Sample Curriculum-Structured Tours

A tour, Art in Reaction/Reactionary Art, designed for English writing classes drew on selected works to engage students in discussion about the ways in which art serves to promote institutional (political, religious, etc.) interests or to oppose those interests. Students considered how some images reinforce traditional views about war, gender, race and authority and how other images work to undermine those often politically-motivated views.
A tour, The Medium and the Message, also designed for English writing classes used selected works of art to generate discussion about how images convey moral and ethical principles to diverse audiences. Students considered how the message is shaped and even transformed by the medium used to communicate it and by the audience for which it is intended.
A tour for a Religious Studies class discussed different attitudes in Catholic and Protestant communities toward the poor, women and other groups on the margins of society and how those attitudes were expressed visually in works of art.
A tour for an Asian Studies class on Women Writers in Japan considered the diverse ways Japanese women are defined and represented in art: The Court Lady, The Geisha and The New Woman, among other representations.
A Comparative Literature class came to the Ackland to consider narrative strategies in art and the diverse ways artists communicate their perceptions of reality. The class looked at works by Japanese, Mexican, European and African-American artists.
An African-American studies class looked at group of photographs and paintings that depict Black Americans in a variety of environments and social circumstances, and these images prompted discussion about the Black experience in America.
A tour, The Art of Leadership, designed for students enrolled in a leadership development workshop explored how leaders through the ages have used art to confirm their status in society and to project an image of the ideal "follower."