Docent-Led Tour Topics

• Learning to Look (Grades K–6)

  Participate in interactive discussion through the galleries as students learn about basic elements of art, narrative ideas, historical context, and an introduction to looking at a work of art in depth.

  

• American Portraits (Grades 4-12/adults)

  Students will take an exploration of American portraiture by looking at WAM’s collection as well as special touring exhibitions. How do artists represent the world around them? How do artists choose to show people and create narrative?

  

• Sculptures Inside and Out (Grades 3–12/adults)

  Explore concepts such as shape, scale, space, and texture by viewing sculptures in WAM’s galleries and outside in the Art Garden. There are sculptures around every corner including works such art-world greats as Henry Moore to Tom Otterness and Dale Chihuly.

  

• Spaces and Places (Grades 4-12/adults)

  Students will tour WAM’s collection of American depictions of the land, cities, and seas—and special touring exhibitions. This tour will incorporate several exhibitions and various artists for a broad look into themes of the land and environment.

  

• American Voices (Grades 5-12/adults)

  Discuss themes of personal and cultural identity through using artwork to generate conversation and inquiry. Artists give us a unique window into American life, reflecting the personal, cultural, social, and political climate of the time in which they work. This tour will incorporate both the WAM collections as well as special exhibitions to delve deeper into artwork that address the themes of American identity.

  

• American Art and WAM (Grades 9-12/adults)

  An introductory exploration of WAM’s American art collections. This tour explores some of the major art movements and their practitioners.
  Topics include colonial portraiture, 19th-century landscape painting, early modernism, regionalism, abstract expressionism, and contemporary glass.