gallery activities - denver art museumrachel finds a cigar box, opens it, and smiles. “shells,”...

Gallery Activities

On the top floor of the Denver Art Museum,light streams through a skylight onto an oak deskwith brass-handled drawers, which Austin, nine, andhis six-year-old sister, Rachel, pull open and riflethrough.

Rachel finds a cigar box, opens it, and smiles.“Shells,” she says softly, looking at the dried sea-horse, starfish, and cowrie collection nesting onwhite satin lining.

Austin picks up a heavy lead pen, turns it overin his hand, and touches its sharp end. “This is anold quill pen,” he says. “Look, there are the ink bot-

tles.” He dips the tip into an empty glassbottle on a tortoise-shell writing tray.

Another drawer contains laminatedbank notes from the late 1800s, and a $3receipt for “goods” purchased in 1884.

Rachel is more interested in a deli-cately framed photograph of a girl abouther age, who she believes sat at the desk

long ago. Opening a drawer on the lower right, shecomes across a second cigar box. When she lifts thelid, she grins again.

“Butterflies.”

Rachel and her brother are exploring theWestern Discovery Library on a quiet Saturdaymorning. The library is cozy with its fat leather

couches and oak cabinets packed withbooks and art. Tucked into nooks are twocomputers that can take children onadventures along the Oregon Trail orthrough the National Museum ofAmerican Art.

On a counter below a bulletin boardstuffed with old postcards and photo-graphs, Austin finds a turn-of-the-century

stereopticon of polished cherry.Instinctively knowing how to work thiselegant precursor to today’s plastic View-Masters®, he slides twin photographsmounted side by side on cardboard intowire holders and peers through the tineyepiece. The lenses put the photos inmotion, transforming the flat sepia worldinto three dimensions. Recently cut andbundled redwood logs appear to floatdown the Columbia River. “Man, thoseare big logs,” Austin says.

The library is a new type of museumgallery. Here, visitors become explorers,finding art and artifacts in the most sur-prising places. There are few directionson where to go or what to open; curiosityleads the way.

The Denver Art Museum deliberatelyincluded family offerings throughout itspermanent collections. Whether visitorscome on a Sunday with hundreds of oth-ers for a special exhibition or on a quietweekday afternoon, they’ll find do-it-your-self activities that range from a quickpuzzle to a lengthy search through themuseum’s two Discovery Libraries—andeverything in between. Family education-al spaces are integrated seamlessly withmore traditional gallery areas. In somegalleries, children can touch replicas ofworks from the collections, and children’sbooks and videos are on hand throughoutthe building.

“You can count on these family activi-ties any time you visit, any day of theweek,” says Melora McDermott-Lewis,

Gallery Activities • 2

Many treasures await visitors to the Western DiscoveryLibrary. Inside the drawers of this oak desk, children findold photos, seashells, even a hidden safe. They can findthe combination by rummaging through the desk.

family programs director and masterteacher for European and American art.“Many of our programs target peak familytimes and are only out on weekends andduring school breaks, but it’s critical tohave things that are always available—tomake visits more enjoyable and to consis-tently signal that adults with kids areimportant to us. Live programs are won-derful, but they disappear from view afterthey’re over. We wanted to make a muchmore permanent statement in our galleriesthat we welcome families.”

These offerings have evolved throughthe years. At this point, there is so muchvariety in the activities that they offersomething for everyone. Denver ArtMuseum galleries have always been andremain quiet places to enjoy art, but theyalso feel comfortable. Walking into a

gallery and noticing a dad and his kidscamped out on the floor with a puzzle or agroup reading together in a sunny nook,you can’t help but feel this is a placewhere you’re free to explore at yourleisure with kids.

On comment cards available through-out the building, visitors have sponta-neously jotted down opinions about pro-grams and activities. Taken as a whole,it’s clear they feel at ease and confident,whether or not they have a strong back-ground in art. One mother wrote, “I wishevery adult could experience the DenverArt Museum with a child. How liberating.Instead of just ‘appreciating,’ or worse,trying to out-erudite each other as someadults do, we just enjoyed what was‘cool!’ We had so much fun.”

Another parent noted, “Wow! This isthe most user-friendlyart museum I’ve everbeen to. Truly, youhave reached the elu-sive goal of bringingart down off a pedestaland into the hands ofmy 12-year-old son,who didn’t want tocome.”

Some activities arecontinuously available.Eye Spy games havebecome standard fareon every floor. To helpguide families, gamesare color coded to spe-cific galleries. The


Packed with books, art, maps, and more, the Western Discovery Library provides a more intimate exploration of art in a personal context that appeals to both adults and children.

portable, yet sturdy, plastic oblong boardshave handles for easy carrying. Five win-dows with brief clues and detailed photo-graphs of objects guide kids’ searchthrough the gallery.

Although the Eye Spy games appear to

be simple, they actually extend beyondseek-and-find games and into the realm ofimagination and open-ended conjecture.Some encourage children to make up sto-ries about places within landscapes.Others relate to concepts or symbolism inother cultures. All provide fun ways toencourage closer inspection.

Not only does the game provide a funway to learn about the collections, it alsoencourages visitors to take their time,allowing the visitor to really see the art-work. McDermott-Lewis says, “We wantedto get both kids and grownups to slowdown and look at details. At first, we onlyhad the game for the American Indianinstallation. As we developed othergames, the notion of focusing on detailshas remained the same. You walk intothis big gallery, but what do you look at?Where do you begin? What do you do?Having a focus helps.”

Visitors have come to expect Eye Spygames. Kids will often go from a game inone gallery to another during a singlevisit, guided by Seymour, the family pro-grams monkey mascot, who pops up onsigns next to Eye Spy locations, urgingkids with “Let’s play Eye Spy!” Seymouris a visual marker for kids. Any placethey find him, they will also discoversomething fun to do.

“We created a museum-wide signageinitiative based on Seymour marking fam-ily activities throughout the building,”McDermott-Lewis says. “Families weren’talways finding our gallery activities. Wewanted to make them more obvious.”


Eye Spy games are a great tool for getting families to slow down and look closely at objects in the collection.

Seymour is based on a permanentobject in the pre-Columbian gallery. Helooks out at kids at Art Stops and galleryactivities and from bookshelves stuffedwith fairytales and non-fiction referencematerials for young people.

In addition to Eye Spy and other kid-friendly activities, families will find puz-zles in the museum. In the AmericanIndian gallery are two jigsaw puzzles withcolorful, kid-friendly images related tonearby art. One set is on a table in a busythoroughfare; the other is next to a com-fortable reading and video area. Both aresuitable for younger kids ages 5-8. Twoother puzzles, one with a more compleximage and the other in a nine-cubearrangement, are geared toward moreadvanced players.

“I was very interested in puzzles as away to help people see more,” saysGretchen DeSciose, who at the time wasmaster teacher for Native arts. “I hadn’tseen anything like them in gallery set-tings, although I had seen similar itemsfor sale in museum shops.”

A few years after creating theAmerican Indian puzzles, DeSciose, nowmaster teacher for Spanish Colonial andpre-Columbian art, decided to create anentirely different and larger puzzle formatfor the pre-Columbian area.

Sitting on a short stool, Rachel peersup at a three-foot-high metal replica of aNasca pot sitting on a custom-designedtable in the pre-Columbian gallery. Theimage on the pot has been turned into a


Seymour, the family programs mascot, invites visitors to participate in the many programs always availablethroughout the museum.

magnetic puzzle.Both kids are excited the minute they

find this replica sitting near its ancientoriginal—an earthenware vessel of aboutthe same size.

Austin works on the orange whale andRachel the red one. As they work, they lookback and forth between their replica andthe original, noting that the three imagesare identical except for size and color. Afterfinishing their puzzles, they go over to theNasca jar and read that the creatures areactually whales.

During their inception, these puzzleswere pioneering gallery activities. They gavekids something to do with their parents, andthey helped everyone notice details that they

might have missed otherwise.But the puzzles are just one of the

ways the museum has been innovative intransforming gallery space to welcomevisitors and help them feel comfortable toexplore on their own. The first steps werebasic. During special exhibitions, theeducation department added a few chairsto tables displaying catalogs and booksrelated to the show.

During the late 1980s reinstallation ofthe American Indian gallery, the museumtook this basic idea much further, dedi-cating a bright corner as a reading andvideo nook, complete with couches andchairs. A few feet away from tipis, cradle-boards, and other artifacts, visitors canwatch videos or browse through books or


Puzzles located next to corresponding gallery objects encourage visitors to take a closer look at details inthe collections. Encouraging closer observation/looking, this puzzle is installed next to the object that it isfashioned after.

magazines. The nooks contain a lot ofmaterial for those who want to furtherexplore topics they find particularlyintriguing as they look around the gallery.

“The idea was to create places thatlooked so comfortable that people wouldwant to just plop down and use them,”DeSciose says. “You get a change of paceand a chance to relax.”

In creating more engaging familyactivities, the museum looked to theAmerican library system as an example,according to Patterson Williams, dean ofeducation and master teacher for Asianart. “How can an art museum be morelike a library in terms of its effectivenessin serving and enriching the lives of abroader spectrum of people—the individ-

uals in our community? The first step wasto enrich the galleries with more choicesfor visitors in terms of how and what theylearn. The second step has been theDiscovery Libraries, and the third aspecthas been making the museum right forfamilies the way a library works effective-ly for families. Parents are not just goingfor their kids’ interests. There is a hugerange of intriguing information for adults.The museum is not just a child’s place oran adult’s place. It offers something foreveryone.”

In keeping with these ideas, galleryreading and video alcoves have beentended to and nurtured to make themmore friendly and comfortable for anyonewho wanders by. Handsome carpets have


Video alcoves enrich gallery experiences for all visitors. Available on every floor, video areas encourage families to explore topics further.


been added, as well as special offeringssuch as the table in a corner of the pre-Columbian gallery where replicas ofseven ancient artifacts are arranged andbolted down. The objects look exactly likethe ones in the gallery. In fact, the sevenartworks are all the more powerfulbecause they are so closely tied visuallyto the originals yet accessible to andtouchable by children.

Those who want to learn more canrefer to a brochure that illustrates anddescribes each of the objects on the table.More children’s stories, legends, and non-fiction are stacked along bookshelvespositioned at a child’s eye level. Aboveone of them, Seymour says, “Let’s Read!”

This side of the pre-Columbian nookhas been scaled down for children. Sixtiny foot-high walnut stools are tuckedunder a matching rectangular table cov-ered with a forest of picture books. Theadult side has at least 75 reference books,as well as dog-eared National Geographicmagazines tagged with relevant articles.

From area rugs to furniture and read-ing materials, each reading and videoarea is in keeping with the related galleryartwork. The Asian gallery nook, forexample, is decorated in sage and salmonhues. Frosted partition windows aredesigned to resemble folding screens. Thenook is packed with more than 100 booksfor adults and children, as well as videos

Let’s read! Books for both adults and children are scattered throughout the museum to encourage furtherexploration of topics. Reading area rugs, furniture, and reading material are related to each gallery’s artwork.


such as The Peach Boy and The Tigerand the Brahmin.

In a recently remodeled nook, visitorscan hang their own miniature exhibitionsby arranging playing-card sized magneticimages of framed art on a board above acorner table.

In the pre-Columbian gallery and readyfor a rest, the kids decide to flop down andwatch a video on the ancient Maya,Isabelle in Mexico Visiting the Maya.

On the screen, Isabelle, a six-year-oldgirl dressed in late twentieth-centuryattire, walks out of her house in the

rainforest and meets an ancient Maya person who takes her on a ride into thepast in a dug-out canoe. Upon entering anancient village, she swings and climbsropes with wiry kids dressed in huipilesand watches as grownups use vegetation tomake everything from arrow shafts to leaf-root thatching.

The gallery is quiet for a long time. It’slate in the day. Toward the end of thevideo, Rachel says, “What I like about theMaya people is they use everything.”

As the video ends, Austin says, “Maybesometime in the future, this would be avideo about us; we would be the ancientguys.”

These reading nooks were dramaticexperiments at one time, and they contin-ue to inspire even more radical thinkingabout the way people experience art. TheBernadette Berger Discovery Library, withits luxurious and quirky décor, invitesvisitors to browse through art like patronswould wander through a library.

Wall-to-wall cabinets and cubbiesunconventionally mix art of all types.Above the shelves, awash in ambientlight, are contemporary sculptures juxta-posed with works from previous centuries.

“When I was creating the room, I waskicking around the idea of doing some-thing along the lines of a cabinet ofcuriosities—the old collector who had alittle bit of everything—as a way of deal-ing with our very small, but good, antiqui-ties collections,” McDermott-Lewis says.“That idea began to intersect with the

On benches in the Decorative Arts gallery visitors can draw their chair story and leave it for other visitorsto see.


whole library notion. And then I startedthinking about seeing art in a personalcontext—thinking about collectors’homes, where they were living with art.They might have a very eclectic collec-tion.”

McDermott-Lewis started lookingthrough pictures of grand libraries innineteenth-century British country homes.These private studies had eccentric mixesof furnishings, odd pieces of armor, but-terfly and pendant collections, and bookscrammed into every space.

“We wanted to integrate art,” she says.“There was definitely the idea of beingchock full. You look at some of these

places, and they’ve got art hanging 16feet up in the air. There was the notion ofdrawers, where you could take somethingout and look. Why do you have to standin the middle of an open room and look atart? There are so many more enjoyableways to be with it.”

The Discovery Library was created inpart because Lewis Sharp, museum direc-tor, dedicated 800 square feet to educa-tion. The project was entrusted toMcDermott-Lewis, who from the startdecided that this centrally located spaceshould not be segregated as a classroomthat sat empty half the time.

“I was intrigued with the whole notion

Filled with comfy furniture, books, art, computers and costumes to try on, the Discovery Library provides an intimatespace for further exploration.


of looking at art in a comfortable, intimatesetting,” McDermott-Lewis says. “Couldthe concept be extended to making thespace as comfortable as a living room? Atthe same time, perhaps the museum’santiquities collections of Egyptian, Greek,and Roman artifacts could be tucked intothe space.”

Visitors of all ages can browseEuropean and American art though com-puter programs such as Life in TudorTimes; Picasso: The Man, his Works, theLegend; and Castle Explorer.

Inside another case, a dollhouse fea-tures miniature scenes that helped Dutchgirls two centuries ago learn about how tokeep proper homes. Below, flat rolloutdrawers hold embroidery samples, tiny oilportraits painted on pendants, andEgyptian jewelry. Nearby magnifyingglasses are available for even closerinspection of these miniatures. Insideother drawers are prints by Manet, Dürer,Homer, Whistler, and Miró, among others.

Books are everywhere—scattered on amassive walnut coffee table, piled on asmaller stand, and displayed along libraryshelves. Inside some of the volumes arepullout tags labeling identical booksavailable at the Denver Public Library.

Inside a wardrobe, also built into thecabinetry, are lavish costumes for visitorsto try on. Included in the collection is avelvet hat and ornate peascod vest thatlook exactly like ones worn by Sir JohnAshburnham in his 1593 portrait byHeironimo Custodis in the gallery aroundthe corner.

On comment cards, visitors praise thelibrary for its comforts and welcomingmessages.

“Your museum is the most kid-friendlyand accessible due to the wonderfulDiscovery Library. A stroke of genius!”writes one visitor from Pennsylvania.“How can any kid (no matter how old)resist opening drawers, trying on costumesand seeing videos? Congratulations!”

Some express it all in one word:

Costumes that look exactly like those worn by famous his-torical figures, cowboys, and other subjects in gallerypaintings turn a walk through museum collections into aseek and find activity that encourages further exploration.


“Radical!” or “Cool!”Bill and Bernadette Berger, the library

donors, asked McDermott-Lewis to createanother one for the Western collection. “Itwas wonderful to take the DiscoveryLibrary notion further,” McDermott-Lewissays. “I concentrated on conveyingWestern themes. I also felt strongly that Ihadn’t pushed ‘doing’ as strongly as Icould. In the first Discovery Library, wehad great reading. We had great viewing.But there aren’t many other things to do. Iwanted more hands-on activities, espe-cially for families, this time around.”

After studying photographs of studioscrammed with artifacts, paintings, andother objects gathered by frontiersmenduring their explorations, she came upwith an arts-and-crafts design for the newroom.

“I expanded the Discovery Libraryideas of rummaging through drawers andclosets,” she says. “The Western Library’s

desk partly evolved from this, as well asfrom the writing and drawing activitieswe’d been experimenting with in othergalleries. I saw a lot of great roll-topdesks stuffed with letters and artifacts. Itook this whole notion of peeking a stepfurther in this room.”

The space includes touchables for allages. The story of frontier photography issubtly told throughout the library, fromminiature sepia prints on the desk todaguerreotypes, tintypes, and ambrotypesnested in flat drawers below cabinets.

Within an alcove, across from a full-length mirror on the wall, Seymour urgeskids to try on some costumes. Hanging onwooden pegs are hand-sewn costumesthat replicate those worn by Long Jakes, aRocky Mountain trapper in CharlesDeas’s 1844 painting on display in anearby gallery. A second outfit includesclothing so closely matching that of avaquero in the museum’s 1873 James

Walker paintingthat you wouldthink the Hispaniccowboy had justwalked out of thecanvas and hunghis clothes on thewardrobe’s woodenpegs. The fabricand fashion detailsare followed close-ly, down to a pill-box hat with a flatbrim woven with50 percent beaver

Kids love trying on costumes fashioned after the Hispanic cowboy on the right. (James Walker, Cowboys Roping a Bear, c. 1877)


fur to become waterproof, just like thoseworn by the vaqueros.

Nearby pullout labels give parents asense of the lives of these early Westernadventurers. “We need to know what thepaintings are about to give them a humancontext,” says Melanie Groendyke-Freeman, master teacher for Egyptian art.“Traditional books give you facts. But canyou imagine being in California, being avaquero, and it being 90 degrees? You arein full leathers in cactus country. Andwhat would it feel like, with one hand, toreach down and do a quick unbutton ofyour round silver buttons up to yourthighs, so air could get to your silk pan-taloons?”

Information and illustrations on studyboards help parents tell stories or answertheir kids’ questions. “It’s all just reallyfun, and you learn a lot about the cul-ture,” Groendyke-Freeman says. “In thisroom, you are an observer, thinker, feeler, explorer. Your experience can be expansive.”

There are no overt explanations orlabels. Little plaques that meld into thewoodwork encourage visitors to “Pleaseexplore!” The receipts, the maps, the cos-tumes, the cameras, old train tickets, andstocks and bonds begin to tell a story,subtly helping visitors discover and con-nect with Western art and culture. Theycan do this comfortably, at their ownpace. That is key to both DiscoveryLibraries.

As children grow and change, so dothe ways they experience the Discovery

Libraries and other permanent offeringsthroughout the museum. First discoveriesbecome favorites to return to over andover again, but there is plenty still to bedone differently as perspectives andinterests change. The activities and pro-grams regularly available to familiesencompass a wide range of interests andages, but they are also open-ended enoughto encourage repeat visits throughout theyears, perhaps nourishing life-long interestin a culture or work of art.

Family Center

Floors below the glassed-in mummy case, pre-Columbian artifacts, and fine examples of contem-porary furniture, the Denver Art Museum has aplace where you can draw on chairs with chalk,crawl around like a Nile crocodile, and stack feath-erweight Maya stones into a tower as high as youcan reach.

Set apart from the galleries in a sun-filled spaceof its own is the Just for Fun Center. And as thename suggests, there’s no agenda here. This place isfor playing. Visitors will find chalk, costumes,games, and puzzles all custom-designed and set upat various stations along a curving concourse flood-ed with light. Wide benches invite visitors to sitdown and rest.

“Children are having a differentkind of fun than they would in the gal-leries, but they are still having an experience unique to an art museum,”says Maria Garcia, family programscoordinator, who helped design the center. “Kids can come down and piecetogether a giant Maya puzzle block by

block, or just knock it down. That is something thatnever in a million years are they going to do in thegalleries.”

Inside, near the doors to a sculpture garden, is amossy, grainy replica of a Maya monument, or stela,that is displayed in the museum’s Pre-Columbiangalleries. The eight carved foam stones look ancient,

tumbled in a heap on a rug decorated withrainforest designs. They are like magnetsfor a child, such as Zachary, six, whocan’t resist them. He hefts one over hishead as he pieces together a Maya rulerfrom the lightweight blocks.

As he works, he keeps glancing back ata printed image on the rug. A boy is slipping a final stone into place, saying,“Put the Maya Puzzle Together.” The picture guides Zachary as he moves replicastones half his size. Also printed on the car-pet is an image of Seymour, the museum’sfamily programs mascot. Peeking out froma lush rainforest, the monkey encouragesvisitors to explore: “You’ll find the real oneon the fourth floor.”

The Maya puzzle is one of seven sta-

tions inviting families to explore art fromthe past and present. Activities focus onancient Egypt, the Maya of Mexico andGuatamala, Japan, Northwest CoastIndian culture, contemporary chairdesign, and patterns in art. There aremagnetic storyboards and tops that can bedecorated and spun. There also aredesigner blocks intended for youngerchildren. The stations are arranged sothat families can explore them in anyorder.

“One of the brilliant things about thefamily center is that it is extremely sim-ple,” says Patterson Williams, dean ofeducation and master teacher for Asianart. “This is highly interactive but lowtech, or no tech. The center is about play,

reflection, and imagina-tion. It’s about intuitivelearning and family mem-bers having a good timetogether.”

Developed with sup-port from The PewCharitable Trusts, thecenter has been opensince December 1999.During its first year, vis-its were almost twice asmuch as expected, with9,000 to 10,000 peopletaking advantage of theprogram instead of the5,000 anticipated. Thespace is popular becauseit welcomes families andoffers a range of activities

Family Center • 2

This giant Maya puzzle is a challenge play activity with a definite outcome. As one of seven Family Center activities, it encourages family interaction and exploration of art from the past and present.

that accommodate many ages, styles, andinterests. The center targets children agessix to twelve but accommodates youngeror older siblings and adults—there istruly something for everyone. Signsencourage visitors to travel back and forthbetween the Just for Fun Center and theart galleries.

Banners stand beside each Just forFun activity and depict a single close-upof a child doing the activity. Wordsdescribe the key moment: I Designed It!It’s a Match! It Fits! I’m a Nile Crocodile!They Stick! It Spins! At a glance, familiesknow what to do at each activity.

The center also is advertised in a FreeThings for Kids to Do Today brochure,available throughoutthe museum. TheCenter is open onweekends, during win-ter and spring breaks,and every day duringthe summer, and itsactivities revolvearound four types ofplay—challenge playwhere there is a defi-nite outcome or winner,small world play wherea child can create or imagine a world, dress up, and art making.

“We really wantedto make sure that fami-lies were learningthrough play and thatthese four types of play

were represented,” Garcia says. “Thewhole idea of having this space and allthe programs is to make families feelcomfortable and to encourage repeat vis-its.”

The variety of activities allows youngvisitors to express themselves in whateverway they find most natural and comfort-able. Some kids prefer to dress up; otherslike to draw or solve puzzles. Some chil-dren love the storytelling and make-believe of small world play. The range ofoptions accommodates different stylesand changing interests.

Two separate stations feature art making that allows for creative expressionthrough drawing and design.

Family Center • 3

Portable signs placed next to gallery objects such as this Maya Stela encourage families to visit the Just for Fun Center. (Stela, about AD 780, Maya)

One includes child sized chairs coatedwith chalkboard paint that can be drawn

on and designed using changeable backs,arms and magnetic leg adornments. Asecond art-making station features circu-lar tables stocked with everything neededto create spinning tops, the only activitythat can be taken home.

The dress-up station includes cos-tumes based on Egyptian animals. Andthe “challenge” areas feature a Japaneseshell memory game and a Maya 3-D puz-zle. At the farthest end of the airy con-course are two small-world or pretendactivities. One station focuses onNorthwest Coast Indian art. A secondoffers blocks and an Eames House ofCards for toddlers and young children.Red, yellow, and blue blocks are scat-tered on a soft yellow rug printed with the words “Create and Build” and “big,little, over, under, less, more, short, top,bottom.”

Four-year-old Brian, along with hismother and father are finishing a railroadstation made from wooden blocks.Construction of the station is hinderedonly slightly by Brian’s little brother,David, age two. The boys have been building for about half an hour. They arespending their entire visit in the Just ForFun Center, which their mother had seenthe year before. This summer, she broughther kids back to give them a taste for making things. She says, “My boys aremechanical. I’ve been wondering how youget mechanical kids to do art.”

As her sons play, other visitors jointhem—Zachary and his mother. Soon the

Family Center • 4

Bright, lively banners say a lot about the type of activityand the collection to which it is related with only a fewwords.

three kids are sharing blocks and stack-ing them into a five-foot-high tower.

“We have spaces for large, physicalplay and also for small motor play,”Garcia says. “The area also works for par-ents who want to interact and for thosewho want to sit and watch.”

Before creating these spaces, the edu-cation department devoted a visitor panelto discussions about a family center. Theyasked those who would ultimately use itwhat they would like to see.Overwhelmingly, parents stressed thatthey needed a place in the museum wherethey could let their guard down, let theirkids run free and play, and not worryabout them touching things. Jungle gymsweren’t the answer. Clearly and directly,

parents said they wanted to feel like theywere visiting the art museum.

The original concept, proposed in ThePew Charitable Trusts grant, was to buildpermanent spaces into all the galleriesand scatter activities throughout themuseum. Stations or nooks would featurehands-on games, puzzles, and other offer-ings for families. These new areas wouldbe geared a bit more toward free play andadd another dimension to family offeringsalready in the galleries. There were, how-ever, some drawbacks to the preliminaryplan.

“You’d still have to be relatively quietand controlled,” Williams says. “You’dhave to stay within security boundariesand share space with other people. As

Family Center • 5

Areas designed for free play complement structured activities and provide a place where younger siblings can be involved.

soon as we began to think about theseboundaries, these kinds of activities feltcurtailed. It was almost like taking some-thing really fun and putting in a lot ofrules. Suddenly, it wasn’t fun any more.”

At the same time, families were vocal-ly asking for spaces where their childrenwould be able to roam a bit more freelyand let off steam—critical to a great fami-ly museum visit.

“This sort of freedom isn’t really pos-sible in the galleries,” Williams says. “It’snot even possible in the museum’sDiscovery Library spaces, which are across between a traditional gallery and alibrary. The environment is too fragile.The security needs are too great.”

The museum also needed an instantlyrecognizable advertisement for familieswho might be interested in coming for afirst visit. The museum’s Family

Backpacks are harder to explain to a new-comer, and most families don’t come tothe museum just to visit the Kids Corner,which features one activity at a time. ArtStops are generally targeted for conversa-tional interactions rather than learningthrough play. A special center, designedspecifically for families, might justify anentire museum visit, and it would helpnewcomers get their feet wet.

During these early brainstorming days,Garcia and Melora McDermott-Lewis,master teacher for European andAmerican art and family programs direc-tor, started looking at the places familieswent for leisurely fun outings. They trav-eled to children’s museums where theywatched kids in spaces designed espe-cially for them. They went to toy stores.Staff members read magazines kids loveand looked through books on games andpuzzles. They recalled games they playedas kids and thought about what their ownchildren, nieces, and nephews did for fun.

“We had to go outside our field to findout what kids want,” Garcia says. “Wewould just watch kids playing. It was veryopen-ended. We saw felt boards, traintracks. At children’s museums, the thingthat struck me was that they are reallyconcerned about the different types ofplay. We went to children’s museum con-ferences where they are thinking aboutfamilies all of the time.”

To start the process Garcia andMcDermott-Lewis asked all the educationdepartment’s master teachers to come upwith at least one or two activities related

Family Center • 6

This 'small world' play area was inspired by observationsof children in toy stores. Magnetic images depict theDAM's Northwest Coast Indian collection, as well as theanimals that inspired the makers.

to each of the four play categories, draw-ing on their in-depth understanding of thecollections for which they are responsible,as well as their experiences teaching chil-dren. Decisions were made based on kidappeal and the overall range of activities.Before committing significant resources,to an activity, master teachers and staffmembers spent several Saturdays in themuseum testing prototypes with families.

Carla Hartman, master teacher for

architecture, design and graphics, cameup with about twenty possibilities.Perhaps an ornate theater set could bebuilt—an 1800s cabinet that would opento reveal lavish costumes. In another scenario, she envisioned a three-storydollhouse complete with sliding walls,floor panels, and miniature furniture.Under the art-making play category, shedescribed chalkboard chairs—spring-boards for design.

“I was looking through catalogues, andI saw this chalkboard paint,” Hartmansays. “And I suddenly realized we couldmake a chalkboard chair!”

Hartman’s initial design included sep-arate chair parts that could be screwed orslotted together, but the plan raised ques-tions about safety, costs, and structuraldetails. Instead of abandoning her do-it-yourself concept, she reworked it toinclude three child-sized stools, each withthree slots in the seat where eight differ-ent geometric backs and multiple armscan slide. The stools and removable com-ponents are covered with special chalk-board paint on which visitors can sketchtheir own designs.

Chalk was another stumbling block.Some brands were too gritty. Others wereso soft they crumbled when people triedto sketch with them or accidentallystepped on them. The harder sticksscratched the paint and barely made amark. After spending time researchingand talking with various vendors,Hartman decided on jumbo-sized chalkthat worked on the chairs but didn’t cre-

Family Center • 7

Removable backs, arms, and leg stretchers encouragekids to imagine and create their own chair. Chalkboardpaint covering all the chair components encourages children to sketch their own designs.

Family Center • 8

ate a lot of dust or crum-bling debris.

Museum woodworkersbuilt a prototype chair that,when tested, appealed toboth children and adults.Carpenters altered thedesign slightly to strength-en the chairs, roundededges to make them saferfor younger visitors, andcreated decorative bins tohold removable parts.

Each chair base nowsits on its own brightly pat-terned mat. The mats fea-ture fabric designs toinspire visitors. Also print-ed on the mats is Seymour,who says, “See the chairsand patterns on the secondand sixth floors.”

Consistent with the station’s designtheme, every detail has been thought outand integrated into an attractive whole.

At the opposite end of the concourse isan activity where Francesca, ten, is beginning round five of a Japanese shellgame with her seven-year-old cousin,Calvin. It hadn’t taken the pair more thana minute to figure out the game, but theyhad to finish round six before reluctantlyagreeing to leave for lunch.

Parents often have to pry their kidsaway from the shell game. It’s somewhataddictive, partly because it is both simple

and different every time. Williamsdesigned the memory game, which isinspired by a traditional shell gameplayed in ancient Japan.

“The sets of shells were often given asa wedding present to a woman,” Williamssays. “For any clamshell, there is onlyone perfect match. We have one of theseshells on view in our collection.”

The Just for Fun Center’s Japaneseshell game station includes two woodentables on which clamshells are arrangedin a spiral. Printed on the table’s surfaceare the words, “Play Memory.” The shells’insides are decorated with varnished photographs of painted herons, delicatebranches, bamboo, and rolling waves.

A favorite game to play over and over is the Japanese Shell Game. Inspired bya traditional shell game played in ancient Japan, it is both simple and differentevery time.

Family Center • 9

These delicate, natural images are detailsfrom Japanese lacquers in the museum’scollection.

The activity evolved over time. A fewyears ago, Williams made a paper versionas an art project for kids during a parent/child workshop. Younger and olderplayers liked the idea, but they wanted touse real clamshells.

“I knew I didn’t want to go out thereand cook clams to give each child twelveshells so that he or she could play a realgame,” Williams says. “I couldn’t figureout where to take this idea.”

In the meantime, she had asked photographers to take close-ups of thetiniest details on lacquered objects in theJapanese collection. In addition to docu-menting these artifacts, she was in theprocess of amassing a visual resource for

her live teaching and adult lectures.“When I got the photographs, I was aston-ished by the richness of the detail,” shesays. “At this point, one of my live-teach-ing goals became, ‘How can I use thesephotographs to get kids interested in thedetails of art in the collections?’

“Suddenly it all came together in myfamily center project. I decided that theinsides of the shells would be decoratedwith details from the lacquer objects.”

The prototype Japanese shell gameincluded thirty-two sets of shells to bearranged in a spiral on a large circulartable. But the first families to try it outstruggled over it. The problem wasn’t oneof strategy or lack of interest. It was thesize of the table and the sheer number ofclamshells.

“It was immediately apparent that

Varnished photographs of painted horses, delicate branches and rolling waves from the DAM'sJapanese collection adorn the insides of the clamshell pairs used in the memory game.

Family Center • 10

small children would actually have tocrawl across the table to reach a shell onthe other side,” Williams says. “Withthirty-two pairs of shells, parents becameextremely anxious, as did children, withthe length of time it took to get a match.They were frustrated, and I wasn’t evensure if they really knew what was goingon. But they were not finding it pleasant.”

At that point, Williams brought outbutcher paper and taped over a bunch ofthe clamshell graphics. That helped, butthere were still too many on the table.More paper, more taping, and the numberdropped to sixteen pairs. Williams alsodiscovered that if she labeled it“Concentration,” fewer people weredrawn to it. When she switched it to“Memory,” people instantly seemed toknow how to play.

“After watching families, I alsonoticed that some of the lacquer details,which looked so different to a trained eye,actually looked very similar to peopleplaying the game,” she says. “As wereduced the numbers of pairs, we also tookout ones that visitors found too similar.”

Also as a result of formative testing,the circular table was redesigned so chil-dren could place their matches within awide border around the perimeter. A finalalteration came several months later, afterthe shells began to dry out and crack inColorado’s arid climate. The shells arenow cast in durable resin and they closelyresemble their real-life counterparts rightdown to the delicate ridges along theirbacks.

“Kids are intrigued by making thevisual matches,” Williams says. “But itwasn’t my goal that all visitors play mem-ory. I wanted them to experience somesort of visual delight from the details onthe inside.”

On one occasion, a French familyapproached the station with their eight-year-old daughter, who simply turned overand looked closely at each shell. Everytime she flipped one, she’d say, “Oohh,la, la!”

The girl was drawn not to the game,but to the intricate details inside. Thisattention to esthetics and design sends adirect message that the museum hasinvested a lot of time, resources, and careinto developing programs that addressfamilies’ specific needs. Even the solidlybuilt shell table, like the other tables,stools, and benches in the center, conveysthe thought and care that went into thecreation of the family center. For exam-ple, parents can rest on curving woodenbenches on one side of the corridor andstill see their kids as they roam from onestation to another. The center’s tables,stools, and easels have been speciallycrafted to be sturdy, comfortable, andappropriate for related activities.

During visitor panels, in which educa-tion department staff members talkedwith adults and children about a numberof family programs, including the center,parents said they liked the “please touch”nature of the center. One parent said, “Ilike the fact that the materials are verysturdy, so that whether you have a two-


year-old using them or a ten-year-old,you’re not constantly thinking or saying,‘Don’t touch that!’

Other adults said the Just For FunCenter was colorful and welcoming, and that it encouraged interactions betweenadults and children. One mother said her eight-year-old daughter ran rightover to theMaya puzzleand had agreat timewith itbecause it’sso big andimpressive.By its verynature, thepuzzleencouragesparents andkids to worktogether.Childrenoften aren’ttall enough tostack the lastpieces on top and need helpfrom their adult companions.

Near the Maya stela is the Egyptiandress-up area, set off by a cozy rug andcostumes, such as a desert hare, scarlet-headed ibis, and Nile crocodile. Like theother stations, the esthetics and design ofeverything from the outfits to the solidround tables encourages interactionbetween family members. In addition, the

stations can be taken apart and storedeasily, a critical issue in this space. TheJust for Fun Center is like a huge puzzlethat can be packed away compactly with-in forty-five minutes into a closet that is6-by-9-by-10 feet tall so that the con-course is free during the week as a tourentry area when schools are in session.

At the DenverPublic Library,librarians giveout free museumpasses to theirown visitors, whocan walk to thecenter through anunderground tun-nel connectingthe museum andthe DPL. Theunexpected pas-sageway is agreat way forfirst-timers todiscover themuseum. After afirst, playfultaste, parents andtheir children

might find it easier to return again andagain for more museum explorations.

On Saturdays and Sundays the week-end family programs assistant welcomesvisitors and is always ready to talk withthem, find more chalk, or answer ques-tions. She roams the museum, keeping aneye on supplies and helping families getacquainted with the stations in the Just

Images of crocodiles, ibises, owls, and hares from the DAM's Egyptian Mummy Case inspired the costumes in the Egyptian dress-up station.


for Fun Center and other activitiesthroughout the building. Having someoneapproach the visitor is great. They seemmore willing to go and do stuff in themuseum than if they just saw a flyer or a sign.

At the onset of the Pew grant, the edu-cation department didn’t envision theneed for someone such as Hellman, butshe has become a critical link betweenthe public and museum staff. In additionto setting up and cleaning after hours andhelping visitors, she provides ongoingfeedback to the rest of the educationdepartment, who rely on such informationto refine or create new offerings.

Long-term plans for the center includepossibly giving the center a dedicated,always open home. In the meantime, it’sgood where it is because it was designedfrom the start as a collection of consistentand moveable stations that are cost-effi-cient to maintain. Annually, the depart-ment spends about $1,500-$2,000 torepair materials and replenish supplies.

For now, the Just for Fun Center workswell as an introduction to the museum orsimply as a change of pace. Whether families are returning time and again toexplore galleries or making a first foray,the Just for Fun Center can always be apart of a weekend, summer, or vacationouting.

Art Stops

At the Denver Art Museum, two sisters andtheir grandmother stand a shy but curious distanceaway from a long table spread with yarn, smallwoven rugs, glossy laminated photographs, and acarding brush fuzzy with fibers.

They watch Art Stop interpreter Melissa Stoltztwist wool on a drop spindle. Catching the girls’eyes, Stoltz says, “This is called spinning. Do youwant to feel the yarn?”

Nine-year-old Jessica and Meghan, six, comeover and tentatively rest a finger on the scratchystrand as Stoltz says, “I’ll let you two try spinning.”

“How do you start?” Jessica asks.“Sit down on the chair and lean this

spindle on your leg. You want this yarn tocome off the top. See how it’s twisted?”

Jessica rests the top of the spindleagainst her thigh and gently spins downward. She holds the thread in herleft hand and says, “It’s kind of easy.

You just have to pay attention.”Her grandmother, Bonnie, leans closer. “Can you

imagine a Navajo woman doing that?” she asks.“No, not really,” Jessica says. “It’s kind of hard.”“They would have to collect the plants. This is a

chart,” Stoltz adds, picking up a laminated sheetshowing various dried plants and the colored yarnsthey produce when dyed.

The American Indian gallery is quieton this Saturday, but visitors constantlydrift over, following a bright red stop signleading them to the Navajo Weaving ArtStop. Standing back a bit, new arrivalswatch others trying their hand at theloom, carding a bit of wool, or lookingover small rug samples in front of abrightly patterned, contemporary Navajotapestry. Invariably, an interpreter suchas Stoltz will look up, catch their eyes,and in doing so encourage them to comecloser.

A simple, “Hi!” or “Would you liketo try weaving?” is usually enough tobreak the ice. When visitors discoverthat they actually can touch things or trythe loom, conversation and questions flowback and forth naturally. Visits usuallylast about five to ten minutes.

Navajo Weaving is one of seven ArtStops offered by the museum thisSaturday. Families also will findAmerican Indian Beadwork, BronzeSculpture, Egyptian Mummies, CourtyardHorses, Andean Textiles, and JapaneseSamurai Arts of Peace and War.

Tucked into permanent galleries onevery floor and staffed by paid inter-preters are tables spread with hands-onobjects. Although twelve Art Stops havebeen developed, only half are out on anygiven Saturday or Sunday. In addition toNavajo Weaving and the six other ArtStops available this Saturday, the museumoffers Chinese Silk Robes, AmericanVictorian Cabinetry, Santos of NewMexico, Maya Art and Culture, andWestern Photography.

Children can visit bronze horse

Art Stops • 2

Navajo Weaving Art Stop

sculptures in an outside courtyard andthen ride the elevator with their familiesto the sixth floor. Here they will findmore activities on bronze sculpture aswell as golden fingertips to try on near aPtolemaic mummy case in the DiscoveryLibrary. After a while, that same familycan travel 250 years back to the Edo peri-od in Japan to take apart and inspect areplica of a heavy sword of fine and deli-cate craftsmanship. On another floor, sur-rounded by intricate beaded examples ondisplay from the Cree, Osage, Crow,Paiute, and numerous other AmericanIndian nations, kids can string large plas-tic beads onto a loom. When they’redone, families can move upstairs toancient Peru where they can wrap textilesaround their shoulders while nestling del-icate alpaca fibers in the palms of theirhands. There is no order or time limit totheir choices or the places they can visit.As they ask questions and explore, fami-lies make up their own adventures.

Visitors can try on a Chinese silkjacket or weave on a floor loom near thefoot of a contemporary Navajo rug. As theyrun their hands over fine cloth or workcoarse yarn back and forth, visitors get amore intimate sense for permanent objectsbehind glass that can’t be touched or worn.

“Art Stop visits are supposed to becomfortable interactions that last for aminute or two up to twenty minutes,” says Gretchen DeSciose, who directs theprogram and is master teacher for pre-Columbian and Spanish colonial art.

“They are visitor centered. It’s not a pres-entation. It’s a dialogue. Art Stops arespringboards to help visitors have richerexperiences with the collection.”

Originally designed for adult visitors,The Pew Charitable Trusts grant enabledthe museum to refocus Art Stops to makethem more appealing for families. Duringthe past four years, the program has beenrefined and evaluated so that both adultsand families can have personally reward-ing experiences with works of art in themuseum.

A few essential ingredients are neces-sary for effective Art Stops. Not only is it important that the stops encourageinteraction between visitors and knowl-edgeable interpreters, but also that thereis some element of surprise, somethingvisitors might not otherwise discover ontheir own in the galleries. Families mustbe able to choose which stops to exploreand for how long. This is a critical part ofa leisurely outing, and it allows visitors totailor their experiences more closely totheir own interests and needs.

Each stop is designed around a topicclosely related to the collection and nar-rowly focused in terms of content so thatinterpreters can master it in depth. Threeto four touchable components are enoughto engage but not overwhelm visitors. Thestop must appeal to young and old alike,be in a high-traffic area that is easy tofind and close to art on view, and have adescriptive title directly related to theexperience at hand.

Art Stops • 3

Interpreters are critical to the pro-gram’s success. College students recruitedfrom schools in the area make up themajority of the workforce. They must belively and outgoing, communicate wellwith a wide range of visitors, be self-starters, have experience working withkids, and be able to adapt to a wide vari-ety of learning styles.

The training period, led by the masterteacher of the collection relating to thatparticular stop, focuses on three areas:objects in the galleries, the contents ofeach kit, and how to work with all kindsof visitors. Interpreters complete galleryassignments related to content and artwithin the permanent collection, gothrough an experiential component asthey learn, and create real-life scenariosto anticipate visitors’ needs.

“Art Stops are ideal for stimulating

conversations about permanent collec-tions in galleries,” says PattersonWilliams, dean of education and masterteacher for Asian art. “Temporary exhibi-tions are just too busy. Visitors need acalm atmosphere to peek, linger, walkaway, come back, and perhaps tell a storyabout the samurai sword their grandfatherbrought back from Japan. That is what issupposed to happen.”

Touchables lead to conversations.Something as basic as trying on goldenfingertips at the Egyptian Mummy ArtStop can trigger a question, which canlead to a friendly exchange. Interpretersare relaxed and conversations seeminglyopen-ended, but they have gone throughextensive training to facilitate learningthrough a different sort of teaching. Beforevisitors approach, interpreters read theirbody language, facial expressions, andinteractions with each other. They observewhat families are doing and saying as theybegin to explore what is on the table.

Each kit includes some rather unusualitems, as visitors Andrea, nine, andAmanda, six, will soon discover as theyapproach the table near the Ptolemaicmummy case. As their father, Arnold,strolls nearby with their youngest sister,Adabelle, the older girls lean over thetable, staring mischievously as RachelGothberg, interpreter, hands an older boy amirror to look at himself wearing a fabricreplica of the false beard on the nearbymummy case. Almost in mid-sentence,Gothberg glances at her new visitors and

Art Stops • 4

Touchable components engage visitors at the EgyptianMummies Art Stop.

says, “Hi! How are you?” They grin and start sniffing little glass

vials of flowers and oils. As the boy looksin the mirror, Gothberg asks the two girls,“Do you know where mummies come from?”

“They were all in Egypt,” Andrea says.“What do you know about Egypt?”

Gothberg asks.“There were lots of pyramids,” Andrea

says.The three of them begin looking at the

vials. Andrea picks up an unusual object.“What’s this?”

“A brain hook,” Gothberg says, squishing the slender tool against the sideof her nostrils. “They’d stick it up the deadperson’s nose like this, scramble the brainsup, and let them drain out. They didn’tthink the brain did anything. They didn’tthink it was important.”

By this time, a mother and her twoboys have joined the small group, as istypical of Art Stops. One group of visitorsoften sends a message to others to comeover. The mother looks at Gothberg andlaughs, surprised. Andrea makes a faceand giggles as the two boys grimace andlaugh.

Gothberg picks up a canopic jar andholds it out to each of the children, whoshove their hands in the dark openings.Andrea retrieves a fuzzy fabric object.“Ribs?” asks Gothberg. “Lungs?” queriesAndrea.

The four kids try on false beards andlaugh again at their reflections in the mirror. “You look fabulous,” Gothbergsays. “You look like pharaohs!”

Gothberg lures the group over to the mummy case, and they all talk aboutits elaborately painted collar and hieroglyphs. After a while, Andrea beginsto imagine herself as an embalmer stuck ina stuffy smelly room.

The elements of surprise in each stophelp visitors connect in their own way attheir own pace to just a few of the manyobjects on display in the museum. But thetouchables also send a family friendlymessage to visitors, intriguing parents andchildren and helping them experiencepart of other cultures.

As she was creating the CourtyardHorses Art Stop, Joanne Mendes, adultprograms assistant, added four compo-nents to encourage family participation.The stop focuses on Deborah Butterfield’sthree bronze horse sculptures standing inan enclosed courtyard just outside thedoors of the museum’s sunny lower con-course. Children can try to match up col-ored post-it notes of the horses—Willy,Argus, and Lucky—with the sculpturesoutside. There are also coloring sheets, ascramble word game, and a Kids HorsingAround booklet that contains five or sixgames, one of which leads childrenthrough various floors in search of horses.

“These are things kids can take andpursue in their own way,” Mendes says.“We also have interpreters on other floorsgive post-its to people and encouragethem to see other horses down in thelower concourse. The kids love to wear them.”

Art Stops • 5

When seven-year-old Sasha and herbrother, Schyler, four, along with theirmother, Candace, and grandmother,Dolores, wander off the elevator in themuseum’s sun-filled lower concourse, theyhave no idea there are three life-sizedhorse sculptures just outside in the sunkencourtyard.

They have been at the museum allmorning, and they are still clearlywrapped up in their own adventure. Theytried on costumes in the EuropeanMasterpieces special exhibit, visited thePlains Indians gallery, the WesternDiscovery Library, and then the VictorianCabinetry Art Stop. Everything starts toseem serendipitous, including Karen Skaff, the interpreter who calls them overwith a simple, “Would you like to see somehorses?”

Curious, the family trails Karenthrough double glass doors into the heat.Outside in the enclosed courtyard, theywalk over to what first appears to be a confusing arrangement of branches.Schyler crouches down and exclaims,“There’s a spider!”

Everyone bends closer to look at thedelicate web shimmering from what lookslike driftwood. “What do you think this statue is made from,” Karen asks.

They notice it’s a horse and take acloser look.

Lucky, lying in gravel, is baking in thesun and hot to the touch. Together, theyfollow Karen to a second horse. Candaceand Dolores quietly hang back, letting thekids talk.

Karen asks them to find Willy’s eye.Straining as far as they can reach, they

touch a knot on hishead. His tail? Legs?No problem, but theyare momentarilystumped when Karenasks if he might bemoving. Squinting hereyes, Sasha checksWilly out again andslowly shakes herhead. Schyler says,“Maybe.”

Looking again,Sasha bends down andpats one leg that lookslike it’s about to lift upand take a step.

Art Stops • 6

Books, a video, and other touchable materials help visitors at the Courtyard HorsesArt Stop learn more about the bronze sculptures outside.

Stepping back, the kids look for clues thathe might be in an imaginary storm.Towering above them, Willy is made fromwhat looks like driftwood polished by somewestern creek, his twists and knurls strongand firm. It’s his tail—it looks as if it’sswishing!

Everyone goes back inside to the Art Stop table, laid out with books, avideo, and other materials to help visitors learn more aboutthe sculptures visible through the tall glasswindows. Sasha and Schyler pick up threebranches that look exactly like Willy,Argus, and Lucky’s limbs. They are clearlywood, light as a feather. But when Schylertries to lift the fourth branch, it is so heavyhe has to use both hands to get it off thetable. It is cold to touch. It is metal. Thechildren begin to understand that the horses outside aren’t made of wood; theyare cast in bronze. Schyler shouts to hismother, “Mom! I like horses!”

These elementsof surprise are a lotof fun, and they helpvisitors make con-nections. TheSantos of NewMexico Art Stop nowincludes a matchinggame. Moreexplanatory picturesand games related tothe permanent col-lection were addedto several stops.The Andean Textiles

Art Stop added shoulder wraps to try onand a small llama cut out to take home.When children put the cloth aroundthemselves, they can imagine being anancient Peruvian high in the chilly moun-tains where they would have to keepthemselves warm with textiles they hadwoven from the llamas and alpacas nativeto the region. As they touch and explore,they begin to get an idea about threads,weaving, and how the art in this collec-tion was created.

Not only do these experiences providetechnical insights, but also they bring tolife people from an ancient world thatdoesn’t seem so distant any more. It’seasier for visitors to imagine connectionsbetween these individuals and themselvesas they touch the wool used by ancientPeruvians and look at photographs of theanimals from which the fur came. Theseand other cues give visitors insight intothese people and the harsh mountainous

Art Stops • 7

Deborah Butterfield’s bronze horse sculptures—Willy, Argus, and Lucky—entice visitors in the museum’s courtyard. (Deborah Butterfield, Willy, Argus, and Lucky, 1996)

Art Stops • 8

environment where they lived. “You are sort of immersing yourself,”

DeSciose says. “Not all of the stops arefocused on the art-making process.”

The Art and Culture of the Maya ArtStop is more about culture than it is abouttechnique. The table is on the fourth flooramid a sea of pre-Columbian artifacts.Like books on a library shelf, the muse-um’s entire collection of 4,000 pre-Columbian objects is on display. Thestop asks visitors to notice only a handfulof the artwork, such as a replica chocolatedrinking vessel from which ancient Mayapeople sipped the savory drink. Kids can

pick up heavy jade ear spools and hold anobsidian mirror in their hands. There alsoare books and glyphs on writing.

“We talk about Maya writing,”DeSciose says. “We talk about the impor-tance of chocolate as a commodity. Welook at vessels that held chocolate fordrinking. We look at imagery on cups.We learn the symbolic meaning of jade.We understand how ceramics were paint-ed, but more importantly, their imagery.The stop goes in a lot of different direc-tions, depending on what people areinterested in.”

When they leave, kids can take home

Touchables like the Andian shoulder wraps create a connection between visitors and ancient Peruvians.

Art Stops • 9

a chocolate-scented paper monkey.

“Stop signs! Stop signs! We found stopsigns!” exclaims Wesley, ten, as he chargesaround a corner with a pack of boys whonearly careen into the beadwork table.Almost instantly, he spies a loom strungwith bright plastic beads. “Can we makethis?” he asks, picking it up and lookingunderneath. “I call doing it first!”

Wesley and his seven-year-old brother,Johnathon, are on the hunt for Art Stopswith their friend, Paul, eleven. They arewith their mother, Stacey, who had readabout the program on the museum’swww.wackykids.org family website andwas intrigued enough to make a special trip.

She wanders off, leaving the kids totalk on their own with interpreter JanineSytsma, who smiles and asks Wesley tothread beads on a needle, matching thealready worked pattern on the loom. Withsweaty hands, he boldly threads the beadsand then hands the needle over toJohnathon and Paul. They have beenhanging over Wesley’s shoulder watching,so it’s a piece of cake for them.

“Now you guys are official beaders,”Sytsma says. When Stacey returns to thetable to ask how the beading is done,Janine turns to the boys. “You guys canshow her!” While Stacey tries it out,Wesley picks up a narrow, delicate loomwoven into a diamond pattern with tinybeads. “I would like to do this!” he says.“What kind of thread is it?”

Eventually, the group heads off to lookaround the gallery. Beading starts tojump out at them because they’ve justexperienced it.

“I just say ‘Hi! How are you? Haveyou ever done any beadwork?’” Sytsmasays of her role at the American IndianBeadwork Art Stop. “I kind of give thema cue to come on over. Usually I have avisitor right here, and that attracts others.I try to let them become the teacher,which they really enjoy. “

Interpreters modify their approachaccording to their visitors’ needs.

“What is good about this beadworkstop is that you can change it for justabout any age group,” Sytsma says.“With five to six year olds, I work withnumbers. ‘How many more beads do weneed?’ Adults usually don’t want to dothe beading; they want to look on theirown. Often, they come with more appliedknowledge. They are more interested instarting a conversation.”

Silas, eleven, stands back while hismother, April, picks up a pair of contemp-orary sneakers heavy and glinting withdense beading. Solidly embroidered oneither side are stylized horses, one of silverand lavender and the other of gold andbrown. Two tiny horsehair tassels dangleoff each heel. April turns them over, runsher fingers over the intricate pattern, andputs them down. She lifts a pair of chil-dren’s moccasins that are almost the samesize as the sneakers but at least 120 yearsolder. Moving on to other items, she flipsbeaded wristlets to find out whether the

Art Stops • 10

stitching has been covered by leather, andthen looks at a beaded outfit on the table,glancing up at Sytsma, who says, “Hello.”

April asks, “Is this touchable?” inspecting the outfit. Assured it is, sheexamines this too. “I do beadwork,” shesays, continuing to look closely at otheroutfits on the table, asking again if shecan pick them up. “I was at theSmithsonian Institute,” April says. “Theyhad the tiniest beads. Size twenty-two ispretty much the smallest. These are notquite as small. They might be a sizefifteen. There are certain colors from the

time period—Cheyenne pink, Sioux blue,other colors. I don’t know them all.”

She talks with Sytsma for a momentbefore her eyes lead her back to the bead-work. “I was up in Washington.They still get beads—large ones that washup on shore off old Russian ships. Cobalt-blue colored beads.”

Visitors, both young and old, enjoy themulti-sensory aspects of the stops. At theJapanese Samurai Arts of Peace and WarArt Stop in the Asian gallery, visitors canhold and take apart an actual sword rightin front of a case displaying a similarweapon from the Edo period. The prox-imity of the table to the case is a criticalpart of the stop’s success. This simpleformula triggers vivid experiences.

“Originally, the samurai kit startedoff with a whole bunch of materials,including a lot of mounted, laminatedphotographs showing every single aspectof samurai culture,” says Williams. “I’ve

eliminated a huge number of those thingsbecause Art Stops are supposed to be asensory experience.”

Williams reduced the stop to twoswords on a stand, a mask, and an ironore rock. There’s not much more than thaton the table now, but something electrichappens when visitors lift the sword fromits stand.

Maggie, nine, takes the sword apartwith her older companion, Alison. Togetherthey inspect its handle. Putting her noseto the nearby glass case, Maggie discoversa tiny wasp, no bigger than her fingernail,delicately modeled into a similar hiltornament. She ponders its meaning, “Itmight be a symbol—a bug of war. Itmight sting you, and that’s war. It lookslike it’s sitting on a little fan, like it’sready to begin to fly.”

The American Indian Beadwork Art Stop can be adjustedto meet the needs of both young and old visitors.

Art Stops • 11

These interactions, pauses, and closerlooks can add to visitors’ visual literacy.Art Stops aim to be comfortable and fun,but also to stimulate conversations andpersonal discovery. Even more knowl-edgeable visitors can benefit from a casu-al chat, such as husband and wife, Lexand Mitzi, who spend about ten minutesat the Bronze Sculpture Art Stop. Theyboth have been collecting bronzes foryears. After visiting a local foundry, bothare intensely curious about the castingprocess described with touchables andcharts at the stop next to FrederickRemington’s 1901 bronze, The Cheyenne.

Lex points to a diagram in a bookletcreated to illustrate the lost-wax technique.He scrutinizes the illustration of tubesthrough which molten bronze flows.

“You mean these deals (tubes) arealready on it?” he asks.

Interpreter Ann Steeno discusses theprocess in detail. As they talk, Lex picksup resin horse-head examples and theirbronze counterparts, which illustrate theway sculptures can be altered after casting. He runs his hand over patina tilesamples but never even looks at the spinnergame that children adore.

“We’ve collected bronzes for years fromall kinds of people,” Lex says. “I wanted toget a general idea of the lost wax-castingprocess.”

Steeno and other interpreters canrelate to a wide range of visitors in partbecause of their training and support,which is critical to the program’s success.

The museum maintains a small group ofabout twenty-five reliable college stu-dents highly skilled in visitor interactionsand knowledgeable about the Art Stopsfor which they are responsible. Twelve tofourteen new individuals replenish theprogram each year. Minimally paid, theyare expected to train with master teacherson three separate kits. They are asked, ifat all possible, to commit for two years.About 50 percent remain at least thatlong. Others stay multiple years and trainon new topics as they are offered.

After screening transcripts, references,and resumes, DeSciose and Carmen

Something electric happens when visitors lift the sword atthe Japanese Samurai Arts of Peace and War Art Stop.

Art Stops • 12

Ruyle, adult programs coordinator, inter-view people who are lively, outgoing, andable to communicate well with visitors.They also should like kids.

“It’s not enough for someone to be anart history major,” DeSciose says.“Interpreters need to facilitate learning.It is a different kind of teaching. Theyhave to help people discover on their own.”

Interpreters are more flexible in theirinteractions in part because, in additionto extensive reading, gallery exercises,practice sessions, and role playing, theyalso take part in hands-on experiencesthat help them tell their own stories tovisitors, making encounters all the moretailor-made and special.

“We want to give the interpreters real,authoritative experiences that empowerthem psychologically,” Williams says.“When they tell visitors about their expe-riences, visitors know that person is spe-cial. But interpreters aren’t scholars.They shouldn’t pretend to be. That wouldadd a level of pedantry that would ruinthis whole conversational tone and friend-liness. We want to give interpreters riffsso they can get visitors experiencing on asensory, physical level.”

Riffs are as varied as the educationdepartment’s master teachers. To rein-force the complexity of Chinese silk pro-duction for the Chinese Silk Robe ArtStop, Williams gave interpreters-to-betoothbrushes and asked them to fish outthe spidery tough threads coming off silk-worm cocoons she’d dropped intoStyrofoam cups of boiling water.

“They will never forget that,” Williamssays. “You can read a book about howthis is done, but when you try it yourself,you realize it’s pretty darn tough. Thenyou realize what happens when you twistthree of them together, from three differ-ent cocoons. Normally, you twist eightthreads together to make a single silkthread. So it starts to get a little morereal, and interpreters can use this experi-ence when talking to visitors.”

Interpreters for the Egyptian MummyArt Stop take a trip to look at related arti-facts at the Denver Museum of Natureand Science. Similarly, interpreters forthe Courtyard Horses Art Stop and theBronze Sculpture Art Stop visit a localfoundry.

“A lot of it is on-the-job training withvisitors, getting used to fielding a widerange of questions and audiences,”DeSciose says. “Interpreters get reallygood the first year. The second year, theyare just dynamite because they are outthere several times a month.”

After working as an interpreter forseveral months, Karen Houghton startedto realize that silence also is important.“Those pauses and silences—when I firststarted, I felt I had to fill them in, that Ihad to be telling them things all the timeand getting them interested in this orthat,” recalls Houghton. “I came to real-ize that, if they are sitting there just look-ing at this little book on the table for aminute, that’s fine. And they may justlook and not want to talk to me any moreafter that.”

Art Stops • 13

Another interpreter, Ann Steeno, saysshe watches families closely to figure outwhat they might want from an Art Stopexperience.

“It’s fun to look at how the parents andchildren are interacting,” she says. “Kidsstart teaching their parents, and the par-ents are amazed. When you see a parentproud and smiling, and a kid happybecause his or her parent understands,that’s powerful.”

Interpreters’ friendliness and expertiseis critical to the success of Art Stops, butit is only one component. The stationsalso reflect the master teachers’ under-standing of visitors and children, and thecollections for which they are responsible.As gifted teachers, they are able to createkits tailored narrowly to one or a few spe-cific objects, through which an entire cul-ture or art-making process can be filtered.

Before master teacher Carla Hartmandeveloped the American VictorianCabinetry Art Stop, she conducted obser-vations and intercept interviews withabout a hundred people who wanderedinto the Architecture, Design andGraphics gallery. Her evaluations madeit clear that many visitors were intriguedwith an ornate, Renaissance Revival/Aesthetic cabinet built toward the end ofthe 19th century, perhaps by the HerterBrothers in New York City. A command-ing piece, made from rosewood with brassfittings, wood inlay, gilt, and ormolu, itselaborate carving and intricate inlays ofclassical figures, foliage, and flowers wereperfect for a host of reasons.

“Because of the number of techniquesit embraces, the cabinet provides amazinglinks to the rest of the objects in thegallery,” Hartman says. “This Art Stop isvery object oriented, yet it also serves asa beginning point for discussion about theentire gallery.”

Hartman already knew that visitorswere fascinated by the amount of detailon the front of the cabinet, whichincludes four portraits medallions of acleric. Often they mistook it for paintingrather than elaborate marquetry.

“There is one piece of wood that makesup just the four frown lines of the face,”Hartman says. “Once you realize that, youlook at it differently. There’s awe.”

But how was she to convey that with-out a lecture, slides, or a tour? For one,Hartman knew she had to get people toslow down, so they’d really look.

“The problem is that, faced with decorative arts, you are dealing withfamiliar objects, such as a chair, or atable, or a cabinet,” Hartman says.“Oftentimes, people will register ‘chair.’Once they’ve done that, they pass on bywithout really looking to see what’s differ-ent.”

To encourage a longer stay, Hartmanhad custom panels built to demonstratethe stages of marquetry and gilding. Oncevisitors see a large-scale example of theprocess, they are naturally amazed by thecabinet’s intricacy and master craftsman-ship. The kit also contains binoculars,which magnify delicate details that fromafar look like painting.

Art Stops • 14

“Probably the biggest surprise aboutthis Art Stop is how the cabinet opens,”Hartman says. “That’s the prime questionpeople asked during my interviews.

A supporting photograph shows thedoors open, which enables visitors tounderstand yet another dimension of thepiece—how mechanics were cleverly,artistically disguised through incredibleworkmanship. That, in turn, makes itclear that the craftsmen who worked onthis piece were lifelong masters at whatthey did. The Victorian Cabinetry ArtStop naturally reveals these ideas throughdeliberately researched and plannedmaterials.

In the stop she designed, Mendes primarily wanted visitors to hear the voiceof artist Deborah Butterfield, who talks ina nearby video about making and castingher life-sized horses, which the DenverArt Museum commissioned.

Butterfield speaks to onlookersthrough the screen, explaining her lovefor horses, and for the children who sheknows will climb on them and swing fromtheir metallic bellies. “It’s absolutelywonderful to have the voice of the artist,”Mendes says. “It’s really a fantastic videoand the major source of information interms of developing the stop. Within thismuseum, there are so few opportunities tohave the artist explain what inspires her,how she creates, how she feels about hersubject matter.”

The museum’s Art Stop program hasevolved since its inception as Art Cartsduring the early 1990s. Key changes

include creating mobile tables and stor-age areas hidden within actual galleryspaces and hiring a reliable group of individuals to participate consistently fortwo or more years.

“A lot of things had to fall in placebefore we could get the Art Stops right,”Williams says. “A decade is not too longfor refining such a program. The versionswe had earlier weren’t right on target. Wehad to have the space within gallerywalls, the money and support to buy theright high-quality materials. Once thematerials were right, we had to sharethem with visitors and learn how torecruit and train people.”

The program began to take off afterthe education department decided torecruit a stable, manageable workforce ofpaid college and graduate students whowere reliable, flexible, and easy to train.The newly renamed Art Stops were set upin conspicuous rather than wayside loca-tions. Like navigational beacons, large

Voices of artists like Deborah Butterfield, creator of themuseum’s bronze horse sculptures, add whole new dimen-sion to the Art Stops. (Deborah Butterfield, Orion, 1988)

red stop signs on stanchions were postedjust outside elevator doors to advertiseand direct visitors to the tables.

“We knew that people wouldn’t comedown to the museum just for the ArtStops,” DeSciose says. “So we wanted aclever way of advertising them within thegalleries. They catch visitors’ eyes.”

In 1996, the education department re-evaluated the program again, conductingvisitor evaluations that included unobtru-sive observation and interviews of visitorswho used the stops. Interpreters alsoasked for more in-depth reading packets,field trips, and other experiential, hands-on training. As a result, titles werereworded to describe stations more suc-cinctly, and hands-on elements wereadded to kits that needed them.

“Art Stops are visitor centered, people centered, collection centered,”DeSciose says. “Patty uses a phrase Ilike a lot. She often says that people comeand go like cats in the gallery. I figureArt Stops are bowls of milk.”

Art Stops • 15

Website

The www.wackykids.org website sends a littlebit of the art world through the internet to kids athome. Using store-bought technology and bold pho-tographs, the education department at the DenverArt Museum created a site that introduces six artand culture topics, including ancient Egypt, Mayarainforest dwellers, Japan’s samurai warriors,Northwest Coast Indian carving, chair design, andChinese imperial robes.

Aimed at eight to ten year olds, the Wacky Kidswebsite features cool places to explore through funfacts, games, crafts, books, and links. It evenincludes printable paper and pencil activities to

explore the old-fashioned way—at the kitchen table. The whole packageis educational but entertaining,encouraging short visits and ongoing,independent exploration. Children’stime in front of the monitor is only abeginning, not an end in itself.

“We wanted to extend kids’ inter-ests in these areas,” says Patterson Williams, deanof education and master teacher for Asian art. “Wedidn’t care if they used the website but never cameto the museum. It’s not to sell the museum. It’s toextend their museum visit into their family life, intotheir schools and homes.”

The site, linked to the Denver Art Museum andDenver Public Library websites, is structured visu-ally around art of natural interest to children. Whenit was first conceived in 1999, Wacky Kids was an

experiment. Instead of seeking outsophisticated technology and high-pricedweb professionals, the education depart-ment decided to make its own site withinexpensive, commercially available soft-ware. They targeted children who enjoyexploring the Internet, but they didn’twant the site to compete with flashy, com-plicated computer destinations full ofcomplex imagery. The site currently iswell used, but for some kids, it may nothave the curb-side appeal of Disney orother popular commercial sites.Grandparents, parents, and teachers areamong those targeted to introduce theirkids to using the site. All the DAM’s pub-lications for families mention the avail-ability of the Wacky Kids site.

“We really didn’t want kids just sitting

at the computer,” saidGretchen DeSciose, masterteacher for pre-Columbianand Spanish colonial art.“We wanted it to be lessabout a game on the comput-er and more about fun proj-ects kids could do on a cartrip or at home with friends.”

The colorful, straightfor-ward website provides print-able activities that travelwith kids anywhere. Armedonly with scissors, scotchtape, and markers, childrencan make and decorate theirown Maya jewelry orNorthwest Coast Indiancanoes. They can solve visu-

al crossword puzzles using images fromthe rainforest or find a hidden animalwithin a fill-in-the-colors maze.

When Wacky Kids first pops up on thescreen, a monkey in a checkered jacketnamed Seymour encourages children tobegin exploring. The site is built aroundsix cultures, each to be explored throughtwo related objects. Each object leads tosix fun facts, one paper and pencil game,and one craft-oriented activity. For eachculture the site also includes referencesto at least three related books and at leastone Web link.

And that is just what Kareem, age ten,did one afternoon at a friend’s house.After finding the Denver Art Museum’shome page, he clicked on Family Fun,which led him to the family website. The

Website • 2

To get individual feedback, museum staff charted the web course of eachtest participant. After fifteen minutes of surfing the site, participants talkedwith a museum educator about their experiences.

screen flipped quickly to the Wacky Kidshome page, complete with its playful let-ters and four cartoons of Seymour, themonkey mascot of the DAM’s family pro-grams who is based loosely on a pre-Columbian ceramic object. BelowSeymour were four destinations, includingMake Stuff, Welcome to the Denver ArtMuseum, Books and Links, and the onethat Kareem found most interesting -Explore Cool Places.

Clicking on the icon, he entered thefirst of six cool destinations—the World ofJapan’s Samurai Warrior. This led him tothe next page—close-up images of war-riors on a lacquer writing box and a hel-met made for a samurai warrior.

“Cool,” Kareem said, as he cruisedonward, clicking the helmet to see whatwould appear next. This brought upArmor for PeacefulTimes, showing a photo-graph of the full suit,which also happens tobe permanently dis-played in the DAM’sAsian art galleries.

By clicking on anyone of six places on thephotograph, it is possi-ble to bring up detailssuch as the image of adragon on the breast-plate of the armor.Kareem quickly readthe accompanying text,which in part says,“many Japanese still

believe that if you dream about a dragonclimbing Japan’s Mount Fuji, success willcome to you.”

After a few more clicks, Kareemdecided to leave the world of the samuraiand check out another topic—Fancy andFun Chairs, which featured two close-upsof chairs from the DAM’s furniture collec-tion. Intrigued by the contemporary sap-phire chair with petals for its legs, seat,and back, Kareem clicked for moredetails, which in turn brought up six fas-cinating facts, including one about thechair’s feet.

“Oh, look at the feet,” he said,inspecting its miniature, lime-green, plas-tic wheels.

Interested enough to return toSeymour’s Make Stuff section, Kareemprinted an instruction sheet, complete

Website • 3

With a simple click of the mouse, kids can explore a variety of cool places, includ-ing the World of Japan’s Samurai Warrior. Searches are directed by Seymour, themuseum’s family mascot, pictured with the icons to the left of the page.

with motifs to design an Empire chair,which artisans created 200 years ago inEngland. Kareem incorporated parts ofthe design into his own space-age version,embellishing a great deal on whathe found on the WackyKids site. He spent thenext forty-five minutespeacefully drawing chairsof his own. All his chairshad cool wheels like theones he’d just seen indetail. Then he gave every-thing to his five-year-oldsister, Maisa, who said,“Wow, Kareem, youare a good drawer.”

“I’d say the chairswere the most interest-ing things I saw,”Kareem said.

Everything Kareemexplored at the Wacky Kidssite is structured around artfrom the museum’s perma-nent collection. Each of theeducation department’smaster teachers culledfrom their collections twoobjects, both of which relatedto a specific cultural topicsuch as samurai art, chairdesign, or Northwest CoastIndian carving. Once they narrowed theirfocus, they came up with six fascinatingfacts. Each fact would be introduced tochildren visually as they clicked at vari-ous locations on each of the photographed

images that popped up on monitors. Forexample, a female Maya ballplayer statueseems animated once you understandmore about the details. Clicking on thenoble woman’s face, for example, brings

up a close-up portrait that highlightsdecorative scarification around hermouth.

Out of about 500 objects in theMaya collection, DeSciose selectedthis athlete for several reasons.The female ballplayer may not bethe best example from the muse-

um’s collections, but it is one ofthe more unusual piecesbecause it was a woman.

“I knew I wanted to dosomething on the ballgame.” DeSciose said. “Ihad learned from teachingMaya summer camps thatthis appealed to a widevariety of kids. Both boysand girls know a lot aboutcontemporary sports, andthis made the ball game a

natural choice. Sports also helpbreach the gap between thepast and the present.

Differences in ancient andmodern sports abound, butpeople then and now have

always had to put onkneepads and uniforms and work out toshape up for competitions.”

Website • 4

Close connections to objects in the collection led to use ofthis female Maya ballplayer in the Maya RainforestDwellers section of the website. (Jaina Island StandingFemale Ball Player, AD 600-900, Maya)

The statue also is easy to see on acomputer monitor. It photographed well,as did the other Maya object DeSciosechose, a Maya pot. Carved baby monkeysscamper over the pot– the rotund body oftheir mother. “With all the monkeys cov-ering the pot it’s very lively, but therewasn’t a lot I could find out about the potitself. It was interesting, instead, to use itto explore rainforest animals. I did a lot ofresearch using zoo and animal websites.”

In developing her Books and Linkssection, DeSciose put together an annotat-ed bibliography, web site, and video listwith help from a children’s librarian, whoculled materials available at the DenverPublic Library.

“I gave her about twenty-five differenttopics that were related to the Maya,everything from snakes to jaguars, choco-late, parrots, ball games, the rainfor-est,” DeSciose said. “The librari-an searched all those topics.”

To make the web develop-ment process work smoothlyand efficiently, DeScioseand the other masterteachers in the educationdepartment followeddetailed guidelines.The guidelines stream-lined the creation ofcomponents for eachof the six website top-ics. In addition, theyserve as a resourcefor subjects added ata later date.

Each of the museum's master teachershas a specialized area of interest relatedto the collections for which they areresponsible, and often the projects andactivities they develop diverge in terms ofgoals and styles. These differences enrichmost museum activities, but they need tobe tempered for the Wacky Kids site. Fornavigational purposes alone, it is impor-tant that the structure and content of thesite is consistent.

Williams and the other master teach-ers know a lot about teaching and theircollections, but designing a Web site fromscratch was definitely a new venture. “Wewere just terrified,” Williams said.

Kelly Campbell, children’s librarian atthe Denver Public Library, helped themout. The two institutions, community part-

ners in the Pew grant, cross-fertil-ize ideas. In the case of the Web,Campbell showed rather than

told. She had taken a work-shop on how to create a siteusing commonly available,

inexpensive Web soft-ware. “She sent us a

sample,” Williamssaid. “We said, ‘Shejust did that?Overnight? Wecould do this too!”

Website • 5

A search from this Mayamonkey pot led to an activi-ty sheet with a chain of

monkeys that kids couldprint, cut out, hook together,

and take home to decorate rooms,beds, or whatever. (Lidded Bowl in

Form of Monkey, 400-100 BC, Maya)

The museum staff looked for modelsfor printable activities in craft books as incrossword puzzles, and games in chil-dren’s magazines. After coming up withsome basic concepts, the educationdepartment enlisted Joan Pacos, a design-er long associated with the Denver ArtMuseum, to design the graphic look andnavigational elements of the site.Supplied with photographs of artwork,information, original illustrations andactivity sheets from all the master teach-ers and other museum staff, Pacos begandesigning the site and laying out theactivities. She formatted the graphics sothat they could be viewed on most com-puters with out needing to download spe-cial plug-ins. Then the formatted graphicswent to education department administra-tive staff members Christine Deal andJeanne Hendrick to place on the webpages and post to the Internet. Both hadattended tutorials and training sessionson Front Page, the software used to createthe site.

The domain was to be linked but sepa-rate from the Denver Art Museum’s mainsite, and it needed a distinguishing namethat would stay in kids’ minds. Educationstaff came up with fifty initial titles, nar-rowed them down to five, and went to thesource: children at the museum, whopicked Wacky Kids. It sounded entertain-ing and it stood for World Art andCultures.

Master teachers and staff membersevaluated the site through a three-

pronged approach. First, staff memberstook color printouts of the web pages thatshowed only two of the six topics avail-able, and tested the degree to which eightto ten year olds understood basic naviga-tional paths, graphic logos, and what theycould do at the site. This was a brief,informational first run.

Second, each of the printable activitieswas tested with school groups. The groupshad been called prior to their scheduledmuseum visit and asked if they wouldspend a few extra minutes trying to makethings from the printouts. This testingproved invaluable, and the projects wererevised.

Finally, once four topics were up andrunning, forty-four children, also eight toten years old, played with the site. Theindividual sessions lasted ninety minuteseach. Two evaluators from the educationstaff sat in to observe and interview kids.

One interviewed the child using ascript developed for this purpose. Theother evaluator took notes, observed, anddiagrammed the pathways the kids tookthrough the site.

After they were done exploring, thechildren were asked what they liked anddidn’t like about the site. They also wereencouraged to give further suggestions.

Based on the individual interviewsand observations, certain stumblingblocks were identified and addressed. Tosolve one important problem, for example,the site was redesigned so children couldeasily identify all six visual details

Website • 6

associated with each object. Now whitecircles on the image indicate the placesthat can be magnified.

Selecting activities also has beenstreamlined so children can instantly seeand understand the printable activitychoices by adding photos of kids with fin-ished projects. The education departmentalso made printing instructions and activ-ity templates easier by streamlining thedownload process. Whether it’s a Mayamonkey chain, a Northwest coast canoe,or a Samurai face-mask, the change madeit easier for kids to get what they need todo the project.

Currently we have about 1200 usersessions on the Wacky Kids site eachmonth compared to 700 when we firstopened the site. To boost use further, theeducation department has promoted thesite through several venues, includinglocal schools, community festivals, metroarea press releases, and selected nationalorganizations such as the National PTA.

“Our website is designed to supple-ment our goal of making the Denver ArtMuseum a family destination,” saidWilliams. “Now, we have to determinewhether the site can be maintained at amodest cost, since it is not as essential asother family services and activities at themuseum.”

Costs are measured primarily in stafftime spent to maintain it. For now,

Website • 7

After testing the website’s features with kids, it becameclear that all the activities needed to be advertised on thesite with pictures of kids engaged in the art activities.

Website • 8

Game sheets, like this crossword puzzle, and their corresponding answer sheets are one activity that children can takewith them to complete after exploring the website.

Website • 9

Website • 10

Wacky Kids can be assigned to someonein the education department, who willoversee what is to be a static but up-to-date place for computer explorations.Maintenance funding will be minimal,given the site’s simplicity. “We are slowly,slowly trying to expand it,” Williams said.“This is a good beginning.”

Despite its basic format, Wacky Kidsreflects the breadth and depth of the mas-ter teachers who helped create it.DeSciose said, “All the way from chairs,to Maya ballplayers, to canoes, to Samuraiswords, and bentwood boxes, you get a lit-tle bit of the world in one site.”

Branch Visits

Gel pens, thick black paper, and glue sticksnormally are not part of eight-year-old Champaine’sworld. Her reality is bounded by the underbelly ofInterstate 70, a Purina dog-food factory, and dense,troubled Denver neighborhoods.

At home, she can sketch on lined notebookpaper with pencils, but she can’t color because shedoesn’t have crayons. Today, however, at the Valdez-Perry Branch of the Denver Public Library, she hasplenty of luscious materials to draw a blue, yellow,and pink girl on a die cut that can be folded andglued into a sturdy miniature chair.

“I did this for my best pal, Deanne,”Champaine said. “She is nice with me. She plays

the tetherball with me. I’m imagining myfriend saying, ‘Good job!’ and, ‘Thankyou for giving me the thing you made!”

Champaine is one of about twentykids in the after school program at thebranch library down the street from herschool. Today she is working on a projectbrought in by a guest—master teacher

Carla Hartman from the Denver Art Museum.Hartman showed up with a single, rolling blacksuitcase—a portable chest of treasures filled withbrilliant gel pens, enough scissors for everyone,glue sticks, fluorescent strips of paper, and petiteneon rulers with geometric stencils.

Hartman has packed everything necessary to getkids cutting, drawing, and gluing. Her main goal isfor the kids to start thinking about chairs differentlyand, in the process, to have a great time with

wonderful supplies.Being given part of anafternoon to design isa rare treat. The chil-dren are engrossed inwhat they are doing. Each is making something unique.

“For kids to thinkof new ways to designand ornament chairs isimportant to me,”Hartman said. “Westart off by looking atpictures of chairs—atype of furniture that they are already familiarwith. The twist is that the chairs are very contemporary. Such asurprise opens them up to reconsideringthe concept of chair.”

The Denver Art Museum's educationdepartment, where Hartman is the masterteacher for architecture, design andgraphics, set up a community partnershipwith the Denver Public Library to visitbranches in hard-pressed neighborhoods.Between January 2000 and May 2001,five master teachers visited each of sixbranches five or six times. At eachbranch they worked with a fairly stablegroup of about twenty children who regu-larly attended the after-school program.

A few blocks away from their schools,these libraries are havens where kids canmeet friends, enjoy an afternoon snack,do some homework, and meet a variety of

guests, ranging from performers to musi-cians to storytellers. Many of these ele-mentary-school kids won’t ever visit theDenver Art Museum. The building is onlya few miles away, but in other ways, it isworlds apart. Recognizing this, the educa-tion department decided to bring themuseum to them in the form of a masterteacher and a single black suitcase.

“Our art projects are about those won-derful experiences that you can have withglue, scissors, and construction paper,”said Patterson Williams, dean of educa-tion and master teacher for Asian art. “It’slife-enhancing for kids and adults to havemoments when they can play with materi-als. And then, it’s very important that kidsget personal satisfaction and praise andfeel accomplished.”

In contrast to school art projects,

Branch Visits • 2

The after-school programs at branch libraries throughout Denver provide childrenfrom hard-pressed neighborhoods with an opportunity to meet with such guests asfiremen, dog trainers, and even the museum “art lady.”

branch activities are about open-endedexploration in a light educational struc-ture. Prior to beginning the activity at theAthmar Branch, Hartman led a ten-minute discussion about chairs. She usedprompts such as recollections, photos,and examples showing how several kidshad completed the chair project.

Sitting next to Champaine, six-year-old Megan draws what many children herage love to make: butterflies, stars, and aboy and a girl. They are friends. “Thebutterfly is going to be all blue,” Megansaid. “The butterfly is named Blueberry.That’s why it is blue.”

Megan cautiously cuts around Blue-berry, quite worried that she might slicethe tiny insect with her scissors. She is asteady participant, like most of the otherchildren in the after-school program ather branch library.Several times a month,branch librarians inviteguests like Hartmanbring in their own activ-ities. Projects rangefrom dance to ventrilo-quism, to studyingsnakes, to talks withBoy Scout representa-tives. Denver ArtMuseum master teachersare among the favoritesof all the guests, saidHillary Davis, formerRoss-Burnam Branchlibrarian.

“The art museum is using everythingit possibly can to get children interested,”Davis said. “They are not just coming inand saying, ‘Here is your craft project. Doit.’ They bring in history and multisensoryexperiences to support the art projects.They are thinking like children; theyknow what kids want, and they give it to them.”

During the past three years, branchlibrary projects have focused on ancientEgypt, the Maya, Japan, chair design andNorthwest Coast Indian culture. Withhelp from The Pew Charitable Trustsgrant, the education department has beenexpanding and refining what was onceonly an intermittent connection with thebranch libraries.

“An individual child didn’t see usmore than once,” Williams said. “We

Branch Visits • 3

To make the visits to branch libraries easier, all the materials master teachers needto carry out their activities are packed in one suitcase.

wanted to give a more consistent, memo-rable message about the pleasure oflearning about and making art. And wewanted to offer this repeatedly to thesame group of children.”

The Denver Public Library’s after-school program was originally offered onlyat its Montbello Branch in 1994. After thefirst year, other libraries applied for andreceived a $50,000 grant from the DenverPost, one of two metropolitan newspapersin the city. The money originally went toeleven libraries, but after a few years, itfiltered down to eight branches in lower-income, high-crime areas serving twentyneighborhoods with a high percentage ofat-risk children.

Children who qualify for this specific,federally defined designation are educa-tionally and economically disadvantaged.Once targeted, they can attend Head Startand other early childhood programs toboost literacy and give them a betterchance of staying in school. The afterschool library program is offered twice aweek, for two hours. There are snacks,special programs, teenage assistants, andformal mentoring from library staff.

“We are adults who listen to them,”Davis said. “We are not their teachers.We try very hard to keep them occupiedand give them a place where they can feelcomfortable.

The libraries are like home to thekids. They offer stable harbors from livesthat can be erratic. The program’s nurtur-ing and consistency pays off. At the ByersBranch, results were immediate and dra-matic. In the year before the Byers

Branch adopted the program, neighbor-hood kids vandalized their own library,breaking almost a hundred windows andscrawling graffiti all over its walls anddoors. Since the sessions began, therehave been no similar incidents.

“The kids who come to our after-school program really are great kids,”Davis said. “On the whole, they have sup-portive parents. We see their parents. Thekids who come to my program are the oneswho are trying to find something to join.”

From September 1999 through May2000 the total number of children attend-ing The Denver Post After School LibraryProgram was 5,487. Ages of childrenattending were: 20% five to six year olds,31% seven to eight year olds, 35% nineto ten year olds and 14% eleven to twelveyear olds. One third of the children wereAfrican American, 4% were Asian, 49%were Hispanic, 1% were Native American,and 13% were White. Boys made up 44%and girls, 56% participants.

At the Athmar Branch, where RomaSmotts works as a circulation clerk, aboutone third of the thirty-six children whoregularly attend the program stay at thelibrary from 3:30 p.m. until after dark,sometimes as late as 9 p.m. She knowscousins, stepsisters, brothers, and sisterswho walk from their neighborhood schooldirectly to the library.

“The only sad thing about this pro-gram is that the kids who really need itare the kids who don’t want to attend,”Davis said. “I will have a wonderful pro-gram in my meeting room, and just asmany kids outside sitting at computers

Branch Visits • 4

playing games.” On the other hand, many of the kids

are primed and ready for whatever adven-tures come through the doors. Theyabsolutely love the art museum visits,Cole Davis said, because they know themaster teachers are interested in them.It’s clear their visitors want them to havea great time, and perhaps, to continuelearning by checking out a book long afterthe guest teachers have gone.

“Our children are so hungry for atten-tion,” Davis said. “The art museum givesthem that attention and makes learningspecial. What is so amazing about thesechildren is that their minds are so quick.They absorb so much. Even the little bitof time spent with master teachers helpsthem realize there is more out there in theworld that they might feel safe with.”

Many of the children have touchedupon the history of some ancient culturesin school. What they’ve studied comesalive when Melanie Groendyke-Freeman,master teacher for Egyptian art, bringsher Cool Collars of the Nile project to theAthmar Branch. From the minute sheshows up, it’s clear she’s interested in thekids. She arrives before the children sothat everything is ready when they starttrickling in at 3:30 p.m. She sits down ona low chair with them and quietly asksabout their day. They make collars likethose that ancient Egyptians wore to fes-tivities along the Nile long ago. Thishands-on activity reinforces anything thekids already know about ancient Egyptfrom school lessons, television cartoons,or videos.

Through play, they are learning.Equally important is Groendyke-Freeman’s interest in what they are doing.Smotts said the children adore her, simplybecause she leans close, asks them ques-tions, and listens. She respects them andcares about what they are thinking. Inturn, they are even more receptive to whatshe has to say.

“Sometimes that little tiny taste isjust enough to make them pursue a sub-ject,” Davis said. Once in a while, kidscheck out related books. A few times, anentire family has actually visited theDenver Art Museum. The master teach-ers’ primary goal is to encourage them toget a taste for other cultures while havingfun with basic art projects. During thespring of 2001, projects included Japan-ese Zodiac Finger Puppets, MightyJaguars of the Mayan Rainforest, CoolCollars of the Nile, Chairs from YourImagination, and Become Your FavoriteAnimal.

Each educator has learned from trialand error what makes for a successfulvisit. Being portable and instantly organ-ized is crucial to success. Hartman foundout the hard way that it is absolutely criti-cal to be able to roll in and unpack withinminutes. During her first branch visit inthe spring of 2000, she lugged in hot-glueguns and stacked pieces of foam core formaking chairs. She went back out to hercar and hauled in a real chalkboard chairon which kids could draw if they finishedtheir project early. On a third trip outside,she dragged in another huge suitcasefilled with old newspapers, silver gum

Branch Visits • 5

wrappers, and leftover paper—commonthings kids might find in their own homes.Under her arm were rolled-up posters.

“Needless to say, they were a littleconfused,” Hartman said. “There wastons of stuff.”

After that trial run, she streamlinedher approach, abandoning foam core infavor of clever die-cut paper that childrencan fold into miniature chairs and deco-rate with bright pens. She switched tothese materials because some instant suc-cess was built in. The idea hit her whileshe was on a plane to France. Nearby, alittle girl was drawing with gel pens onblack construction paper.

“She was entertained the entire trip,”Hartman said. “I thought, ‘Wow! This iscool!’ I’d seen the gel pens in the sta-tionery store, but never together with theblack paper. With the black, there was noway it wouldn’t look good and that wouldmean the kids would be more likely tokeep and treasure this project.” Hartmanand others tested various brands to findout which one was most reliable andeffective. These simple components madeher project elegant, striking, and portable.She also realized she didn’t need thechalkboard chair because children wereinterested in their projects until the timeshe was ready to leave.

At the beginning of her branch visits,Hartman sits down with the children andasks about the chairs they sat in that day.She wants to know about furniture rele-vant to their lives. After they’ve chatted,the kids flip through about two hundred

heavily laminated three-by-five cardsdepicting chairs of all kinds. Theseimages are pre-selected to be as differentfrom the normal concept of a chair as pos-sible. They are wacky, weird, funny, andbright. Skimming through the separateimages is much more effective than look-ing through a book.

After they’ve had a good look,Hartman asks small groups of kids toeach pick one card to talk about as agroup. By the time they’ve leafed throughall the examples, selected one thatappeals, and discussed it, they’ve intu-itively internalized a lot about color, form,and function. Even better, they get to holdup their choices to talk about in a group,rather than listening to Hartman discuss

Branch Visits • 6

Branch library programs focus on several differentprojects, including chair design. Gel pens andblack construction paper are used to craft eachchair, but a discussion of form and function helpschildren come up with their own unique designs.

formal design qualities.“This is all really fun, but it also gets

them thinking a bit outside the box,”Hartman said. “If I came in and said,‘Oh, look at these wacky chairs I have,’they might look at me as if I were fromplanet Mars.”

Forced to budget time, Hartmandecided that it was best to first talktogether in a circle on the floor, and thenstart the project. “Generally, we spendabout ten minutes doing this,” she said.“There are so many fascinating cards. It’sfun, and we get to talk about all sorts ofintriguing perceptions. The kids start tosense that they can keep coming up withnew ideas. To me, that’s one of the mostexciting parts of the visit.”

The discussion deters the kids fromcopying each other. Even though they aresitting next to their best friends or half-sisters or cousins, everyone usually comesup with something different.

Williams, dean of education and master teacher for Asian art, isn’t asinterested in sparking in-depth creativityduring her branch visits as she is withusing storytelling as a springboard todeveloping curiosity about other cultures.“Being interested in art and culture, foryoung people, often starts with the things

they imagine, the novels andstorybooks they read,” shesaid. “They can imagine beingHarry Potter living at HogwartsSchool, or traveling to farawayplaces—maybe even the artmuseum.”

One of Williams’ branchvisit stories involves a boy andtwo girls in a family, all ofwhom live in the same neigh-borhood as the branch library.As Williams nonchalantly men-tions Rosa, Darlene, andHarry, the kids in the library

Branch Visits • 7

Wacky, weird, and just plain funny describe the chair design examples children peruse prior to the chair making activity.

Chair making activities at the branch libraries are rooted in the DAM collections. Children are inspired by a variety of designs, such as this ballerina chair. (Borek Sipek, “Bambi” Armchair, 1983)

are suddenly riveted. These story childrenhave the same names as one or two ofthem! What they don’t know is thatWilliams has phoned in advance to findout some of the kids’ names. In a housethat could be just around the corner fromtheirs, this make-believe family is cele-brating a joint birthday with a huge cakeand tons of candles. The party is for allthree children because they were born onthe same day. Calculated to match upwith the exact ages of some of the kids inthe program, five-year-old Rosa was bornin the Japanese year of the rat, eleven-year-old Harry in the year of the horse,and thirteen-year-old Darlene in the yearof the dragon.

Making the pretend birthday party allthe more special is Uncle Trav, who hasjust arrived from one of his many adven-tures around the world. He loves to travel,try new foods, learn other languages, andexplore the art of other cultures.

Last year he went to Nigeria andMexico—countries relevant to many ofthe children’s lives. His latest adventurewas to Japan. With him are packages forthe children to unwrap. In the story, whenthe three kids ask him what is inside thebundles, Williams, as Uncle Trav, slidesher glasses to the end of her nose, leansforward, and says, “That’s for me to knowand you to find out.” At this point,Williams imitates what Uncle Trav doesin the story. She hands out three brightlywrapped presents, promising that if thelibrary kids can help the kids in the storyguess what country the gifts are from, thestory kids will get to skip a day of schooland visit the Denver Art Museum, wherethey can get as close as anyone in the cityto the place where Uncle found his presents.

Each parcel contains something fromthe actual games, puzzles, or other familyactivities the children would find if theywere to visit the museum. Darlene's pres-ent is shells from a Japanese memorygame in the museum’s Just for FunCenter. The kids opening Rosa’s gift dis-cover plastic sushi inside a picnic boxincluded in one of the museum’s back-packs. Families can check out and usebackpacks like this one to explore gal-leries with their kids. Harry gets a com-plete set of twelve brightly painted plaster

Branch Visits • 8

Birthday presents filled with some of the activities chil-dren would find were they to visit the museum is oneprompt used by Dean of Education Patterson Williams toanimate her story.

zodiac animals. All the gifts are fromJapan, and the children delight in guess-ing right and winning the story kids theirtrip to the Denver Art Museum.

The next day after a great breakfast ofleftover birthday cake, bacon, and eggs,the fictional Rosa, Harry and Darlene pileinto a blue Volkswagen bug and head offto the Denver Art Museum, where theysee families playing with things exactlylike the presents they just got. Uncle Travhands out one of Harry’s zodiac animalsto each of the three children and tellsthem to go and find art illustrated withtheir zodiac animal. When the childrenask where they should go, Williams againslides down her glasses as Uncle Trav andsays, “That’s for me to know and you tofind out.”

After each one stumbles upon depic-tions of his/her zodiac animal in suchJapanese art works as the breastplate of asuit of armor, an ancientclay figure and a smallsword guard, they return toUncle Trav, who asks whathappened. Williams, leaningforward and sliding herglasses down her noseagain, says, “Do you knowwhat Darlene, Rosa, andHarry answered?” Alltogether, the library kidschime in, “That’s for me toknow and you to find out!”At this point, Williamshands out free passes to themuseum, where the kids will

perhaps relive the story and its silliness. “A tale that asks for physical, emo-

tional, and mental engagement can creatememories that enhance learning,”Williams said. She custom designs herstories using techniques from the bestchildren’s books and weaves the art muse-um’s collections and cultural learning intotall tales that are relevant to the kids inthe after-school program.

After half an hour of surprises, unex-pected storytelling twists, gifts to unwrap,and mind games to solve, the kids areprimed to throw their own imaginationsinto the art project unpacked fromWilliams’ suitcase.

Displayed on tables are two examplesof finger puppets depicting each Japanesezodiac animal, to make it clear projectsdon’t have to look alike. Williams helpsthe kids find out what their own animal isby using a circular wheel that matches up

Branch Visits • 9

In Williams’ story, one zodiac animal, the dragon, speaks in a gruff voice toget the children to notice his presence on the breastplate of a suit of armor.(Suit of Armor, AD 1700s, Japan)

birthdays with the twelve zodiac animalsin the Japanese calendar. With construc-tion paper, glue, and scissors, the chil-dren make whatever finger puppet theywant. The project appeals to the youngestin the class, as well as the teenagershired by the library to help with the after-school program. Decked out in spiked,knee-high black boots with fourteenbuckles, a handsome teenage boy sportingseveral piercings carefully makes his ownpuppet and gently slips it onto his fingers.

“If we want our master teachers to beable to help design galleries and makeexhibitions more accessible so that themuseum works better for kids and fami-lies, they have to do more than readbooks and do visitor evaluation to learnabout their audiences,” Williams said.“There is nothing more powerful for staffdevelopment than having direct, one-on-one experiences teaching audiences suchas kids at risk. It sensitizes the masterteachers and reaffirms their commitmentto expanded audiences. You go to thebranches, and you feel, ‘These kids are sosmart, enthusiastic, and creative. We willmake an art museum that works for them.”

Hartman finds the visits invaluable. “Ibenefit a tremendous amount by getting intouch with children and how they look atand react to design,” she said. “It’s awonderful centering activity that helps mefocus on my missions. Each visit providesme with nuggets that can then be folded intoother programs and interpretive materials.”

During a recent visit at the Valdez-Perry Branch, Hartman starts to pack up.

An end-of-the-year party is beginning,complete with specially ordered pizza.Despite the enticement of an unusualsnack, many kids draw down to the lastminute. Six-year-old Megan has almostfinished her design.

“The girl and boy are holding hands,”she says. “They have a balloon and twostrings stuck to it, and this is their club-house. It looks small because it’s faraway. There is a mommy butterfly and ababy butterfly. I made a little tornado,and I have a flower.”

Megan quietly holds up her chair,which she plans to take home and put byher bed. She keeps drawing until the gelpens, stencils, and paper go back intoHartman’s rolling black suitcase.

Branch Visits • 10

Making the DAM a family destinationmeant help from many people. We thankevery member of the DAM and DPL staff,trustees and volunteers and give a specialthanks to these folks.

Denver Public LibraryKelly Campbell • Judy Somerlot • Shae Woodhouse •The DPL Branch Librarians and Teen Helpers

Denver Art MuseumEducation Gretchen DeSciose • Maria Garcia • Benita Goltermann • Joanne Mendes • Melanie Groendyke-Freeman • JeanneHendrick • Karen Houghton • Christine Deal • CarlaHartman • Melora McDermott-Lewis • Patterson Williams• Carmen Ruyle • Dave Barrett • Ron Saari • Nedret Rix• Vicky Perez • Julia Tomasini • Nancy Talbot • MaraTrager • Marie Stanley • Jane Sinclair

Marketing, Shop, Visitor Services, Public RelationsJanet Meredith • Libbie Gottschalk • Deanna Person •Rose Beetem • Mary Jane Butler • Ann Winters •Stephanie Woods • Julie Behrens

PublicationsLaura Caruso • Lisa Levinson • Jena Stanford • Amy Schell

Education Council VolunteersLorie Freeman • Marilyn Knox • Marilyn Newbry

Security Jay Banscome • Terri Cross • Edward Cronin • TonyFortunato • Jose Green • Rosemary Fox • George Manitas• Will Ryan

MaintenanceFelicia Alvarez • Joe Prochnio • Paul Trujillo

AdministrationLewis Sharp • Cindy Ford • Sharon Kermiet • AudreyAhrendt • Vicki Aybar-Sterling • Dan Kohl

Development and MembershipNoelle DeLage • Karen Gilmore • Nancy Rettig

CuratorialCraig Miller • TimothyStandring • Ron Otsuka •Nancy Blomberg • RogerEcho-Hawk • ShannonCorrigan • Tamara PopeRoghaar • Carla Stansifer• Joan Troccoli • MargaretYoung Sanchez • Donna Pierce

PhotographyBill O’Connor • Jeff Wells • Cynthia Nakamura • DanielPerales • Carole Lee • Eric Stephenson

AccountingStephanie Sibley • Donna Mize • Lucille Vigil

Other Denver Art Museum staffDaniel Fonken • Elizabeth Gilmore • Mary K. Dillon •Peter Tom • Art Bernal • Kathy Kline • Carl Patterson •John Roozen • Dan Sterns • Sarah Baie

TrusteesNancy Benson • Bob Rich • Walter Rosenberry •Frederick Mayer • Frederic Hamilton • Lorraine Higby •Jhon Goes In Center • Jennie Kurtz • Teresa Romero •Bernadette Berger • Rex Brown • James Williams • GradyDurham

Special consultantsEvaluation: Margie MerinoThe Report to the Field: Jenn Paul Glaser (writer); Joan Pacos (designer); Anjeannette Mudd (editor)Graphic Design: Elaine Shiramizu; Mary JundaWebsite wackykids.org: Joan Pacos (designer); Mel Nethery,Marjorie Leggitt (illustrators); Molly Squibb (editor)Fabricators: Vicki Anderson; Glen Kalen; Briggs Gillen;Perri Barbour; George JorgensenAdvisors and Friends: Bonnie Pitman and the other participants in The Pew Charitable Trusts Program for ArtMuseums and Communities

Thank you!

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