Docents share knowledge, build friendships at museum

Ruth Stevens

	Art Museum docent Klaus Florey recently led a tour of students from Johnson High School in Clark, N.J. Florey, a former pharmaceutical company researcher, has been a docent for 10 years and his wife, Anne, a former high school art teacher, has been with the group for 12 years. "It's a wonderful thing to do in retirement," he said. "It's very fulfilling."

Princeton NJ -- When the new building for the Princeton Art Museum opened in 1966, the museum's assistant director came to the University League with a request.

She asked members of the organization of women whose husbands were on Princeton's faculty and staff if they would be interested in forming a group of volunteers to lead tours in the new museum. Seventeen women signed up.

Thirty-five years later, the Docent Association of the Art Museum encompasses 71 men and women who complete a year of intensive art education before they can lead their first tour. The docents range in age from 40 to 90, but most are retirees who can make a significant time commitment to the museum. Last year, the docents provided nearly 5,500 volunteer service hours to the museum, leading tours for approximately 10,000 students and adults and staffing the museum gift shop and information desk. In addition, they organized gallery talks and children's talks and ran a special program for children in the Trenton Public Schools.

"We are so pleased and privileged to have had such a dedicated and knowledgeable corps of docent volunteers for the past 35 years," said Rebecca Sender, associate director of the Art Museum. "Not only do the docents further the museum's central mission of teaching and learning, but I have never met such a kind, and talented, group of people. Frankly, I don't know what we would do without them."

Lynne Giviskos of Skillman joined the docents in 1995. A former dietitian, she had always wished she had taken art history in college. With a daughter who was pursuing a career as an art historian, she thought becoming a docent would provide them with some common ground.

Now the chair of the Docent Association, Giviskos said being part of the self-governed, self-educated group has not only enriched her personal learning, but it has provided her with a great group of friends.

"We learn something every time we come in here," she said. "We develop very dear friendships because we have this interest in art in common. The museum is a very happy and stimulating place to be."

Serious training

Possessing a background in art is not a prerequisite for joining the docents. While there are some members of the group who have doctoral degrees in art history, there are also former hospital administrators and business executives.

Docents must apply and go through an interview process. Once accepted into the association, they must complete a year of training, which includes taking "Art History 101" at Princeton. They work with a seasoned docent to relate what is covered in the lectures to what is contained in Princeton's art collection.

Over the course of the year, the docents-in-training choose 10 pieces from the museum's various galleries and conduct research on them. They then present five-minute gallery talks as if they're on a tour.

"The training was serious," said Jim Deneen of Princeton, a former school teacher and administrator who retired from the Educational Testing Service and joined the docents two years ago. "I've been in teaching much of my life, and that was some of the best teaching I've ever experienced."

Deneen, who had no background in art, said he wanted to become a docent in part to return to working with young people. "A great deal of the museum work is conducting children's tours," he said. "That's one of the really great joys of being a docent."

He also wanted to explore a new field that would complement his wife's interest in art. "I thought I would have a chance to learn something that I knew very little about," he said. "You go to museums, but you often times don't even know what you're looking at. This was a great opportunity for me."

The training is very comprehensive so that the docents are able to show any gallery to any age group. "It's a tall order to be prepared to work as a tour docent," Giviskos said.

In addition to leading tours, the docents invest a considerable amount of time in arranging for speakers and setting up for the gallery talks that take place every Friday noon and Sunday afternoon during the academic year. They also make the arrangements for and present the children's talks on Saturday mornings. They are encouraged to attend weekly meetings at which the museum's curators often provide the docents with additional information on the exhibits.

Another outreach effort is the program the docents organized with the Trenton Public Schools 10 years ago. Currently, third-graders from four schools are involved over the course of an academic year. Docents go to the schools and give slide presentations, and then the students come to the museum for a series of tours, talks and related hands-on projects.

One docent, Frances Lange, has been a member of the group since it started. "I'm older, and this gives me a chance to be active with young people," she said. "When you get older, it's harder to make young friends. That's an important thing."

Lange said she also enjoys working with her fellow docents. "The friendship and the camaraderie among the docents is very strong," she said. "There's an esprit de corps that's just wonderful."

Giviskos emphasized that the docents are all volunteers, with none being paid for their work at the museum.

"Ours is a dedicated group of volunteers who love what they're doing and do a great service for the museum, the University and the community at large," Giviskos said.