Ten Minutes with a Masterpiece

Noon - 12:10

Free Public Gallery Talks by Volunteer Student Docents
Light refreshments to follow

The Mead is pleased to announce a new series of free, lunchtime gallery talks most Tuesdays and Fridays during the spring academic term. Each “Ten Minutes with a Masterpiece” as the talks are called, will be presented by a student in the museum’s volunteer docent program, and will offer a fresh look at a single artwork in the collection. As Elizabeth Barker, director and chief curator of the Mead, noted, “The project should be a win-win for students and the community. Visitors will have the chance to learn something new about a familiar object in informal event scheduled to suit their lunch breaks, and docents will be able to share some of the knowledge they’ve gathered about the museum’s collection, but couldn’t quite fit onto their wall labels!”

Barker explained that the talks represent the culmination of a yearlong project undertaken by the docents. Each student has “adopted” a work of art, and found different ways to share it with visitors—by preparing interpretative wall labels; writing “Pick of the Week” campus newspaper features; and recording commentary for a forthcoming pod cast audio tour. Suzannah Luft, Class of 2008, the museum’s lead docent and a double major in Chemistry and Art and Art History, observed, “These projects have given us the opportunity to gain insight about our particular piece and then share our knowledge and excitement with museum visitors.”

Each talk will be held at the Mead Art Museum from 12:00 to 12:10 p.m., and will be followed by light refreshments. No talks will be repeated, and visitors are encouraged to attend them all:

 Scheduled Gallery Talk Dates:

Friday	February 15		Tuesday	April 1
Tuesday	February 19		Friday	April 4
Friday	February 22		Tuesday	April 8
Tuesday	February 26		Friday	April 11
Friday	February 29		Tuesday	April 15
			Friday	April 18
Tuesday	March 4		Tuesday	April 22
Friday	March 7		Friday	April 25
Tuesday	March 11
Tuesday	March 25		Tuesday	May 2
Friday	March 28