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Have a personal encounter with art!
The Blanton provides engaging, interactive, and inquiry-based tours for students, allowing them to make connections between their lives and the world around them. Our tours reinforce classroom objectives in art, as well as social studies, language arts, mathematics, and science. All tours are designed to support TEKS objectives.
Special Exhibition Tours
- Go West: Representations of the American Frontier: What is the American West? How do depictions of the West reveal American life at different times in history? Explore the many nineteenth- and twentieth-century representations and definitions of the American West. January 1-September 23, 2012.
School Tours
- Look & Learn: Enhance visual literacy through discussion and examination of highlights from the museum's collection.
- Destination Europe: Meet ordinary and extraordinary people from Europe from the 1500s to 1700s and learn about the culture in which they lived.
- America/Americas: Investigate modern and contemporary works from North, South, and Central America.
- Story Time Tour: Discover the basics of art and the magic of children's literature by exploring well–loved stories in relationship to artwork in the Blanton's collection. Recommended for Pre–K to 2nd grade.
- Art Now: Learn why contemporary artists express ideas about the past as well as the world live in today. Recommended for 6th – 12th grade.
- Made to Order Tour: Create a one–of–a–kind tour in collaboration with Museum Education staff specifically aligned with your class curriculum and students' needs.
The Blanton Art Access program seeks to increase K-12 student access to the museum by offering funding for transportation and tour fees on a first-come, first-served basis to students in Austin ISD, Del Valle ISD, Hay Consolidated ISD and Manor ISD and other schools who demonstrate need. To learn more about this opportunity email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Self-guided Visits
The Blanton offers self-guided resources to assist teachers as they plan, develop, and lead their own group tour. Self-guideded materials can be downloaded by clicking the links below:
Art & Relationships: Considers how interpersonal relationships, personal connections, and human interactions are expressed in a range of works of art from the museum’s collection. Recommended for 4th - 6th grade students.
Art & Identity: Investigates issues of identity and self-definition by having students closely observe and discuss objects from The Blanton collection. Recommended for 7th - 9th grade students.
Preparing for Your Tour
- To schedule a guided tour or self-guided visit, contact The Blanton’s tour scheduler at least three weeks in advance, at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
- We can accommodate up to 75 students at one time. Groups larger than 75 people can be scheduled for back-to-back tours.
- Guided tours are 50 minutes in length and are available Tuesdays – Fridays from 10 AM to 3 PM. K-12 groups must bring one adult chaperone for every eight students. Chaperones must stay with the group.
- School tours are $2 per student, including Thursdays. Required chaperones and teachers accompanying school groups are free. Additional adults pay regular admission price of $9.
- Though each tour is a little different, they are designed to support TEKS objectives in visual arts, language arts, humanities, social studies, and science.
- Self-guided groups are required to schedule visits in advance. We can accommodate 35 self-guided students per half hour beginning at 10:30 AM.
- K - 3rd graders are required to have a docent-led tour.
- Box lunches for school groups can be ordered through the café a minimum of 4 business days in advance. Contact Chef Manager Eldon Hart at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to place an order.
- Review museum guidelines with students visiting the museum before your trip:
- Please do not touch works of art.
- Use only pencils.
- Walk slowly.
- Food, drink, gum, and large bags are not allowed.
To schedule a tour, contact the Education Department at least three weeks in advance. Please click here to fill out our online form
Art Central Program
The Art Central Program allows 4th and 5th grade students to visit the museum four times during the school year in order to foster a deep engagement with works of art. The program introduces and reinforces description, analysis, and interpretation of art through inquiry-based discussion and writing activities, and teaches students about museum careers. The program's four lessons are: The Artist’s Tools, Messages in Art, Mastering the Museum, and The Magic and Mystery of Museums. Pre- and post-visit lessons are taught by participating teachers to reinforce ideas explored during museum visits. Teachers in the program receive free transportation and admission for their Art Central students, teacher training, and resources to implement the program. Space in the program is limited and by application only. For more information about Art Central, please contact Jennifer Garner at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or (512) 471-3564.
Applications are currently being accepted for the 2012-13 school year:
Art Central Application / Art Central Brochure
(pdfs - download Adobe Reader)
To schedule your Art Central visits, click here to fill out our online tour form.
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Teacher Workshops and Resources
- Teacher Seminar: Exploring Nature with Thomas Cole
Saturday, April 14 from 12:30-3 PM
Experience the Austin landscape in a new way and learn about the art in The Blanton’s exhibition American Scenery: Different Views in Hudson River School Painting by going out in nature and drawing. Participants will be led on an interactive tour and art excursion by a very special guide—Thomas Cole, the founder of the nineteenth-century American art movement, the Hudson River School.
The session will begin with a brown bag lunch and informal discussion and then move to our first view to study and draw. Participants should plan to wear comfortable clothes, walking shoes, sunscreen/a hat and to bring any kind of drawing materials they would like to use, campstool, and lunch. Large sketchpads and water will be provided. Certified CPE provider.
Workshop fee $40, payable on site by cash or check. To register, email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
- Summer Teacher Institute: Art Happening Now
Tuesday, July 17 from 9 AM–4 PM at AMOA-Arthouse at the Jones Center
Wednesday, July 18 from 9 AM–4 PM at the Blanton Museum of Art
Wine Reception on July 18 from 4:30–5:30 PM at AMOA-Arthouse at Laguna Gloria
AMOA-Arthouse, the Blanton Museum of Art and Mexic-Arte Museum present the first annual Summer Teacher Institute: Art Happening Now. Over the course of two days we will explore concepts and processes for bringing contemporary art into your classroom. Exciting and practical workshops at multiple locations will include hands-on activities, curator tours, artist presentations, printed resources, discussion groups, on-site lesson plan creation, and more.
The Institute is open to all K-12 art teachers and art education students. $60 per participant; early bird registration by May 5 is $50. Space is limited. Advanced payment required. To RSVP contact Gabriela Santiago at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 512-200-7275.
- Art + Online is a multimedia resource that offers educators and students dynamic connections between art and another discipline through lessons, images, and videos. They are:
- Educator Membership: K-12 educators receive all the perks of membership plus these special offers:
- $10 Educator discount on any membership level
- 20% off teacher workshops
- To become a member, visit our membership page.
To join our teacher mailing list or for tour questions, contact Stacey Kaleh, Tour Scheduler, at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or (512) 471–5025.
Support for education programs at The Blanton is provided by Applied Materials Inc., the CFP Foundation, Chase, The Durant Family Foundation, the Burdine Johnson Foundation, and by grants from the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Texas Women for the Arts.
Additional support is provided by The Brown Foundation Inc. Education Endowment and the Burdine Johnson Foundation Education Endowment.