The Art Engager

Slow looking is not only an important part of my work, it is also a personal practice - something that I’ve been doing regularly for the last few years. I’m really interested in developing my observational skills and I’m also fascinated by what happens when we spend a longer period of time looking at something.

Our general approach to looking is, however, flawed and we try to look at things as briskly and efficiently as possible. 

We need to slow our looking down and give our brain the time and space to focus on what is in front of us. 

Developing a daily slow looking practice will enable you to improve your observational skills and start noticing more details.

And if we are better at this ourselves, as educators, then we are in a far better position to guide others through the process of slow looking too.

So, here are 6 ways you can start to develop your own daily slow looking practice - I’ve included a number of ideas, some outside, some inside, some to do with art, some not. The idea is that you pick one of these activities and you do it every day for a few days and see what happens. After a few days you should start to notice a difference! 

Links

The Intelligent Eye, David Perkins

How to Use your Eyes, James Elkins

On Looking: 11 Walks with Expert Eyes, Alexander Horowitz

In this episode, I’m discussing 6 essential thinking routines you should have in your educator repertoire. These are thinking routines that you can use to create engaging discussions with art or artefacts or routines that will help you develop and grow in your work as an educator. I’ve found it really hard to select just 6 thinking routine out of the 100+ routines out there, but I’ve come up with a list that every educator should have in their repertoire to draw upon in different situations or for different purposes.

I’ve chosen :

1. An all-rounder thinking routine
2. A thinking routine to focus on observation and description
3. A thinking routine for perspective-taking & opening up thinking
4. A routine to help capture the heart and summarise 
5. A thinking routine for formulating and sorting questions
6. A thinking routine that will foster meaningful reflection 

To find out which 6 thinking routines I chose, listen to this week’s episode!

Plus, if you’d like a copy of my newly updated Ultimate Thinking Routines list, I've put a link below in the show notes so you can sign up for your own copy of this resource with 100+ thinking routines in one place. It’s a really useful reference document for any educator interested in creating engaging discussions with art, objects and ideas. 

Links

The Ultimate Thinking Routine List - https://mailchi.mp/21a87a092bdd/thinking-routine-list

See Think Wonder https://thinkingmuseum.com/2020/01/01/see-think-wonder-visible-thinking/

Looking Ten Times Two https://thinkingmuseum.com/2020/01/05/visible-thinking-routine-of-the-week-looking-ten-times-two/

Step Inside https://thinkingmuseum.com/2020/01/11/visible-thinking-routine-of-the-week-step-inside/

Creative Questions https://thinkingmuseum.com/2020/05/27/using-thinking-routines-to-formulate-better-questions/

ESP+I https://thinkingmuseum.com/2020/07/03/the-power-of-reflection-in-online-learning/

Facilitation is a key part of creating engaging and interactive discussions around art and museum objects.

But developing the skills of a good facilitator is an art form in itself – it requires practice, patience and the best facilitators MAKE IT LOOK SO EASY. 

Sometimes people wonder why I chose the word 'facilitator' - rather than guide, educator, teacher, docent, or interpreter - to describe people who lead participative, discussion-based experiences around art and objects.

It’s certainly not the easiest word to say, but it does sum up what we do. As a facilitator, you are guiding the process, creating participation and activating the learning and engagement. 

In this week's episode, I’m talking about facilitation - how can you develop the skills of a good facilitator (and make it look like you were born to do it), and what are the different roles you will be expected to play? 

In this week's episode, I’m sharing my 5 golden rules for asking brilliant questions. 

But what is a brilliant question?

Asking more questions is one way to get more interaction and engagement in your programmes.

But asking the wrong types of questions can actually shut down the discussion and stop people participating at all.

So, in this episode, I'm sharing 5 rules that will help you to ask questions that create interaction and engagement, open up discussions and encourage everyone to participate fully!

Links

The Art of Questioning - Improve your questioning technique with tools and exercises for creating, sorting, and evaluating brilliant questions.

Thinking routines are an essential part of the Visible Thinking in the Museum method and my core course, Visible Thinking in the Museum Online (VTMO).

They have been a magical ingredient in helping me to confidently create engaging discussions around objects and artworks over the past 10 years.

They’ve also been a great way to engage audiences to get them really interested in art and objects, making them curious and asking questions and, of course, getting them thinking. 

Links

Making Thinking Visible : How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners By Ron Ritchhart, Mark Church, and Karin Morrison

The Power of Making Thinking Visible: Practices to Engage and Empower All Learners by Ron Ritchhart, Mark Church 

Artful Thinking http://www.pz.harvard.edu/projects/artful-thinking

Agency by Design http://www.agencybydesign.org/

Out of Eden Learn https://learn.outofedenwalk.com/

Links

Jennifer Roberts The Power of Patience https://harvardmagazine.com/2013/11/the-power-of-patience

Peter Clothier - One hour One painting video https://peterclothier.com/one-hour-one-painting/video-demonstration/

James Elkins ‘How to Use your Eyes’

Alexandra Horowitz ‘On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes’

Shari Tishman ‘Slow Looking: The Art and Practice of Learning Through Observation’

In this first episode, I’m going to be talking about the main method I use to engage audiences with art and ideas - that’s my Visible Thinking in the Museum method which I started developing 10 years ago this year. 

The Visible Thinking in the Museum method is an easy-to-follow framework that allows educators to confidently lead engaging discussion-based sessions with art, objects and ideas with any audience.  

It takes elements of a framework called Visible Thinking from Harvard's Project Zero and combines them with museum education practices, facilitation techniques and questioning strategies. 

I didn’t know it at the time, but hearing the words ‘Visible Thinking’ was about to change everything.

This method has influenced everything I’ve done in the past 10 years and has completely revolutionised the way I work. 

So, what is this Visible Thinking? How did I hear about it and how did I start to use it in my method?

All will be revealed in this episode.

Links

Visible Thinking http://www.pz.harvard.edu/projects/visible-thinking

'Cultivating a Culture of Thinking in Museums' by Ron Ritchhart

The Great Pustaha https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/the-great-pustaha/AQ2ZzxcN collection: Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, NL

Madonna (After Omomá and Céline), 2008 collection: Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, NL

Welcome to The Art Engager podcast! This podcast here to help educators, guides and creatives engage their audiences with art, objects and ideas. Each week I’ll be sharing a variety of strategies, ideas and inspiration to help you to engage and connect with your audiences and confidently lead lively art and artefact discussions.

Show highlights:

• What The Art Engager podcast is all about
• How & why creating real engagement with art and museum objects can be tricky
• What is Visible Thinking in the Museum?
• What we're going to be talking about on this podcast

Links:

For more details please see the thinkingmuseum website.