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In the beginning, Memorial Art Gallery docents were asked to create tours for visitors using dates and biographies and art history timelines.
Not anymore.
Today, after extensive training, education and research, the focus for the museum鈥檚 docents鈥攖he cadre of community members who serve as volunteer tour guides for the museum鈥攊s on observation, questioning, and discussion to help visitors view and react to a work of art more carefully and critically.
Photo Favorites
We asked a sample of Memorial Art Gallery docents to pose with their favorite work of art in the museum’s collection.
John Burch
"The Pancake Woman" (circa 1661–69), Jan Steen
Natalie Ciccone
"The Printseller's Window" (1883), Walter Goodman
Cynthia Flynn
"Interlude" (1963), by John Koch
Honey Heyer '52
"The Exorcism of the Waves" (after 1735), Alessandro Magnasco
Mary Ann Monley
"Ruby Gold" (1959), by Hans Hofmann
Michael Rick 鈥�67, 鈥�87S (MBA)
"Towing a Boat, Honfleur" (1864), Claude Monet.That focus is steeped in a method called 鈥渓earning to look,鈥� one that Cynthia Flynn, a docent for nearly two decades, recalls being schooled in during her training鈥攂y having to sit in front of Winslow Homer鈥檚 Artist鈥檚 Studio in an Afternoon Fog as part of an afternoon exercise. The work captures a hazy day on the coastal peninsula of Prout's Neck, Maine.
鈥淚 love Winslow Homer鈥檚 seascapes and more narrative art,鈥� she says, 鈥渂ut this is a dark picture. I thought, 鈥極h my gosh, of all his paintings, we鈥檙e going to look at this one for 20 minutes?鈥�
鈥淒uring that time the painting just opened up. Dark paintings seem impenetrable, but I started to see very strong diagonal lines, and then color, and then I saw the ocean. I could almost hear it hitting the shore.鈥�
Such appreciation is the crux of a docent鈥檚 job鈥攖o introduce visitors to the museum on the art by asking them to look more closely. That means asking a lot of questions鈥斺�淲hat do you see?鈥� and 鈥淲here鈥檚 the source of light in the painting?鈥� for example鈥攁ll with a goal of leading to a richer experience that allows them to connect with art in new and deeper ways.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2018, what is now known as the traces its origins to 1959, when 14 Women鈥檚 Council members were trained as docents for Illuminations, a temporary exhibit of 51 transparencies of art from the 13th through 20th centuries. Hoping to continue offering the service, a volunteer committee formed in 1960 to spearhead a permanent program.
The Docent Program was created in the mid-1960s, organized by Joan Morgan 鈥�74, 鈥�80鈥攁 volunteer who held group meetings and study sessions at her home鈥攚hile the museum was closed for a two-year renovation. The official launch in 1968 coincided with a surge in museum attendance and led to an expanded program in the 鈥�70s. The museum marked the 50th anniversary with a celebration this spring.
Now there are about 70 active docents, dubbed 鈥渢he voice of our collection鈥� by Patti Giordano, the museum鈥檚 chief operating officer and deputy director. 鈥淢AG would not have the staff nor resources to connect and share our art in this depth without our volunteers.鈥�
Over the decades, the program has extended its educational efforts to larger partnerships with the community, such as an innovative collaboration with the School of Medicine and Dentistry. Beginning in 2012, the University was among the earliest medical school鈥搈useum partnerships in the country to start a program designed to hone the observational skills of health care professionals. The Art and Observation Program annually helps hone the observational skills of more than 500 physicians, nurses, hospital chaplains, and others in medicine.
Flynn says learning to be aware of personal biases, as well as to separate observation from interpretation are important. 鈥淣owadays, with smartphones and computers, you can just push a button and find an answer immediately, but you may not have looked really hard before starting to ask for that information.
鈥淲e try to get people to slow down, to take inventory of what they鈥檙e actually seeing and then develop a hypothesis for what is happening.鈥�
The museum鈥檚 docents give tours to more than 11,000 students and adults every year.
鈥淓specially when someone comes into the museum never having been to one before, and not knowing what to expect, a docent picks up on that and makes it a special time for them,鈥� says Mary Ann Monley, administrator of volunteer services and tours, who became a docent in 1972 and still occasionally offers tours.
Docent Natalie Ciccone enjoys working with younger students. 鈥淭hey often are spontaneous and open to enjoying all forms and styles of art,鈥� she says. 鈥淎s docents, we try to bring that sense of wonder and excitement to all our visitors.鈥�
An additional 35 docents, including 96-year-old Essie Germanow 鈥�43, no longer offer tours but still attend twice-monthly meetings and other events to stay connected.
鈥淚 love art and being in the gallery gives me an opportunity to observe it all the time,鈥� Germanow says. 鈥淎nd I鈥檝e made friends with some of the paintings. There鈥檚 one in particular, an abstract, that really stirs my imagination because when I look at it I see one thing, and when I look at it again I see something else. It鈥檚 really enchanting.鈥�
In October 2017, the former Grand Gallery was renamed the Docent Gallery to honor the volunteers, who train for nine months then continue their education through refresher courses, seminars, classes and conferences.
Marlene Hamann-Whitmore, the museum鈥檚 McPherson Director of Academic Programs, notes that docents often commit to decades of service and, as a result, see each other through celebratory鈥攁nd painful鈥攑ersonal milestones.
鈥淚t鈥檚 such a beautiful life force to be at the museum because the works of art don鈥檛 change but we do,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e guideposts for us, really, and the docents become guideposts for each other.鈥�
As someone heavily involved in training docents over the past three decades, Susan Dodge-Peters Daiss has frequently observed 鈥渢his incredible transformation鈥� that happens when new volunteers come aboard shortly after retirement, when they鈥檙e unsure about what come next for them.
鈥淭hey not only find a passion that perhaps they knew earlier in their lives,鈥� says Dodge-Peters Daiss, a senior associate in the Division of Medical Humanities and Bioethics at the Medical Center, 鈥渂ut like-minded spirits.鈥�
For Flynn, a comment after a tour several years ago continues to reinforce the value of the docents鈥� service.
鈥淥ne woman said to me after we finished, 鈥業 will never again look at the label until I have finished really looking at the art,鈥欌�� she says. 鈥淪he was very sincere and forceful in that comment, and I was floored. What more could you ask for?鈥�
Flanigan is a Rochester-based freelance writer.