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| Ceiling in Scotiabank Great Hall of the national Gallery |
I had to ask today.
The word means a person who acts as a guide, typically on a voluntary basis, in a museum, art gallery, or zoo.
The docent to whom I was speaking said that the 10 minute spotlights given by the docents are the least advertised perk in the gallery and that there are 4 spotlight lecture given: two in English and two in French.
I can’t believe everyone doesn’t know about these spots, since just about every gallery has them.
Today one of the docents said about the other, that he goes off and tries to gather people to come to his spot.
She told me that people are not reticent to say, no they are no interested, they don’t have time, they have to meet someone for coffee, they have come to see something else, etc.
I told her we should have been following him around to observe his technique at roping in so many other willing listeners.
Arta
people are wierd. why would you NOT go to the docent talk?!
ReplyDeleteThe two days that I have attended the talks, they have been so inspiring. The one today on the Croscup Family Room had so much information. The docent had her Masters in Library Science. She was telling us which scene on the wall had been lifted from which fashionable magazine of the time. She told about the clothing on the Mikmaq figures on one panel and i was thinking about the Mikmaq student who was in Val's Legal Theory Class, remembering a picture she had shown me when she was wearing her native pointed cap. The docent had arranged her holiday to go to the Corscup House, to take photos of the graveyard, of the monument that had been erected to the couple in this family, and of the small side church, as well as showing us a picture of the house.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't people come to these talks? I don't get it either? I think it is always the highpoint of my day at the museum. When I was listening to the lecture on "Pavanne" by Riopelle, the docent asked what people thought the title of the work was. I told him that I had just read the answer on the panel, so I had to take myself out of the group of people giving an answer to his question. He said, "Oh, we have a self-learner here." That made me laugh inside. Yes. I read every panel. But I like to have some information just given to me on a platter, as a docent will.