4B - Thursday, March 11, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 9
Docents go through a two-semester training process including shadowing tours, writing a research paper and intensive study ofart history and art appreciation.
DOCENTS
From Page 1B
a week for two hours. These meetings act
to ingrain basic art history and research
techniques, but more important, they act
to develop touring techniques. It is here
where the program pulls from didactic
and experiential modes of learning, mak-
ing it extremely inventive.
Laura Seligman, a new docent who
came on last fall, reflected on the incorpo-
ration of guest lecture speakers from the
University departments.
"(Jacob Procter, associate curator of
modern & contemporary art) walked us
through the new galleries and talked
about why he chose, what he chose and
how he situated certain pieces," she said.
"Like for example, he put the Donald Judd
piece near the window and it referenced
the building outside the window and cast
shadows along the floor. The way a piece
hangs matters. It's not just the piece. That
was very exciting for me."
This aspect of training is distinctive to
UMMA because it's a University-based
museum.
"That is the gift of being part of the
University community, where you have
these phenomenal professors and gradu-
ate students exploring, who really know
this material," Seligman said.
The docents can learn from leading
experts in the field who are researching
and relaying information in real time.
This is another moment when learning
becomes active, not just for people who
step into the museum, but for the docents
themselves. They come out of a culture
of contributory learning, so it's natural
that they relay that same attitude to each
museum guest.
Seligman was drawn to being a docent
for this collaborative aspect, which she
found in her previous experience with
museums in Rochester, NY.
"For me the museum was like this com-
munity well," she said. "It was so exciting,
and always new things were happening
there. Very interesting people were show-
ing up there - it was a hot spot."
UMMA fulfills this role in Ann Arbor
through its stream of changing exhibits
and artist question-and-answer sessions,
like the one with emerging installation
artist Heather Rowe this past fall.
In the second semester, the training
shifts toward a process rooted in shad-
owing. These second-semester docent
candidates follow experienced docents
on tours with patrons. This is a time
when each docent candidate can experi-
ence the touring techniques of his or her
future colleagues. Personal touring styles
emerge, as well as various approaches to
help patrons of all ages come to under-
stand the art.
"No script is given," Glidewell said.
"Each docents tweaks the program to
their own style. It is this constant process
of finding the right technique that fits
with the right audience. No tour, no stop,
is ever the same."
Building off of the lectures and gallery
experiences, each shadowed tour is a way
to slowly implement the methods and his-
torical information gathered during the
first semester. This is the moment when
these soon-to-be docents have an oppor-
tunity to work off of the excitement that
the guests brings with them when they
enter into the museum. At the end of the
shadowing process, a candidate will have
completed a full six-stop tour with a vet-
eran docent.
To fully establish their knowledge and
presence in UMMA, second-semester
docents write a research paper on a piece
within the museum. They are asked to
choose and examine an object, then write
on all the associations that emerge while
they sit with the piece over the course of
a few meetings. After the initial impres-
sions and emotions manifest themselves,
the research paper requires the potential
docents to critically analyze the artist and
the historical context in which he or she
worked.
The methods of learning - didac-
tic and experiential - form a bundle of
information that is not doused on each
guest in the space, but rather slowly
poured out. These UMMA docents have
implemented this immersive, interactive
method in the gallery experience, mir-
roring the methods in the docent train-
ing program.
With graduate students, curators and
each other, the docents have constructed
meaning for themselves.
Transmitting an experience
The docents' personal construction of
meaning is passed on to patrons young
and old, who all join in this new method
of art appreciation.
But even with this pressure to make
the museum more than just a collection
of objects, Glidewell recognizes that the
museum experience mostly relies on
taking time to be present in the gallery
space.
"We understand that our audiences
are coming in having so much access to
technology," she said. "Everybody kind
of wants to see bells and whistles. We try
not to give in to the temptation of making
the museum feel like an amusement park,
because it's a different kind of experience.
... Sometimes you really just want the kids
to slow down and look closely."
It is the act of slowing down - becom-
ing close to the work and drawing out a
personal meaning - that establishes the
spectacle. While we have the means to
complicate and ornament the museum
experience through digital interventions
in a tour, we still elicit truth through old-
fashioned question-and-answer.
This combination of the Socratic meth-
od and the sensory experience allows us
to forge a strong connection with the art
we observe. And it's each docent's imple-
mentation of this learning system that
reconfirms the necessity for a tactile art
experience.
the process of crafting his brain- be an extremely tight script that
DUFF" child's sequel. was examined by the experts.
From ""You wouldn't believe the jovial The first time, we were just kids
atmosphere we had on the set of in a candy store - the second
the first movie - actually, the sec- time around, we were adults in a
conduct _,nated both close and movie, too. A lot of fun was candy store."
friends and business partners. had," Duffy said. "But the differ- As for future plans, Duffy was
Unfortunate as these person- ence between the first and second eager to address rumors of a pos-
ality flaws may have been, they 'Boondock' movies is that the sec- sible sequel.
appear to have been considerably ond time around was a bit more "I've got some ideas percolat-
tamed by 10 years of experience serious because we were making ing on a possible 'Saints III,' but
in film; moreover, they are easier it for people who know the movies let's face it - we all know that the
to overlook when one observes in fucking minutiae. vast majority of sequels suck," he
Duffy's overwhelming convic- "These are people who know said.
tion and the passion with which every word, every frame, where "The tiniest percentage of
he speaks of his fan base. The cult every 'fuck' is. They've seen it a them turn out to be any good, and
following of "Boondock" is the hundred times, soI knew that the we believe we made such a sequel.
most compelling impetus driving fans would call me out on it if I But it was a maximal creative
Duffy's career, and it's the only treaded on the sacred ground of effort, like walking through a
factor he considered to expedite the first film. Naturally it had to minefield, like cracking a code. A
third movie would be like crack-
ing the code to the safe of fuck-
ing Fort Knox," Duffy said. "The
sequels we love --'Rocky II,''The
Terminator II,''Aliens' - they all
give the fans everything they love
from the first movie, plus a brand
new story they couldn't have pos-
sibly seen coming."
Several' respected critics may
have dismissed the intense popu-
larity and high DVD revenue of
"The Boondock Saints" as a fluke.
But it's easier to criticize an artist
from the outside lookingin than to
admit that the path to a filmmak-
er's popularity is oftentimes paved
with raw emotion and unpleasant
candor instead of affluence and
refinement. *
FUNDRED
From Page 3B
issues, you stand. to potentially
shift the health of society," Rubin
said. "Because if you look around
the country, the cities that have
high lead contamination are the
cities that have high violence -
New Orleans, Detroit, Baltimore,
Cleveland, Providence - it just
goes on."
Chin said the relationship
between lead and our culture has
implications that can directly
affect anyone, in any city, any-
where in the country because it is
a problem that reaches far beyond
New Orleans. He explained that
the success of Fundred and Opera-
tion Paydirt in New Orleans could
mean a lot for cities in the future,
making the magnitude of the proj-
ect much larger than it initially
appears.
"(New Orleans) is the proper
place to run the first experiment
on soil transformation," Chin
explained. "Logistically, environ-
mentally, condition-wise - it lines
up. Then we can come up to a place
like Detroit with something that
really works.
"With that model, we can begin
a change - a change in the soil and
a change in the environment that
threatens children. And if that's
something that people care about
and want to spread consciousness
about, then it has meaning for
everyone.
"It's about a larger community,"
Chin said.
Rubin said this project is an
excellent opportunity for artists
and non-artists alike to embrace
the privilege of working with com-
munity outreach and to participate
in a project that will have a larger-
than-life impactif successful.
"We are relying on people to
understand the power of this proj-
ect," Rubin said. "Because yes, it's
about lead remediation, children,
theenvironmentand NewOrleans.
But it's really about engaging your
local community, creatingrcommu-
nity and inspiring community in
order to initiate change."
The project is simple - only *
requiring some sort of marking
and a signature on the fundred -
and, if successful, it could mean a
new beginning for New Orleans
and cities all over the country that
suffer from the same problem.
With a collection center located
conveniently on campus in the
School of Art & Design, 'students
and community members have a
special opportunity to work hands
on with Fundred's cause.
"(The School of Art & Design
has) utilized (its) students a lot,
(and) they've gotten. involved,"
Banks said. "But we're such a small
school and we would definitely
love to have any more people that
we could be involved with this
project. We only have about 500
students and it would be great to
have more students on the proj-
ect."
Banks serves as the Fundred
collector and distributor at the
University, and can be contacted
directly if individuals or organiza-
tions are interested in participat-
ing.
"We just need the support,"
Chin said. "And we aren't even ask-
ing for money. We are asking for a
drawing, we're asking for human
expression."
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THE CREAM
FILLING?
IT'S AT
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