Activity-Based Teaching in the Art Museum

Movement, Embodiment, Emotion

Kai-Kee Elliott, Latina Lissa, Sadoyan Lilit

An essential resource for museum professionals, teachers, and students, the award-winning "Teaching in the Art Museum" (Getty Publications, 2011) set a new standard in the field of gallery education. This follow-up book blends theory and practice to help educators – from teachers and docents to curators and parents-create meaningful interpretive activities for children and adults. Written by a team of veteran museum educators, "Activity-Based Teaching in the Art Museum" offers diverse perspectives on embodiment, emotions, empathy, and mindfulness to inspire imaginative, spontaneous interactions that are firmly grounded in history and theory. The authors begin by surveying the emergence of activity-based teaching in the 1960s and 1970s and move on to articulate a theory of play as the cornerstone of their innovative methodology. The volume is replete with sidebars describing activities facilitated with museum visitors of all ages.

About the Author

Elliott Kai-Kee is a longtime education specialist at the J. Paul Getty Museum. He is the co-author, with Rika Burnham, of "Teaching in the Art Museum: Interpretation as Experience" (Getty Publications, 2011) and was named Museum Educator of the Year, Pacific Division, by the National Art Education Association in 2007.

Lissa Latina was a gallery docent and educator at the Getty Museum from 2012 to 2016 and at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from 2006 to 2008.

Lilit Sadoyan has worked as a gallery educator at the Getty Museum since 2008. She has served as a coordinator of curatorial|initiatives at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art since 2016 and as a curatorial research assistant and lecturer at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens since 2012.

Back to the list of books