Moving with Art

  November 12, 2018

Moving with Art- participants viewing and discussing paintings

Led by Art Education graduate student Shoshana McIntosh, this interactive docent workshop at the Meadows Museum at SMU introduced the idea of embodied cognition using simple kinesthetic activities in the galleries. Throughout the workshop, the Meadows Museum docents considered how movement could be used during tours as a way to invite students to explore and express their experiences with art. Using movement, the docents investigated narrative paintings and portraits and presented their observations through gestural interpretations. They also used gestures to experience the quality of lines, texture, and mood in contemporary paintings and sculptures. The docents also discussed how best to incorporate these activities with student groups while still making everyone feel welcome and comfortable. Reflecting on the use of movement, several participating docents mentioned experiencing and noticing new things about artworks they had seen and taught dozens, if not hundreds of times.