MISSOULA — The Montana Museum of Art and Culture will kick off the holidays with regular and special docent tours of the Permanent Collection in its new museum facility at the University of Montana.
Regular docent tours will run from noon to 12:45 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays — except for on Griz football playoff days — focusing on highlights from the Permanent Collection.
Special docent tours, focused on specific themes within the Permanent Collection, run from 2 p.m. to 2:50 p.m. on Fridays in December and January.
No reservations are needed for docent tours, which are free of charge.
Planned special docent tours include:
- Dec. 1, Mary Engstrom, “The Backstory: Two Artistic Legacies.” A focus on iconic Montana artists Fra Dana and Rudy Autio and their professional lineages.
- Dec. 8, Dolly Browder, “Leading the Way: Women Artists in Montana.” A discussion of pivotal female artists, their socio-political backgrounds, techniques and personal statements.
- Dec. 15, Rafael Chacón, “Running Threads: Textiles at the MMAC.” A survey of the MMAC’s impressive holdings in the genre of textile and fiber art.
- Dec. 22, Lenore Maynard, “Sacred and Profane: the Viewer’s Perception vs. Artist’s Intent.” An exploration of the museum’s most introspective works, where beauty and decay, the grand and the ordinary, coexist.
- Dec. 29, Jean Belangie-Nye, “Amphora to Autio: the Evolution of Ceramics.” A tour about the changes in attitudes towards ceramics over the centuries and the acceptance of ceramics as an art form.
- Jan. 5, Rafael Chacón, “Running Threads: Textiles at the MMAC.” A survey of the MMAC’s impressive holdings in the genre of textile and fiber arts.
- Jan. 12, Cay Drew, “Listening to Art: a Sense of Sound.” A discussion, through observation and conversation, of how artists often create multisensory experiences to communicate sound.
- Jan. 19, Mark Milanick, “Creatures, Cultures and Connections.” Learning about ourselves by exploring other cultures and their childhood imagery.
- Jan. 26, Meg Milanick, “Guardian Angels: Fra Dana, Stella Duncan and Dr. Caroline McGill.” A talk about the Permanent Collection’s three founding mothers – extraordinary women who broke social strictures through their travels, collecting and donations to MMAC.
