Museum and Gallery Experience

Describe your most meaningful learning experience in a museum or art gallery. What elements made it so. Relate this experience to Dewey’s notion of a “good” experience.

My most meaningful experience in a museum or art gallery occurred fairly recently, last year in fact at the Glenbow Museum. It was my first time participating in a museum school tour and in the Art of Asia gallery the first gallery on our tour Michelle Gallant the head of the Museum school program had us all, students, teachers and volunteers sit as she showed us a Buddha statue and told us the story of Buddhism. Though she didn’t ever say it the lesson Michelle taught us that day on that tour were of how to look listen and truly engage with art in a museum or gallery setting. It was the first time I actively connected with a piece of art and was able to spend time with it, engage and learn. It was a good experience because it opened my eyes and gently led me to a more in depth understanding. In regards to Dewey it was a good experience because Michelle used art to provoke and foster further learning and investigation.