Connecting Kids and Culture
Des Moines Art Center Experiences

Each Connecting Kids and Culture / Des Moines Art Center experience centers around a guided tour of the collection. Guided tours are led by docents, museum trained volunteers who facilitate discussions about art with visitors of all ages. Guided tours are encouraged to be tailor-designed to maximize connections to your classroom curriculum.

The Art Center’s overarching guided tour goals include:

• Introduce students to art museums
• Help students make sense of art through engaged discussion
• Teach visual analysis (a balance of describing, analyzing, interpreting, and judging)
• Make connections between the students’ lives and the artwork
• Foster and promote creativity
• Encourage on–going participation with the Art Center

Art Center experiences must be scheduled three or more weeks in advance of the date requested by contacting the museum educator at 515-271-0328 or jcooley@desmoineartcenter.org. Please tell us your group is affiliated with Connecting Kids and Culture. Two weeks before the scheduled tour, a confirmation form will be mailed along with a CD-ROM containing information about museum rules, various artworks in the Art Center’s permanent collections, and suggested follow up activities.

School Tour Hours:
10 am – 2:30 pm, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
12 pm – 2:30 pm, Thursday

Menu of Art Center Experiences:

1. Tour the Collection: Grades K - 1. FREE of charge.
   50 minute docent guided tour of the Des Moines Art Center
   
   
2. Tour the Collection: Grades 2 - 5. FREE of charge.
   60 minute docent guided tour of the Des Moines Art Center
   
   
3. Super-Sized Tour the Collection: Grades 3 - 5. FREE of charge.
   75 minute docent guided tour of the Des Moines Art Center
   
   
4. Tour and Self-Directed Sketching: Grades 3 - 5. FREE of charge.
   60 minute docent guided tour of the Des Moines Art Center +
   20 minutes of self-directed sketching in the galleries
   
   Students are encouraged to draw from various artworks in the Art Center’s collections. Paper, pencils, and clipboards are provided. Students are required to stay in their tour groups (with their chaperones) and spread throughout the galleries to avoid congestion around a few works of art. This experience is based on gallery availability. Please be flexible on dates.
   
   
5. Tour and Studio Experience (grade availability and pricing listed below)
   50-60 minute docent guided tour of the Des Moines Art Center +
   50-60 minute art activity
   
   Minimum $60 fee or $5/student. Maximum capacity is 90 students. Experience is based on a 50-60 minute rotation. Example: 45 students begin with activity, 45 on tour; the groups switch after alloted time. This experience is based on studio and art instructor availability. Please be flexible on dates.
   
   Studio Experience Options:
   
   Playful Printmaking, Grades K – 2
   Young students will draw expressive faces and playful patterns on scratch foam board and then see their drawings transformed into colorful relief prints. They’ll see how ink is rolled out, will hear the popping sounds of charged ink, and learn to burnish and pull prints.
   
   Magical Birds, Grades K – 5
   Imaginations will soar as your students make charming little birds using the popular sculptural medium of Model Magic© and whimsical bird houses. This activity draws inspiration from Constantin Brancusi’s sculpture, Maiastra (1912), a masterpiece in the Art Center’s collection.
   
   Thinking in 3-D, Grades 3 – 5
   Seeing objects in 3-dimensions is easy enough, but when students are asked to make their own sculptures, capturing volume is more challenging than it first appears. Using easy to bend wire, students will learn techniques for building up form, portraying gesture, and achieving structurally sound, free-standing sculptures.

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