The Art Engager

Most of us think we’re good listeners. But are we really?

What does it mean to be an active listener in an art discussion, guided tour or educational programme in the museum? 

Listening is one of the most important skills in our toolbox. But few of us know how to really listen. It's just not something we're taught.

It requires both time and practise to develop effective listening skills. And it’s a challenge - when we’re listening our minds naturally tend to wander and our concentration can come and go..

Listening is an essential skill for us - without active listening, discussions remain on the surface level without truly engaging all the participants.

Today's episode will help you to work on your listening skills. First I'm exploring the 4 different levels of listening.

Then I'm sharing 7 tips with you to improve your active listening skills and help you to choose the right level of listening for when you’re communicating with others.

Share this one widely - listening is one of the keys to a better society!

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Today I’m so happy to be talking to Richa Mehta about her work. We’re talking about what a mindful museum is, museum-based art therapy and how art can support the development and exploration of identity and connection

Richa Mehta is a certified art therapist and educator working as a museum education and wellness professional at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Richa believes that the museum space can be more accessible to marginalised community members, through implementing museum-based wellness and art therapy programming and resources,.

In today’s episode we talk about her journey from the classroom to the museum and her recent studies in art therapy.

We discuss the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s journey to being a Mindful Museum and what this means for the staff and for the visitors, the collection and the museum space itself.

We explore what museum-based art therapy is and how it might work in practice. Richa shares a model of how she views museum-based art-therapy and an adaptation of See Think Wonder that could be used for these sessions. We also chat about how an art therapist would work with any strong emotions that came up in the museum environment.

And finally we talk about how being a third culture kid, and her cultural identity and background has influenced her practice and work today.

So here is our chat - enjoy!

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Richa Mehta

Article for the Canadian Art Therapy Association https://www.canadianarttherapy.org/envisage/envisage-spring-2022-mehta

Louvre Abu Dhabi

Louvre Abu Dhabi’s A Mindful Museum - https://www.louvreabudhabi.ae/en/about-us/a-mindful-museum

Mindful Art Moments - https://www.louvreabudhabi.ae/en/Whats-Online/mindful-art-moments

Reflect & Express - https://www.louvreabudhabi.ae/learning-resources/the-arts-for-health-and-wellbeing/en/reflect-and-express.html

I don’t really like big lists of ‘good’ or ‘great’ questions - for example, 50 questions to ask about art. These lists are OK for a quick source of inspiration or for a boost now and again, but it’s the list part that I don’t like - you’re not going to be carrying around a list with you in the museum. 

Instead it’s much better to work on your questioning technique⁠ with exercises and experimentation rather than trying to memorise or use big lists of questions. Working on your technique yourself will help you to phrase questions better in the moment, instinctively and naturally. And this will always work better than parrot-phrasing a question you read on a list. 

But there are some questions that I think are worth remembering. And these are the types of questions that have a really powerful effect when they are asked. So today I’m sharing 4 simple questions that will supercharge your art experiences.

These are questions that can be used at any moment during your experience or guided tour to great effect. I’ve chosen questions that work for me time after time with all sorts of different groups, different artworks or objects, different types of museums and different situations. These are universally powerful questions - listen to episode 64 to find out what questions I've chosen!

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Slow Looking Club

The 5 Golden Rules for Asking Brilliant Questions⁠ (Episode 4)

10 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Asking Questions (Episode 10)

How to use artworks to improve your questioning skills (Episode 15)

Quick ways to improve your questioning technique (Episode 36)

‘Bad’ questions - questions to avoid in your art experiences (Episode 48) 

Autumn Effect at Argenteuil (1873), Claude Monet, Courtauld Gallery, London, UK, Public Domain https://courtauld.ac.uk/highlights/autumn-effect-at-argenteuil/

Reyhan Hassanzadeh (2004) from the series: Terrorist, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, NL

https://khosrow-hassanzadeh.com/project/terrorist-paintings-03/

 In an age where the average person checks their phone at least 85 times a day, our inundated brains are slowing down. ⁠ ⁠

We need to retrain ourselves to get better at sustained attention. And to learn to appreciate the benefits of it too.⁠ ⁠

Spending time slow looking offers refuge from the rush and time to slow down and see the details. It’s the opposite of scanning and scrolling.

“Always-on” behaviour is about being in a constant state of alertness without giving our full focus to anything. Slow looking is a wonderful alternative to life in the fast lane.

The 4 activities I'll be sharing here are simple, effective ways to slow down, improve your observational skills and focus and notice more details around you.

You can use these slow looking activities throughout the summer - either on your own or with friends and family and children.

All of the activities are designed to help you develop your ability to see - and in doing so, spark creativity, curiosity and improve focus. You can do these activities with art, objects or with nature. You don’t have to be in a museum to do slow looking. They are designed to work in a range of environments, outside and inside.

I hope they will contribute to a wonderful summer. Let’s get started! And don’t forget to share what you get up to on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #summerslowlooking

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Support the Show

Our Facebook Group - The Slow Looking Club

Other recommended episodes on slow looking:

Episode 2 - What is Slow Looking (and how do I get started?)

Episode 7 - How to Develop a Daily Slow Looking Practice

Episode 25 - 3 Thinking Routines for Slow Looking and Drawing

Episode 41 - 12 Reasons to Get Started with Slow Looking

Episode 56 - Learning to Love 'Boring' Objects through Slow Looking

When you get started with thinking routines, it’s worth getting to know a small handful of routines and using them repeatedly until you feel comfortable and confident using them. 

But once you have that confidence, something magical starts to happen. And this is where we can be more creative with thinking routines. 

Thinking routines are not rigid, inflexible structures. Unlike some protocols, you don’t always have to use them exactly as they are written, without any room for creativity. 

Think of thinking routines as flexible and malleable structures to guide thinking and conversations around art and objects. Be playful with them and experiment!

In today’s episode I’m sharing 7 ways you can be uniquely creative with thinking routines. Listen in to find out how!

Links

Support the Show

Our Facebook Group - The Slow Looking Club

Download my Ultimate Thinking Routine List

Episode 16 - How to Use See Think Wonder in your Art Discussions

Episode 6 - 6 Essential Thinking Routines you Need in your Repertoire

Today I’m so happy to be talking to Karly Allen about her work. We’re talking about how mindfulness can help us to connect with and engage with art, how we can bring mindfulness practices to the experience of drawing. 

Karly Allen is a UK-based gallery educator, drawing tutor and mindfulness teacher. She has worked for the National Gallery, London, over the past 20 years and has taught widely for UK art collections including the National Portrait Gallery, Wallace Collection and Royal Collection. In 2018, Karly co-founded Limina Collective to bring mindfulness and reflection practices to museum and online spaces.  

We explore how mindfulness and meditation practices, observation of the artwork and drawing interrelate with each other.

And how drawing with mindfulness creates connections, opens us up to creativity and helps us to overcome any resistance we might have to drawing or the fear of the blank page.

We talk extensively about the benefits and how it help us to tune into a mode of being being open, letting go of preconceptions and habitual patterns of looking. 

Links

Masterclass: Mona Lisa - Experiments in Drawing with Mindfulness

Tuesday 19 July at 17.00 hrs CET

This masterclass offers an experimental space to explore drawing and mindfulness, with Leonardo’s iconic painting as our focus.

Sign up here:

https://buy.stripe.com/aEU00A3Th8pP1Wg5ks

Support the Show

Find out more about Limina Collective and contact Karly via their website https://www.liminacollective.com

Join the Limina Collective monthly newsletter

Connect on Instagram:

@limina_collective

@karlykallen

Limina Collective's exhibition audios for Manchester Art Gallery, 'Room to Breathe': https://manchesterartgallery.org/exhibitions-and-events/exhibition/room-to-breathe/

Limina Collective's series of films for the Royal Academy, 'A Slow Look': https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/articles/tag/slow-look

Limina Collective's film for The Wallace Collection, 'Taking Time to Look': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVp4h27aeos

There is a famous quote by Alvin Toffler that goes:

‘“The illiterate of the future are not those who can’t read or write but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

As educators, you’re probably already quite enthusiastic about the learning part. Being a lifelong learner is something that is a part of us. We’re constantly learning new things and updating our knowledge.

But learning is not just about acquiring new things to learn, it’s important to learn, unlearn and relearn. 

In today's episode I'm talking about why it's necessary to consistently ‘unlearn’ our habits, unconscious beliefs, assumptions, and our practices so that we can make space for the new. 

I'm sharing some tips and coaching questions to get you thinking about where you can declutter and detach, so that you stay fresh and relevant.

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Join our FREE SLOW LOOKING CLUB Community

Sign up for my weekly dose of carefully-curated inspiration The TM Weekly

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Adam Grant's book Think Again: The Power of Knowing What you Don't Know

In today’s solo episode, I’m talking about observation skills - why they are important and I’m sharing 9 thinking routines that you can use to boost your observation and description skills.

As you’ll know from previous episodes, I’m really fascinated by observation and really interested in developing my skills in this area (I have LOADS of  books on this subject!)

Most of the time we are observing passively - missing out on a wide range of life that we simply don’t notice. 

The act of looking requires some work to improve it - but like a muscle we can train it to work better. 

So, today I'm sharing 9 thinking routines that you can use to improve your powers of observation or with your groups.

Links

Thinking Routines for Observation - FREE download of 9 thinking routine cheatsheets https://pages.thinkingmuseum.com/observation

Support the Show

Episode web page

Episode 6: 6 Essential Thinking Routines you Need in your Repertoire https://thinkingmuseum.com/2021/05/26/6-essential-thinking-routines-you-need-in-your-repertoire/

Episode 25: 3 Thinking Routines for Slow Looking and Drawing https://thinkingmuseum.com/2021/10/18/3-thinking-routines-for-slow-looking-and-drawing/

Episode 42 How to Read a Group https://thinkingmuseum.com/2022/03/02/how-to-read-a-group/

Today I’m so happy to be talking to Mitch Bach about what makes a great guided experience and how you can create wow moments in your programmes.

Mitch is one of those people you meet and instantly get on with. He’s warm, witty and whip-smart. We met in New York a few years ago and have been friends ever since. We share the same passions about making guided experiences interactive, participative, memorable and even, transformative. 

Mitch is the co-founder of TripSchool, a community of 6,000+ tour guides, tour leaders and entrepreneurs committed to lifelong learning. He's also the leader of Tourpreneur, a community of 4,000+ tour operators. Both organisations offer training, mentorship, meetups, and a wide range of other resources to empower and encourage experience creators.

And that’s what we’re talking about today - guided experiences and tours. We discuss what makes a great guided tour and what makes a great guide. Then we spend some time exploring what a ‘wow’ moment is and how you can create them to make your programmes more memorable and, even transformative. 

This is a longer chat than usual as we had so much to talk about. You will definitely want to grab a notebook as there are so many takeaways from this chat. So, here it - enjoy!

Links

Tourpreneur Community Group - facebook.com/groups/tourpreneur

TripSchool - thetripschool.com

Books Mitch recommended:

The Experience Economy - B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore 

The Power of Moments - Chip Heath

Interpretation: Making a Difference on Purpose - Sam H. Ham

The Art Engager Episode 32 - 6 Ways to Create Awe-Inspiring Moments

Tourpreneur Podcast episode with Joe Pine about experiences: The Experience Economy in Tours and Activities with Joe Pine

It’s time for another bitesize episode - a short and snappy episode that will give you a quick win or something to think about in less than 10 mins.

Today I’m talking about why endings are important and sharing with you a 3 part framework for planning your strong conclusion.

If the introduction is setting the scene for what’s to come, then the conclusion is most definitely when you wrap everything up, tie up any loose ends and leave your participants wanting more. 

The way you end your programme or guided tour is super-important. Great guides, educators and facilitators know that how you end things shapes people's memories of the experience. 

Find out how to go out with a bang, rather than a whimper in Episode 57!

Links

Priya Parker 'The Art of Gathering'