, games and interactive activities to evoke students’ interest in art. On a more social level, some docents also choose to participate in the docent book club, which meets once a month to discuss books relating to art and art history. Both activities reflect the heart of the program, which consists of a love of art and a desire to share it.

For students interested in becoming docents, Carissa DiCindio, curator of education, will be teaching the special topics course ARED 5230/7230: Engaging Art Museum Audiences as Student Docents in the fall. The course will not only focus on the museum’s collections, but also on the complexities of art interpretation and how to facilitate interaction and dialogue within tours. The one-year commitment for students includes a semester of training within the course and a semester of participation at the museum. The special topics course will frequently be held in the galleries to encourage comfort and familiarity with the collection. 

Those interested in becoming a student or community docent should visit the GMOA website for more information: http://georgiamuseum.org/give/volunteer.  

Suitcase Tours

Docent Kitty Donnan got us this wonderful photograph of Mrs. Worthington's first-grade class at Oconee County Primary School, where our docents have been visiting all the first-graders for the last two weeks, bringing our Suitcase Tours to teach kids about art.

Suitcase Tours are a traveling tour for elementary schools in the Athens area inspired by hthe museum's founder and first director, Alfred Heber Holbrook. Mr. Holbrook used to take his collection of 19th- and 20th-century paintings throughout Georgia in his “Artmobile” and share them with schools and communities around the state. Suitcase Tours are designed for students in grades K-3 and feature the works of five artists from the museum's permanent collection. Through a discussion of these paintings and related hands-on activities, students learn about the elements of art and gain a better understanding of how to look and talk about art. Follow-up activities and information about the museum are included. These presentations are 50 minutes long, free and limited to 30 students per presentation. For more information or to schedule a Suitcase Tour, please contact the education department at the Georgia Museum of Art at 706.542.GMOA (4662).

Update to Full House Blog Post

O.C. Carlisle, one of GMOA's docents, has work featured in "Botanical Symphony," an exhibition that goes with Full House 2010 at the Lyndon House Arts Center. The reception takes place tomorrow from 7 to 9 p.m.

Read our other post about Full House 2010 for more information.

Docents Book Club

GMOA's docents are staying active with their book club while the museum is under construction! This photo is from their meeting in Highlands, N.C.

In Memoriam

We were so sad to learn that one of our most wonderful volunteers, Kate Howell, passed away unexpectedly over the weekend. Kate not only spent countless hours helping in our library, but also helped start the docent program at the Georgia Museum of Art, and we will miss her very much. Her obituary in the Athens Banner-Herald is here, and gives details on services. Thankfully, we have a great volunteer spotlight by which to remember her, written by the current publications department intern, Stephanie Kingsley. The article ran in the Winter 09 issue of the GMOA newsletter and a scan of it appears below (click on it to enlarge), in case you did not receive that issue or no longer have it. Stephanie did an amazing job documenting Kate's incredible life, and while the piece wasn't intended to serve as a memorial, it will let us remember a devoted volunteer and a fascinating woman.

Day Trip to Atlanta

Tuesday, April 7, the Collectors and the GMOA docents will be taking a day trip to Atlanta that includes:

1. A morning visit to the home of Jack Sawyer and William Torres to view their collection.
2. Luncheon at Ted's Montana Grill in Midtown
3. An afternoon visit to the High Museum of Art to see the exhibition The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army

Cost for the whole day, which includes transportation, lunch and admission to the High, is $90. The group will depart from the visitor parking lot of the Georgia Museum of Art on Carlton Street at 8 a.m. and return to Athens at approximately 5 p.m. R.S.V.P. to 706.542.0830 by April 2, and follow this link for more information about becoming a member of the Collectors.