How to Visit an Art Museum | The Art Assignment | PBS Digital Studios
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- Опубліковано 20 вер 2024
- Pre-order our book YOU ARE AN ARTIST (which includes new assignments!) here: bit.ly/2kplj2h In which we go to The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri, and give you some pointers on how to visit an art museum. Seems easy enough, but there are ways to maximize your experience. What are your museum tricks and tips? Let's talk about it in the comments!
Many thanks to The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art for giving us access to their wonderful institution. Their admission is free, but they can only do this because of donations and memberships. So while we joke that you should always find a way to get in for free, you should also consider supporting your local institutions whenever you can and in whatever way you can. This can be through membership, donations, attending events, or volunteering your time. (And if you happen to have an amazing art collection of your own, you should will it to a museum. Really. Your grandchildren won't appreciate it nearly as much as an entire city will for many generations to come.)
Learn more about the Kemper: www.kemperart.org.
And find out ways to support it: www.kemperart.....
My biggest tip is don't be afraid to go to a museum by yourself. I have visited a few art museums alone, and each time has been incredibly enjoyable. You get an opportunity to just go at you own pace, and you don't have to worry about the other people in your group moving on without you. I actually spent an entire Saturday at the Minneapolis Institute of Art by myself, and it was, hands down, my favorite museum trip.
I'm the same way. Much prefer to go to museums on my own. You know, or with Mark Olsen tailing me with a video camera.
I love going into galleries/museums on my own. It makes me slow down and take my time in each exhibition. I also, on occasion, look at the walls and imagine my own work on them. *blushes* Nothing wrong with dreaming big is there?
Aim high, my friend.
Same thing happened to me as a student (for free for High Schoolers and discount for college students ) at the Museum of Art Institute in Chicago. I found that going alone and studying the paintings really helped me be immersed in the story and the art. I recommend getting the apps or reading about the museum’s art pieces before or during your visit!
If you're scared to go along, too, I've found it nice to go with a friend and meet up at a certain time at the food court or gift shop, or just at the exit. You can also just text each other when you're done, and I also sometimes will recommend galleries over text to friends.
I always ask the museum guards for their favorite pieces. Not in a super assuming way, just in a chatty making-conversation kind of way. They are there all day, most of the time just standing quietly and keeping art safe. They spend so much time surrounded by art, but don't usually have a formal background in it. That's why they have the coolest opinions.
They likely appreciate it. I know I do!
I work at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto as a security guard, and I can a hundred percent confirm that guards love it when you ask for directions about gallery etiquette ("Can I take photos in here?" "Can I touch this?"). Please try to remember that we are there for your protection and that of the gallery.. so even those of us who are a bit grumpy do not mean any harm if we ask you to correct a certain behaviour.
Also, really don't be afraid to ask us questions! Most of us are friendly people who incidentally are incredibly bored. My favourite days at work are ones where patrons ask questions and engage with me about the art. I have a lot of time during the day to think about them, and always love hearing other people's thoughts.
If you are allowed, get close. See the hairs left in the paint from the brush, the strokes, the effort and texture!
I love this suggestion. Texture is so awesome to observe! I particularly enjoy it in oil paintings :)
Honestly, if you ask me, the closer you get to a painting, the more interesting the painting is. :)
Definitely, if you are allowed. The guards get nervous if you get closer than three feet from a Van Gogh, but most of the time a close look is totally worth it.
But please please PLEASE don't touch them!!! Please!
This is something I like to do, it adds a personal element to the piece. There are pieces which you have seen your whole life in various forms of publications, be it in a book, on a print or on TV, but actually getting up close to the picture makes you realise that someone actually did paint this with their own two hands and they left proof of this in the strokes and markings.
Whenever I go to a museum with people, such as with my wife, there is this unwritten rule where we don't follow each other, and we don't wait for each other. We might meet up later on, or keep a check on which room we are in, but we never try to wait for each other, and we don't let each other's route influence our own. Sometimes we can end at completely opposite ends of the gallery, accidentally meeting in the middle.
It's not something we decided about before hand, but rather it's that we mutually respect that we focus on different things and one of us will find something more interesting for different reasons than the other one.
We may discuss this sort of differences later. But while we as individuals are enjoying the piece, we don't allow it to get in the way of the others enjoyment.
Also another thing I really enjoy when visiting art museums is hearing how other people comment on the art, especially contemporary art. Hearing some people go into lengths on how its a very clever comment on a specific movement, and others just looking at it and laughing it even being considered art. And then there's those who just invent their own story to it, completely decontextualising the work and forcing a completely different angle on it.
I love listening to other people's comments in museums. Whether you have any art history knowledge or not, hearing what other people think about work can be really fascinating.
Don't be afraid to split away from the friends/family you came to the museum with if you want to stay longer or shorter at a particular piece than they do. Social viewings can be fun, but so can going solo.
I just learned this a few weeks ago. I realized how much more slowly I moved between pieces than my friends and quickly, they were galleries away while I was still in the first one. It was almost liberating to go about on my own, run into them once or twice before meeting up at the end and going backwards to point out and talk about our favorites.
I think whichever one you normally do, it's good to do the opposite every once in a while. I tend to like going through an exhibit on my own and not talking with the people I came with, but I saw a Joan Miro exhibit once with a friend, and I was so excited I kept coming up to her and talking her ear off about the pieces I was interested in. :)
Jenna W I have a group of public history friends from college and we like to go and see art and history museums together, and there are often times when we all just split up and go our own way and come back to point something out to each other and make commentary on the works. It's a lot of fun, and it's always interesting. Plus, there's always one or two of us that needs to sit down because, while we might have good shoes, we spend all of the day at the museum.
Agreed, I tend to prefer going solo. You don't feel as rushed to move through the galleries because you can just move at your own pace. Plus I tend to be one of the people who spend 6 hours at a museum and I have definitely almost broken the "don't forget to leave" rule many times.
Great point. I love going alone as well. It helps you form a better opinion and view that isn't too influenced by others. Plus you may get to meet more people.
My sister is an artist. One of her paintings is in a near by museum, but it costs money to go and see. So instead I go visit her house. Her paintings are all over the place. It is her own private museum that I am lucky enough to visit.
That's amazing! What kinds of things does she paint?
Kendall Pink Well her most recent series was about adopting her daughters, but the painting that made it into the museum was part of her famous dress series. She painted ballet dresses and Queens dresses. They are all really lovely.
Xenolilly Whats her name? Or the name of one of her pieces?
She's not famous. Although she has been working for years.She only achieved museum success by winning an annual contest. I'll have to ask her to let me make a video of some of her work for you guys.
I've finally visited my local art gallery and I just had the most rewarding experience ever. I took all your advice to heart and managed to meet the curator, who was just so lovely and humorous, meet one of the artists and talked about his work, and I got an invite for the opening of their next exhibition. It was all so un-real and inspiring :D
Just seeing your comment--that's so cool! Glad you had such an excellent visit.
The Art Assignment and it was all thanks to you :)
Please take guide tours (most of them are free)!! A lot of people don't realise the wonderful stories and and interesting connections docents/gallery guides can help you make. I always get the most fulfilled experience at museums when I take tours. I am also a museum gallery guide myself and I promise it'll be worth it!
This may be dumb, but I'd like a video or possibly series on interpreting contemporary art. I don't "get" a lot of it and I'd like to be able to, at least, have a better idea as to why certain pieces are interesting.
For instance, the piece on the left at 1:14. Why is this in a gallery (obviously someone much smarter than I put it there, so it SHOULD be, but why?)? It doesn't seem complicated or overly interesting to me as a person not knowing what to look for.
Micah Murray
see this is what I was going to put in my tips in museums. If you want to know why it was chosen or what the artist thinks it's about read the label/guide/audioguide.
But ultimately you are not smarter or less smart for not understanding a piece of art. You might be less knowledgeable but I always say, you can have any opinion you want about art, don't be ashamed or embarrassed if you don't like something. If you don't like this one, go and look at something else. It's not required that you understand everything you're looking at. And even if you read everything your own reaction has value.
Micah Murray The way I view art is as a continuous dialogue, and a particular work of art is simply an addition to this dialogue. It can be a paragraph, a sentence, or even just a word. But it all contributes to the conversation. I would say that the people that you think are "smarter" than yourself and are able to "get" a piece of art are not more intelligent, but rather are just clued in on the conversation up to this point. It's like if you started scrolling through a tumblr feed of a fandom you didn't follow with several reference to things that are beyond you. But then if you looked at the source material, suddenly all these memes that everyone else seems to get make sense because you can follow the threads of the story.
Art is basically a conversation, a really long and mostly visual conversation.
Yknow, i've often thought we should have some time in school to try engaging with contemporary art, especially some of the abstract stuff that can be amazing, but isn't as accessible (read: friendly to the uninitiated).
Personally, i think it helps me to turn off the part of my brain that needs to know what something is or what it means--the left brain-y part that wants to treat an abstract piece of art like a message i have to decode, and sit in a looser place that lets be just notice things about the art that interest me and sit with what they make me feel or think. I think it also helps me to give myself permission to stand in front of a piece of art for exactly as long as it interests me and no longer, which includes skipping over the works that just don't grab my attention. That way, i have more time to look at the works that draw me on some intuitive level and explore how i feel about them. Sometimes my thoughts are as low brow as "wow, that blue is such an incredible color" or "hey look how that line just brushes this other line", which is stuff i can take back to re-explore the figurative works! :)
@@saikoujikan That's actually a really insightful take on it. I'm going to remember that!
The last museum I visited was the Getty in LA and i loved how the engaged children as well. My niece was 6 months old at the time and they even had a playroom that had play areas modeled after works of art that the kids could PLAY on. I loved it so much. Now I have two little ones and I can't wait to take them.
My favorite museum experience was seeing the Sistine Chapel (of course). I knew little about art at the time, but I (and everyone else) couldn't help but stand in awe of the whole work. Now with more art education under my belt, I need to go back!!
I have a suggestion for a continuation of this topic: art crawls. The assignments done on this channel are kind of the online version of the art crawl, but I would love to see Sarah and John and other Art Assignment people attend an art crawl.
Essentially, an art crawl is where you go to both look at, admire, experience, and CREATE art. One I went to had metalworking demonstrations, a collaborative painting, printmaking lessons, and TONS of live music.
that sounds really cool!
My absolute favorite art museum experience was taking my son who was 3 or maybe 4 at the time to the modern art museum. He is a highly active boy but the whole trip he was quiet, well mannered, and interested. He asked amazing question and showed off his large vocabulary describing what he liked or didn't like and why. We were there for almost the entire day. We even had a picnic lunch in the sculpture garden, where he tried to bend his body to look like the art he had seen. Art is for everyone. :)
Random thought, Sarah you're a really good video narrator! Your intonations never sounded wrong or contrived, it was perfect :)
asking questions in gallery spaces almost always leads to interesting discussions. My relationship with the Art Gallery of Ontario is an interesting one in its self. I attend the art university that sits on the same street as the gallery, and we have free access to the general gallery as part of our school tuition. For this reason the gallery has become an extension of my classrooms, but also a great place to go when I have time to kill or need peace and quiet. I find my relationship with the art has changed as I see it more often, and I am drawn to new pieces
The Security Guards can be super nice. At the museum I volunteered at most of them were artists and that was how they made sure the bills were paid. Also little trick to put them more at ease put your hands behind your back when you want to look closer.
I LOVE this video so much. I intern at my campus art gallery, part of which includes a guarding shift, and it's so quiet and lonely most of the time. It's rather small and little known since it's new, but it has such amazing pieces that so few take advantage of seeing. (I might be a tad biased.)
I definitely agree that asking questions is really nice. Not only do the guards get to explain whatever is you ask about (and maybe show off a bit for a boss or professor if they're there with family, which has happened to me before), but it also a good way to gauge what people are getting out of the exhibitions! We want to know what you think, which is shown in what people ask about. If they are guarding at a museum, they have some knowledge base that put them where they are. There is a reason a guard is in a particular gallery, and no one should be afraid to take advantage of that!
Also, don't be scared or put off if a guard corrects your behavior. Some pieces are more fragile or sensitive than others. Sarah's basic etiquette rules are a good place to start, but also pay attention for any signs - many museums have lines on the floor that stop viewers from getting too close to a piece - and ask questions if you're not sure about something. This goes back to the asking questions recommendation, but asking about gallery rules is a sign of respect for the space that I know I appreciate.
WOW! You're truly amazing. I've been working as a guide in a museum for 7 years, and today I was talking with my colleagues about doing a video just like this one! The Art Assignment is the best!
Once, I made out a bucket list and on that list was to see a Monet in person. After having the list for over a year (and doing nothing on it), I realized that there was Monet exhibit in the museum in the town I was living in. I wanted to slap myself in the head. So, of course, I went to the museum as soon as possible. I forced myself to look at all of the other galleries before heading to the Monet section. Then, when I walked in, I found myself alone, surrounded by beautiful pieces of art by my favorite artist. I sat on the bench in front of the paintings, and found myself struggling for breath as I was so overwhelmed. I may have even shed a tear, if I'm honest. It was such an amazing experience!
In my opinion, one of the most important points in this video was that you don't have to look at everything. Experiencing everything the museum has to offer in one visit sounds great and efficient but if it means you having to run through the different exhibitions with no time left to really study closely something that interests you, it probably won't be an enjoyable or inspirational experience. Just take your time, let your mind wander, write down any interesting ideas that you come across (do write them down, otherwise you WILL forget them) and leave when you feel like it (as long as it's before the museum closes its doors).
I like to listen to classical music while I walk through a museum on my iPod. It allows me to be in my own bubble and enjoy fully what I'm seeing.
My biggest tip is that if you see someone doing a talk or just lingering by an exhibit, be it at a zoo or museum, talk to them. I have had wonderful conversations with people who weren't officially part of the tour, but had personal experiences with what I was looking at and were thrilled to talk with me about it. Once I was at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, looking at a toucan with a plastic beak. An older gentleman was there, watching her eat with keen interest, and I mentioned how she seemed to be doing well in spite of her injury. It turned out he had designed the beak and wanted to be sure she was doing well. So, we started chatting about his work helping many wild animals that had been injured so they can survive. It was fascinating! This was not the only time this has happened to me. I cannot say it enough, engage with other people in these places because you never know who they are. Your experience, and theirs, will be all the better for it.
I love visiting the art museum with children. Seeing things through their eyes is always enlightening! For the majority of my students it was the first time they had ever entered an art museum. What I learned was these students needed a pre-trip discussion about proper behavior. You might guess that they needed to understand things like not touching, being quiet and the need to not run through the galleries. But what we also found needed to be added to the list was that artists show people without their clothes. As adults we see the beauty of the human body but 7 and 8 years just get the giggles. So if we wanted them to remember anything other than breasts and penises we needed to explain art at its basic core. This talk helped them experience the museum with a maturity that was missing without it. Our kids loved this trip. We were lucky to have volunteers take us through to share lessons but we always allowed time for small groups to just wander through to see and stop at the art that caught their eyes. Many of the children went home and from their enthusiastic descriptions would make return trips with their families.
I have been lucky to visit a lot of museums during the nine months I have been in the U.S. I prefer to read (almost) every label about the art giving context about how and why it was created. And I never tire of looking at a Rothko or a Pollock.
I enjoy going to museums, but I find it much more rewarding to follow particular artists I like online. Even though I'm physically far away (often in a completely different country), I feel somehow closer to their work by virtue of the fact that I'm exposed to it in real time.
I always love to take a moment as I enter a gallery and absorb all the works together in the space before viewing them independently. I think it's important to understand the tone and melody of a gallery before examining each of its notes.
Also, I love to be accompanied by a friend. I often think aloud in galleries, and having feedback on my mumbled impressions of a piece can often trigger a discussion.
Plus, I always have a granola bar or light snack in the bottom of my purse. Lots of museums have huge grounds and expensive cafes with not-so-yummy offerings. A spot on a bench outside the museum is much better anyway.
I have a nice museum in my town, which I've been to many times since a little kid. However, it was when I had a broader relationship with art that I realized I totally took it for granted. I recently went back with a fresher pair of eyes and it was a whole new experience!
I usually avoid going on free days as its always crowded. I make inquiries about the least popular times to visit and try to go then. I find too many patrons distracting. It was nice you were able to film this when no one was around. Really well done video !
Take the tours (particularly at smaller museums). I visited a Russian art museum once that I was not overly impressed with at first, but the tour really helped give the museum context and meaning.
I feel like a lot of people forget the ask questions part. To me that's the best part of museums plaques on the wall don't usually tell you much except general information and museum employees always have interesting things to say about all of the things even if you aren't particularly interested in things like plants if you go to a carnivores plant exhibit at a museum you will find a botanist who can tell you a lot of interesting things about a pitcher plant.
agreed. and your name is magnificent.
bluerose600 Why thank you ^-^
A group of my friends and I went to the Chicago Natural History Museum, and because we asked questions we ended up getting our own mini tour of one of the exhibits. We had gotten there right at opening and since they weren't planning on having tours until later, but the gentleman was bored he took us and explained all the details of the exhibit to us before the tours were supposed to begin. It was pretty amazing.
As a museum docent, I love when people ask me questions. When people are interested, it can give so much more for their experience. We are there and want to help!!!!
I've actually always struggled to enjoy art museums because while I like art, I tend to gravitate more towards participatory art or art that's in unexpected places. Art hanging on museum walls always seems a bit passive to me, and I know I should be getting something out of it, but I still have difficulty finding whatever switch I need to flick in my head to make myself interested. I can find certain pieces aesthetically pleasing, but I rarely connect with art in museums in any way beyond that, and I wish I knew how to because I know I'm missing out. So I'm really interested in what other people see when they look at paintings, in the hope that I can learn to see them the way they do.
Sometimes art museums do have interactive art in them, you just have to ask. The Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh has a modern art piece that's comprised of a few square feet of linoleum on the floor, and your'e actually SUPPOSED to walk on it. They also once had a piece that was a maze made out of machined metal and chain that you could walk through. See if your local museum has any interactive art, and try that out first.
***** I was just at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. It was awesome! They had an exhibition on an artist who worked with playgrounds. There was a room with a ton of balloons you could kick around and thickly layered bubble wrap covering the floor. My friend and I ran around and did cartwheels and threw the balloons at each other. It was the best!
At the Warhol museum there's a room where you get to play with balloons in air vents!! It's really fun. I've also done a performance piece in a museum where I had people paint on my body and illustrate consent. Maybe those are pieces you would get more into?
But for paintings, I often get up close and look at the strokes to imagine painting it myself. Then I am filled with awe.
I sort of feel like this. I think, for me, it is partly that I get distracted by the fact that I am in a museum. It's quiet, the light is funny and you're walking from thing to thing to thing. There is also a sort of pressure because if someone thing is in a museum then someone thinks it's good. I'm just standing in front of something like 'I don't get this. Why is this here? What am I missing?' I sort of feel self conscious like'I'm doing this wrong somehow and everyone here can tell.' I guess that's pretty silly but museums just feel odd.
I still like to go, especially with someone who will talk about stuff and won't default to taking the piss out of things if they don't immediately like them. I find it much more interesting and less weird if I'm with a friend who is interested and wants to shares their thoughts.
***** I like your idea about visual metaphors. Anything can be a visual metaphor, though (that's actually something I use for writing-I look around the room, pick an object, think of a way it could be a metaphor, and then I write about that). So I guess the difference is in trying to see what metaphor was intended?
The comment about not being annoying in the video room applies to art on the walls too. It's great to see art up close to see brushstrokes, but be aware of others that are standing back and trying to take the entire piece in at once (especially for large works).
I'm often that person who likes to get as close as possible, but it's considerate to be conscious of how many people there are and if they're around you so you aren't hindering their experience to make yours better for you.
Gasp! That butterfly piece is incredible and I only saw it for 5 seconds!
Also, I would suggest straying away from the beaten path, don't just look at the famous pieces everyone is there for. Go find the pieces in quiet corners and spend time with them too.
My advice is a bit specific, but still good: if you happen to know someone who works in the industry, take them with you and see what kinds of cool stuff you can find! A friend of mine is the collections manager of a museum in Illinois, and when I took my family to see the museum she took us behind the scenes and showed us some items in the collection that weren't out on display. Then, later when I took this same friend to see the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, we met up with another friend's wife who is a conservator at the Carnegie. Between the collections manager's credentials and the conservator's friendship, we were able to go behind the scenes there too, and see where they were refurbishing a wooly mammoth skeleton and talk to the preparers about it. I've always loved that particular piece, ever since I was little, and getting to be literally six inches from it was pretty surreal.
One of my favorite things to do in a museum is get lost. Just first thing to do is hide your map from yourself and walk till you don't know where you are. It helps me loose track of the outside world because I forget where I am and can simply focus on the art and what's around me.
Secondly, I like to write down all the words a piece makes me think of. Sometimes I write a story, sometimes maybe a poem or just a sentence that came to me when I saw the piece. Lots of times I'll go home and think more wholly about what I saw.
Thirdly, I like to take moments to visualize the piece in context. We have a petroleum museum in my home town so when I went there and saw a rig set up I thought about what it must have been like to work there with oil on your skin, sweat in your eyes, and dirt covering your clothes. Sometimes when I see art I like to think about where the vantage point is and what would that look like. Whenever I see Van Gough's Starry Night I feel like I would see that when I was flying somehow. Or in Georges Seurat pictures I wonder if someone is taking a picture of the scene or simply sitting there enjoying the park. If I see an abstract sculpture I like to think about how other things from that universe would look around it.
The tip about remembering to leave is very helpful because I also loose so much time just exploring around!
I work in a museum and I love it, when people as me tough questions and want to initiate a discussion. I don't like it when people touch things as a silent alarm goes off and we have to reset the systems, but I DO love it when people get involved with the interactive things [Even if they're aimed at children- I guarantee that most employees have played around with them too]
Every single time I went to a museum as a kid with parents, I'd get hopelessly lost in less than twenty minutes, art museums especially. When I see something beautiful, I have this habit of just fixating it and walking toward it no matter the obstacle.
And yeah, I can tell you first hand they frown upon you trying to stay there over night :D
My favourite past time would be finding signs of life in a painting; signs of brushstrokes (or lack thereof!), repeating shades of colour, how the artist took upon drawing certain material or how well they accomplished repetitive patterns such as grass of woven string. I understand why people spend so long on just one painting now, and I find it therapeutic (though sometimes a little embarrassing) finally stepping away from a painting only to realise a considerate amount of time passed and I have so much more to see in a museum
This is my favourite video on this channel so far. Sarah your comic delivery of the last line was wonderful.
I'm glad you had a chance to visit Kansas City! I love visiting the museums, but I never feel like I have enough time. And the pictures never do the art justice!
I'm not a big fan of audio guides, but the few times I've had actual guided tours of art museums have been by far my best experiences. Context helps me appreciate art. I tend to look at a painting for two seconds and think "Huh, that's kind of pretty," and move on, without having noticed details like the author's self-portrait in the mirror in the background or things like that.
If there's one thing I'm truly grateful for, it's that almost all of the museums in Washington D.C. (at least the ones run by the Smithsonian) are free to the public. I'm not sure I've ever even been to the Phillips Gallery- even the time they had a big exhibit by Degas, one of my all-time favorite artists- because I had to pay to get in. The National Gallery of Art, on the other hand, is one of my favorite places in the District, and my family are also big patrons of the Hirshhorn, which is a modern art gallery not that far from the Mall. I've seen life-changing art at both of those museums, and hope to one day be able to donate to them as a means of support. :)
I visited DC a few weeks ago, and I am so jealous of everything available there in the area, especially as far as museums go. I loved the Hirshhorn and heard amazing things about the National Gallery of Art! I did go the Philips Collection Gallery, though, and it's true that if you have to pay for it, it's not worth it. (I tried going through for free, and it wasn't as rewarding with how limited the galleries you could see were.)
Jenna W
I'm glad you went to the Hirshhorn! I feel like everyone skips that in favor of the National Gallery (which, admittedly, is a pretty awesome museum). It's so much smaller, but their exhibitions are really worth seeing. I'm so happy to live in an area where I have free access to that kind of quality!
I saw the Ai Wei Wei exhibition at the Hirschorn--a terrific show. It was exciting to see so much of his work in one place. I had a lot of respect for him as a political figure. Seeing a grand display of his work allowed me to see where his passion comes from.
I love Ai WeiWei. I watched his documentary "Never Sorry" for my contemporary art history course fall semester and it was excellent.
Saena I really wanted to be sure to get to the Hirshhorn and its sculpture garden (which I love), even though it was raining my entire trip. I was surprised by its size, but it was so fun! I only wish more had been open and I could have spent more time there, it was incredible.
I feel like a snob when I say this, but I really like looking at the brush strokes when I see paintings in a museum. Sometimes after looking over the front of the picture, I go and look at it from the side. The ridges and texture from this angle give the picture even more feeling! I enjoy thinking about how a person used the motions in his arm and hand to create sweeping strokes, and the movement of their wrist and fingers when doing smaller details. Paintings are the end result of a dance between artist and medium, having every frame of this muted ballet overlapping from beginning to end.
A few days a month I work as a guard at the Kunstmuseum Bonn (Art Museum Bonn, Germany). I quickly notice which visitors are truly interested and come "prepared" for their visit and which have completely different expectations. Our museum prioritizes contemporary art, which many find more difficult to appreciate than the more traditional work of earlier times. Attending a guided tour is always a wonderful source of information and allows for a greater understanding of the artwork and artist.
When I visit museums, I search for art that I can imitate, literally or conceptually. This has led to color-matching my outfit to pieces, some surreptitious gymnastics, and some great facial expressions. This is not mocking (usually). I am encouraging myself to think of the art as a material thing with shape and form, with a true existence in time and place, and as an object to be interacted with, as opposed to a static image placed for my viewing some time ago. I encourage my fellow visitors to pick pieces to interact with also, which leads to discussions of what spoke to them or grabbed their attention.
I always bring a paper and a pencil (no pens in museums!). If there is a no picture policy, then I can write down what pieces interested me. I also like to write down why I was drawn to that particular piece as I am standing in front of it so I can remember once I get home.
The kids from From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler really should have watched this episode first.
I love to go to museums and use the children's guides. They're often a lot more playful and give you a great sense of the personality of the art which can get lost in some of the more traditional literature.
I realised that I actually like to go to museums when I moved to England for a year. In contrast to Germany where you ahve to pay almost museums to get in, there are so many museums where you can go in for free. I realised that I am happy to put money in the donations boxes, because I value what they are doing and want want them to be able to continue showing art, but I feel so much better when I can do it on my own terms. It makes it so much easier, because otherwise I pressure myself a lot thinking: You paid for it, you have to enjoy it and make the most of it and have deep thoughts and that actually makes it a lot less enjoyable to me. On the other hand when I can go in for free and be able to let my thougts wander, I'm a lot more open about it and have so much more fun and take a lot more out of the experince.
Here in Connecticut, we have access to a large amount of art, history, and schools all within a relatively accessible distance. On two separate occasions, I've had the chance to travel to these museums via public transit, and I think I will continue to do so in the future. My goal was always the museum, I allowed my mind to focus on things that weren't driving, and I was forced to make the trip the center of my day.
I've been to both the Louvre & the British Museum, but I'd have to say the best art museum I've been to was the Kumu Museum in Tallinn, Estonia. The contemporary art pieces were some of the best, in my opinion, bc I got to walk on a metal balcony indoors & stick my arm in a hole in the floor. I was also able to get very close to paintings and really observe the details and the passion behind it. The Soviet occupation era ones were especially moving.
These are things that are very helpful. Thank you so much. These videos are brilliant and very inspiring and these kind of videos give me a breath of fresh air when it comes to how society hasn't lost substance. They're still diamonds out there.
I love, love, love this channel! I love your approach to art and art education. You have such a talent for presenting information clearly, without being pretentious, and with a nice touch of humor.
That being said, my biggest piece of museum advice is to not be afraid of checking out shows/galleries that you think might not interest you. You never know what cool pieces you might enocunter!
Agreed. I went out on a limb last time I was at the MET to check out the American Wing even though I had very little interest in pre-1900 American art. But I managed to discover some amazing works!
I recently visited the Museum of Man in San Diego, and viewed their exhibition on Instruments of Torture. Though very gruesome, having watched this video of The Art Assignment really helped.
Yes - taking a picture of the information - I just started doing that a few years ago after I realized I can't hold it all in my head. Best advice!
I love going to art museums, and very rarely have I gone with someone else who enjoyed it as much as I did. In fact, I've never been with someone my own age who really liked it as much as I did. I guess maybe I like to spend a long time looking at the artwork, walking up to see individual brushstroke and back to see the whole picture, reading the labels, specifically looking for famous paintings so I can see them in real life, thinking about what the subject's life may have been like (if the subject's a person), wondering where the landscape may be in the real world or if it's imaginary, looking at all sides of a sculpture while mostly avoiding nude sculptures (I like them for a minute, but then I get uncomfortable), trying to understand some of the modern art, and taking in as much as possible from the art that has more subject matter.
My number one tip would be to take as much time as you want. Don't let others rush you away from a piece or an exhibit, even if you are there together. Taking your time to look at everything makes the experience and the trip so worth it. On a separate note I once did stay overnight in a museum and it was awesome. Albeit it was the old college football hall of fame but still it was really cool.
An important thing that I really didn't know from the start is that when you're going to a museum along with other people you should try to not be afraid of splitting up. All people are different and not everyone's interested in the same sort of art. When I was younger I would politely stay quiet about the things I wanted to see and by the time we had to leave I had hardly gotten anything out of the experience.
I especially like the "museums are for everyone" bit. Museums are intimidating, and the only way to get over it is just going. I would add: take a friend the first or second time. good video
I LOVE museums!!! Especially art museums. I am very lucky to have been to some amazing museums, including The Philadelphia Museum of Art (only 45 mins from me!), The Met, and The Louvre. My visit to The Louvre sticks out to me the most because I knew it was probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Both The Met and The Louvre introduced me to new favorite artists and art forms.
I loved the Louvre too! Did you see the Mona Lisa? I remember being surprised by how small it was - I'd always sort of assumed that it would be a huge painting, but it was very modest in size. The phrase "larger than life" sprang to mind. :-)
Going to the Louvre was like a religious experience for me. I had studied art history in college, but to be there with the works overwhelmed me. When I finally got to Michelangelo's "The Slaves" I had to sit down and cry. I had never seen anything so extraordinary in my life.
***** I did see the Mona Lisa! I was also surprised at how small it was! My favorite thing in the Louvre actually ended up being all the rooms filled with sculptures. I gained a brand new appreciation for sculpture as an art form that day.
I was chaperoning a field trip to MoMa a few years ago, and instead of talking the art in, I was focused on keeping the middle schoolers in my line of sight.
But then I spotted Starry Night (which I had no idea was there) and started fangirling like a nut.
The kids came to check on me instead of the other way around, lol. I was so happy photography was allowed!
As a Art professor who leads students through lots of museums you have touched on some important parts. I would add that there is value in visiting a museum with another person who is interested. A conversation in front of a work of art can lead you down some great roads. Another tip? I like to draw the works of art in my sketchbook...it slows you down and allows you to really see the works.
Thank you so much for posting this well needed video. I enjoy going to museums and visit one wherever I go if possible. Just yesterday I went with family and friends to SF MOMA and had a great time. I like your approach of walking without taking out your phone for pix right away and only taking pix of the ones you enjoyed. I plan to share this video with friends and family. Thanks again for all of the great informative videos you create. They are the highlight of my days:)
Favorite Art Assignment video! Thank you! I'm never sure entirely what I'm supposed to be doing when I'm at an art museum, but now I feel like I should give it another try. :)
I love this series. I was a little confused about the emphasis on not paying to get in though. Isn't it always a good idea to support the arts when and if we can? I think it's great to inform the masses that it is possible to see great art even if you don't have an art budget :) but I just thought mentioning it more than once was odd.
I love reading the plaques and fun facts, also if I'm at a museum or gallery that has a kids section I like starting there to get a super basic intro to the material before moving on to the rest of the exhibit. Also, the information desk at the front often has brochures, pamphlets, or maps that have interesting stuff that helps me "get the most" out of the experience (although its really only getting the most in my opinion, based on what I like to come away with. Not trying to say anybody else's priorities are less valid)
I live in Kansas City and I've been to this museum! Now I have to go back and look at the new exhibits!
This reminded me how much I LOVE kinetic sculptures. But also, honestly, it made me a lot more likely to go to art museums. It's a reminder that they don't have to be overwhelming or intimidating, and I hope I can bring this attitude with me when I do. (I got the nod to From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, but did miss the all-important rule, Don't Eat The Pictures.)
My favorite museum is the Cleveland Natural History Museum. I even had a year membership. My sister and I loved it. Our dad took us there a lot during the summer.
I've never been there, but I love the Cleveland Museum of Art! I go to college 2-3 houes away, and I went for two different classes fall semester. It was so rewarding.
I think my favorite museum trip was last summer when I went through the MoMA with an Art History professor and a classmate. I can't remember the artist or painting title, but there was a room with four pieces and it was only three of us sitting and discussing the paintings. It was cool.
I am really, really fortunate to be in the Washington DC area--many of our art galleries and museums are free. If you are paying a lot of money for admissions, you often feel that you must see everything or you are getting short-changed. But when you can just walk in and go to a single exhibition, or even a single room, your relationship to the art changes exponentially. I find that I can get too emotionally and mentally overloaded in a gallery. So with free access to museums, I can be satisfied seeing less, but in a more meaningful way. I frequently make lunch dates with friends and say "meet me at such and such museum and show me what you like, and I will show you what I like." Sharing art gives you surprising insights into people and leads to discovering value in works you might have passed by if you were alone.
IMO, I think the most important etiquette rule to remember (more applicable to temporary exhibitions/super busy days) is to not stand too close to the paintings! If you stand back a bit, more people can view the painting clearly. Obviously, go ahead and look at them up close, but don't stay there for too long blocking the whole image!
(also very excited to spot a shirin neshat artwork in this video, I'm just starting a dissertation on her work!!)
I like to take 1 person with me (a friend or family member) so we can talk about pieces that stand out to us. I find talking about a piece helps me uncover my own thoughts about it. Bigger groups tend to split up and can be like herding cats, but 2 people can usually have fun discussions and set a comfortable pace.
My kid and I have this game where you only get to leave the museum when you have decided on a favourite piece and one that you think the other would like best. I found it to be a great way to get a conversation going between us about why you like a certain piece, how you engage with it.
If you absolutely cannot find anything, you switch to "least favourite".
This sounds fun! You're looking at what you like and also trying to see the art through your companion's eyes. The discussion on what you both saw and the reasons you chose the items make for a wonderful after you leave the museum discussion. I am going to do this!
For some reason, by the thumbnail I thought this was a TED talk and I got really excited because I really enjoy hearing from Sarah. She comes across as so intelligent and engaging! Anyways, fantastic video! I will definitely take a trip to my local art museum and apply these tips :)
i think some of the most valuable museum experiences I've had have been because I knew about the context around the paintings there. For example, I knew a lot about changes in literature and politics that happened between WWI and WWII, and then going to see the modern art at the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid helped augment that understanding. By thinking about how people were struggling with ideas about violence, the relationship of people and the government, and the loss of G-d in the face of human suffering following WWI and the Spanish Civil War, I was better able to appreciate how Miro, Picasso and their contemporaries were engaging the ideas, so I understood the pieces better. I think that understanding what ideas an artist is grappling with, especially in modern art, is really helpful towards understanding and appreciating a particular painting, even if the aesthetic is maybe not your thing.
You went to my favorite museum! How exciting to watch! That spider sculpture outside is so iconic. Did you love it? Kansas City is kind of amazing.
I've worked as a museum guard and the only thing I have to say is that if you are visiting with children, make sure they know they are not allowed to touch the art. It makes our job easier and makes they visit more enjoyable for everyone.
Completely agree. I gave a tour to a group of 7 year old boy scouts once and I had to throw myself in front of art works to prevent extensive damage. Not sure how much advance warning actually helps, but it's worth trying.
I've always enjoyed art museums (musea?) but found it easy to get overloaded too quickly because I tried to look at everything. Now, I simply amble through and only stop at pieces which catch my eye -- the artist has produced some sort of reaction in me, so I stop to contemplate.
Also, since I can (currently) afford to pay / donate, I like to do so to show my appreciation and support.
Talking to the guards is a must for me and always results in interesting discussions. They probably have some extra knowledge about the pieces, or at the very least they'll have spent days with this art, so their thoughts will be very interesting. Also, you can point out to them how problematic Picasso is if they exhibit one.
i have been to this museum in my travels, my cousins friend works here and its one of my personal favorites!
I always feel that I don't have enough time in museums. I only got one day in the British Museum and the Louvre. I took my mom through the Louvre, which she had been to before, but I had just recently graduated with a degree in Art and knew where the cool stuff was. She had fun.
What I tend to do while going to an art exhibition is to take the initial meaning/ emotion/ idea that I get and try to flip it.
After that, if I'm there with someone, I ask them what they think about it, what they like, dislike but also more detailed things.
The very last thing I do is that I read the name and information of the piece.
This often helps me to get a much broader idea, not just of what I think but also of how others might observed it. People often have extremely different ideas of what a piece means and even what it's depicting.
I really just think it's a fun brain exerciseto do while I'm at such a perfect location for it hehe
I always get to the museum at the same time that every primary school field trip in the tri state region arrives.
Wow, I would rarely picture this when thinking of a contemporary art museum of a peripherical cultural city of america. Nice tour, thanks.
When our local art gallery had an exhibition of Yousef Karsh photographs, I and three actor friends of mine were paid to pick one of the subjects, dress up, and write and perform a monologue as the subject for groups of school tours one day. They picked Audrey Hepburn, Albert Einstein (played by a cross-dressing young woman), and Grey Owl, and I picked Sir Edmund Hilary. It was a fascinating experience.
Take all the tours. Docents are amazing
I think the only thing I would add...
Bookbags,
Don't bring them if you can.
If you must, then keep it slung on your side off your back or leave it at the front desk. The last thing you need is to be that person who turns around to walk away from a work only to have your book bag bump into it. Your heart will drop and you will probably get a stern talking to by a guard if not thrown out.
Yes! This was in my first script, but we wanted it the video to be shorter. Solid advice. Not only are you less of a hazard without a backpack, but you're also way more comfortable.
I'm really glad you shared the "also taking a picture of the label" trick. I got so tired of flipping through phone pictures thinking, "okay now how do I google this to remember what the name of the piece was?" Very handy and helpful hint! :)
My top "do" is to go with a friend because it is fun to discuss the pieces we see while we're there. But then my top "do" is also to go alone because I can have as much time as I want to look at the pieces I want. Usually I'll combine both of these by bringing a friend and then we each take time apart to look at pieces individually and then we come back and show each other what we found most interesting and discuss them further. In my world, all art is participatory, whether I can directly interact with it or not.
Conversations in an art gallery are not taboo and the gallery is not supposed to be a place of silence. Okay, there are some pieces where the silence is part of the piece, but in general, talking with friends about the art is really what brings the work to life for me.
I love talking with my friends simply about which pieces they like! It always surprises me when our opinions differ, but we're attracted to different things and images. (As an art history nerd), I also love asking my friends what they like or what they see in a piece, especially contemporary art works. Simply asking "why" sparks intriguing responses and explanations. I love it.
I definitely understand enjoying going to galleries alone since I like to take my time, move slowly, read the labels and give each piece my attention as I move through. Most of my friends are not that way at all, and that's okay too.
This video was so serendipitously timed. I have had the inkling to visit the St. Louis Art Museum (just downtown of me), but was not sure how to approach it. Thank you for your tips and pointers.
You guys should come to Kansas more often! (Kansas pride). The Nelson is also beautiful. The lawn art is absolutely stunning.
I've only ever been to the museum and art gallery in my town. I always want to go see them in others places when me and my family travel but none of them find it interesting, and i can never go. But one day I will go to all the museums I please and stay for as long as I want.
I think this is my favorite video so far! I love these tips.
when i go to museums with my family and friends, especially if there is lots of classic art, it can sometimes be boring. To help we each have a different category of 'thing' to look for. Examples are naked people, jesus, babies, dead people etc. The person who finds the most by the end is the winner. This also means that we look really closely at the pictures and no one is bored.
I live in Japan and I love going to Art Museums. Art is, by it's very nature and definition, that which communicates without language. So, I would highly recommend anyone who's traveling especially to a country where you don't speak the language to find and visit art museums.
That being said, the last art museum I visited had an exhibit on the pioneers of Manga. I thought it would be so much fun! But I got there, and it was a completely somber environment with everyone reading quietly and no kids. I love kids, that's why I'm a teacher. Anyway, I got scolded by a guard for pointing at a picture. Apparently she thought I'd touched it. I think they thought me extra strange because I was going around voicing all of the onomatopoeias. It was fun to experience the manga without reading the words. I wonder, though, what an art museum could do to be more kid friendly. That goes for all museums really, but I think such ideas for art museums could potentially be universal because art is universal.
When I lived in Paris, I used to go to the Louvre the first saturday of the month, it's busy but it's free!
My personal does are:
1- kKeep your phone on vibrate because I feel like letting others experience art how they want to is important and I don't think they want to hear Mika when my mom calls to check up on me.
2 - Go with someone but know that you don't have to be with them but you can wander around the gallery and meet up later when you've both experienced it separately and you can still discuss thoughts of the works you saw later.
also read the materials that the artist used it available. you'd be surprised what the artist uses and that can explain the lighting choices in that particular space.
i.e in the Smithsonian museum in D.C there are many impressionist work. Toulouse Lautrec painted on cardboard and the rooms his work are in are very dark in order to preserve the work.
I personally don't have a lot of museums near me but I absolutley love the St. Louis city museum