Gallery Spotlight Interview

Enjoy our first "Gallery Spotlight" Interview with
Elizabeth Daniel
Youth Education Director at
CityArts in Wichita

• Which artwork(S) in your collection/exhibitions do you most enjoy sharing with visitors, and why?

"Here at CityArts, our Exhibitions are always changing. We run through about 36 shows in a year, so this means new work is always readily available for patrons to come and observe. I like to walk through the gallery with children of all ages, and get them to have a thoughtful conversation about what they're viewing. I have a different set of questions I like to ask each different age groups."

 

• What example comes to mind when you worked with a non-arts faculty member on a collaborative project in a particularly effective way? What interdisciplinary conversations have you had?

"CityArts partners with the Girl Scouts of the Heartland for many activities throughout the year. We provide instruction and space for the girls to earn their arts badges, we give many tours, and they even use our Main Gallery for meetings such as their annual "Cookie College Kick Off." It's a large enough room to accommodate their many participants, and works out for us too, because they become aware of all CityArts has to offer to Wichita youth."

• Aside from field trips, how might students connect with your museum/ galleries?

"We offer camps, classes, and free activities to people of all ages. To enroll, visit our website at wichitacityarts.org, or call 350.3245. Every second Saturday, we do a FREE "Adult & Me" activity for kids, where they work on a small project that they can immediately take home. On Friday nights we offer a "Urban Draw Night" where we provide paper, pencils, erasers, and drawing boards for anyone to come and participate in drawing the hubbub of activity going on around them."

• What digital resources should all art teachers know about?

"www.wichitacityarts.org, find us on facebook, Instagram and twitter at Wichita CityArts.

CityArts also features a Digital Art Studio, that offers classes such as blogging, photoshop, learning to use Wacom tablets, filmmaking and more."

• What is one feature of your museum/gallery space that all visitors should notice?

"CityArts is more than anything, an education facility. Visitors are encouraged to "Find Your Art" on an interactive wall space that showcases all the different classes and workshops that we offer. Getting visitors to come back and take a class is what we're all about!"

• How might a teacher best connect their students with artwork in your collection/exhibitions in their classroom prior to a visit?

"Teachers could have a discussion about what a community art center provides to Wichita. CityArts operates like a non-profit, using any overhead to offer free programming to those who might not be able to otherwise afford it. They could discuss how important art is in the lives of people, and how the freedom to think creatively overflows into all aspects of learning."

 

• What do you love most about your job?

"I love every part about working at CityArts. I love that I am there when a child realizes that the addition of a horizon line completely changes how their landscape drawings look, I love that I'm here to see their faces when I open our glass furnace and they look at glass that is so hot it looks more like honey. I love the look of satisfaction on our adult students as they leave after a few hours of throwing on the wheel. But most of all, I love the feel of the building when there's so many people inside of it doing something that is completely for themselves."

Do you know a museum educator that you would like to see 
featured in our "Gallery Spotlight"?  
Contact Karen Gerety-Folk at kgerety@jccc.edu