Tour Formats and Topics

Tours of the David Owsley Museum of Art can be designed to fit your group's specific needs and interests or to relate to current classroom topics. Some examples are provided below.

University Classes

• Students in 100-level English classes participate in discussions that seek to describe the narrative content of a series of paintings. Later, students return to select a work and write about it using some of the techniques from the discussion.
• A world literature class visits the museum to study objects from Nigeria while reading a novel by a Nigerian author.
• Math classes participate in museum sessions during which they study and discuss how mathematical principles inform the composition of works of art.
• Western civilization classes study how artistic production expressed the ideals and aspirations of Europeans and Americans at various times throughout their history.

School Groups

• Students working on units on Native Americans view and discuss works in the museum's Native American collection. A related teacher's packet with classroom activities is available in the K-12 Educational Resources area of this site.
• The museum's landscape paintings are the focus for classes completing units on the weather, bodies of water, and American geography. Materials for the classroom titled America in Art: Landscape Painting in the David Owsley Museum of Art, including classroom activities and images, are available in the K-12 Educational Resources area of this site.
• Students of American history will find ample visual resources in the museum and in the related teacher's guide, American History and Art in the David Owsley Museum of Art, available in the K-12 Educational Resources area of this site.
• High school students of foreign languages and cultures examine works of art from France, Germany, and Japan.
• Students in family and consumer sciences view and discuss tableware from the 18th and 19th centuries; others discuss changes in fashions over time while viewing the museum's portraits.