For quite some time, Miriam Kraus made a habit of leaving her resume in the Yale University Art Gallery's education office. A school teacher who lives in Orange, Connecticut, Ms. Kraus had taught art on the elementary, junior high and high school levels. After her retirement from full-time teaching, she wanted to continue sharing her knowledge of paintings, sculpture and other works of art, and thought the Yale Art Gallery was the perfect place to do it.
One day eight years ago, the call finally came.
"It was in April," says Ms. Kraus. "A docent left, and they asked me if I would cover." During a subsequent formal interview with Janet Dickson, curator of education at the gallery, "she asked me, 'How do you see yourself?'" remembers Ms. Kraus. "I said, 'I see myself leading groups.' I feel very comfortable with 20th-century art, and I love all of the early paintings. I always see connections."
Docents, or volunteer tour guides, give their time and expertise to art institutions to educate visitors about collections. Docents are especially needed at art institutions, which more often than not are run on shoestring budgets. "They are a wonderful and invaluable group of people," says Mary Kordak, associate curator of education at the Yale Art Gallery. "They're truly committed individuals who obviously do what they do because they enjoy it, and who do not receive the recognition that they deserve for the outstanding job they do."
On campus, docents are part of the operational structure of not only the Yale Art Gallery, but also the Yale Center for British Art, British Art Center, and the Peabody Museum of Natural History. Each museum has its own set of admission, training and continuing- education requirements. Each of the following sections focuses on a different museum in order to illustrate specific aspects of a Yale docent's work and training.
Yale Art Gallery
During one of her recent tours, Ms. Kraus led a group of elementary schoolchildren to view Picasso's "The First Steps." After seating themselves in front of the work, which is mounted on the second floor, one of the youngsters noted the elevated left foot of the child in the painting. "It looks like the foot is lifting up," he said.
"Stand up and show me what you mean," said Ms. Kraus. The youngster gleefully hopped up, extended his arms and balanced himself on his right leg as he raised his left foot slightly off the floor. Ms. Kraus congratulated the boy on his demonstration and asked the other students to join in. "Look at the way that figure [the mother figure in the painting] is bending over," she said. "Show me, everybody." All of the children immediately stood, then hunched their bodies and curved their arms in a pantomime of the mother's protective stance.
"One of the things we want the docents to do," says Ms. Kordak, "is make people feel comfortable with works of art, so that it's not so inaccessible. Among the things I'm most concerned about when I observe a docent on the floor -- aside from giving correct information -- is how they engage the audience. The thrust is to teach visual literacy; you can do that with kids very easily. You want people to be able to look at a work of art and find things on their own, not be intimidated."
To achieve that goal, docents such Ms. Kraus must be prepared to gear their talks to different kinds of groups, from adults to kindergartners. "The little ones will jump up," says Ms. Kraus. "They're very enthusiastic. I find that high school kids are more reticent."
Each year the Yale Art Gallery welcomes about 23,000 visitors who take part in docent-led tours. Tours are divided into groups of no more than 20 participants. For some docents, like Ms. Kraus, finding ways to engage a group of viewers may come naturally. Others are helped by the year-long training that the Yale Art Gallery requires of its docents. After completing the training program, docents volunteer two to four hours of their time each week as tour guides. They also attend regular Monday afternoon meetings during which they study gallery holdings and new installations. The Yale Art Gallery currently has 32 docents.
"We would like our docents to have specialty areas, but we encourage them to learn the entire collection," says Ms. Kordak, herself a former docent. She notes that most of the Yale Art Gallery docents are from New Haven, while a few are from surrounding areas such as Guilford, Hamden, Trumbull and Westport. "They're very well trained," she adds. "We work them very hard and keep them very, very busy."
British Art Center
At each of Yale's museums, several staff members are involved in docent training (like Ms. Kordak, many of these staff members are former docents). At the Yale Center for British Art, for example, the training and continuing education of docents is coordinated by a five- member team, says Constance Clement, the center's deputy director. Ms. Clement herself, who also heads the museum's department of public information, education and outreach, chairs the weekly docent meetings.
"Our director, Patrick McCaughey, takes a strong personal interest in the docents and their activities," says Ms. Clement. "He regularly interacts with the docents and is involved directly in deepening their understanding of the permanent collection, new acquisitions and forthcoming exhibitions."
The coordinator of programs, Kay DeSanctis, is responsible for scheduling all events in the building. "She books tours, assigns them to individual docents, distributes monthly schedules and reviews them with the docents," says Ms. Clement.
Linda Friedlaender, formerly CIGNA associate curator of education at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, was recently appointed as the British Art Center's first full-time curator of education. Ms. Friedlaender, who was a BAC docent for 14 years 1977-91, is responsible for recruiting, training and supervising docents and also for developing, promoting and implementing educational programs for student and adult groups. In addition, she will form new partnerships by working collaboratively with museum staff, University faculty, area teachers -- including the center's high school advisory committee -- and the New Haven Teachers Institute.
"The head docent is the spokesperson for the group," says Ms. Clement. 'Throughout the year the head docent, who is elected by the docents, meets regularly with department staff and with the docents. At the end of the year the head docent submits a written annual report."
Louise Meusel, the current head docent, describes herself as "the liaison between the docents and the staff." Ms. Meusel, one of 20 docents at the British Art Center, has been volunteering her time there for the past 10 years. She formerly taught elementary school for 25 years. "The exciting thing about being a docent is that you learn so much," she says. The opportunity to share knowledge is paramount as well, she says, adding, "one of the things we try to do along with the cultural component is a lot of outreach." When a group of children involved in a Yale sports program visited the gallery, for example, they were taken on a tour of artworks with sports themes, Ms. Meusel says.
Docent training at the BAC is ongoing. Recruitment takes place "as and when the need for more docents arises," says Ms. Clement, noting that those admitted to the training course are expected to make a commitment of at least two years. She adds that in addition to learning from the training coordinators, new recruits also benefit from the experience of current docents, who "are encouraged to contribute to the training of their future colleagues."
Peabody Museum
Like their counterparts at the other Yale museums, docents-in- training at the Peabody Museum of Natural History learn from their colleagues. Peabody docents serve as apprentices to experienced docents, then present a program with docent class leaders as their audience.
All of the museum's 27 docents complete a 10-week training course led by Janet Sweeting, head of public education and the Armand Morgan Senior Museum Instructor. The apprenticeship occurs after six formal classes of instruction, then the docent leads a follow-up "test" tour, says Ms. Sweeting.
"What we're striving for is quality of presentation," Ms. Sweeting says. "When the trainee and the class instructors agree that the quality we're all looking for has been reached, the new docent begins to teach classes in the museum." Every year Peabody docents lead programs covering 10 different exhibits to over 20,000 schoolchildren from Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Currently 12 people are training as docents at the museum, taking part in a series of classes that began Jan. 27. "The course centers on information on dinosaurs. That's the most requested program offered at the museum and the one taught most frequently by docents," says Ms. Sweeting. "Learning theory and teaching strategies are other important topics covered in the class. The majority of the docents teach in the Great Hall of Dinosaurs, although docent trainees with expertise in topics related to the Peabody's other exhibits may start teaching in these areas of the museum."
The Peabody Museum docents, all of whom are college graduates, "bring to the museum an interest in the natural sciences and human cultures, and a variety of professional experiences," says Ms. Sweeting. "Our docents are school teachers, they're nurses, they're research scientists, real estate brokers, college professors and homemakers. Some are retired, and others fit their docent commitment into their work week.
"Besides personal satisfaction and the opportunity to participate in enrichment programs organized only for them," adds Ms. Sweeting, "Peabody volunteers receive free admission to the museum and to the John H. Ostrom Lecture Series, a discount at the museum shop, and invitations to exhibit openings and other special events. And each year a recognition reception honors volunteers." The Yale Art Gallery and the British Art Center have similar offerings for docents.
All these "perks," however, are hardly enough to repay the volunteers for what they give to the museums and galleries, emphasizes Ms. Kordak. Perhaps the most gratifying "payment" -- from the docents' point of view -- is the kind offered by one young grade-school visitor as he left the Yale Art Gallery after taking a tour led by Miriam Kraus. "I liked being at Yale," he told Ms. Kraus as he exited the building with his classmates, "and I'm going to come back soon."
Docent-led introductory and special-exhibit tours take place weekly at the University's museums, and are listed in each issue of the Yale Bulletin & Calendar. All tours at the Yale Art Gallery and the British Art Center are free and open to the public; tours at the Peabody Museum are free with museum admission. To schedule a docent-led tour at the Yale Art Gallery, call 432-0620; at the British Art Center, call 432-2858; and at the Peabody Museum, call 432- 3775.
Docent training at each of the museums is ongoing. In addition, each location has other volunteer positions available, such as greeters, which require less intensive training. For more information about how to become a docent or to volunteer in some other capacity at the Yale Art Gallery, call Ms. Kordak at 432-0619; at the British Art Center, call Ms. Friedlaender at 432-2855; and at the Peabody Museum, call Sally Lanzi, volunteer coordinator, at 432-3731.
-- BY FELICIA HUNTER