We invite you to practice observation, deep thinking, and active learning with Museum Educators as your guide. Participants will engage in discovery through discussion and activities from the Educator’s unique perspective. We employ close-looking exercises as a way to explore themes of the artwork on view. Educators select three to five artworks and lead discussions for learners of all ages, making meaningful connections to art.
Themes are inspired by Barbara Chase Riboud Monumentale: The Bronzes and vary depending on the Educator. Themes include movement and music, a conversation with Cleopatra, and poetry. Tours last approximately 45 minutes. A list of dates and themes are below and are subject to change based on the availability of the Educator. Space is limited; registration is suggested. To register, please complete the form below.
Upcoming
Sat, Feb 4; 1:30pm
Channeling American symbolism through an international lens
Lead by Erin, a fellow in our Museum Educator program, the upcoming tour explores the meanings behind Barbara Chase-Riboud’s life and works through the lens of her international influence.
Erin is a Black artist and creative who specializes in illustration, photography, and printmaking. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Illustration and Visual Culture program at Washington University in St. Louis. You can find her work at Instagram.com/erin_the_creator.
Sun, Feb 5; 1:30pm
Monuments to Ourselves: Barbara Chase-Riboud & Automatic Writing Practice
Perhaps best known for her ambitious undertakings in contemporary sculpture, Barbara Chase-Riboud has also enjoyed an illustrious literary career since the early 1970s. Several works in Monumentale: The Bronzes fuse sculpture or drawings with the written word. Chase-Riboud employs a Surrealist technique known as automatic writing to inscribe her pieces with the “untranslatable … it’s in a language that no one understands except me.” On this thematic tour, audiences will engage in close looking exercises that center this untranslatable poetry, and then will have the chance to experiment with automatic writing of their own.
Kennedy (she/her) is a nonfiction writer and an American Culture Studies major at Washington University in St. Louis.
Thematic Tours
Barbara Chase-Riboud: Channeling American symbolism through an international lens
Lead by Erin, a fellow in our Museum Educator program, the upcoming tour explores the meanings behind Barbara Chase-Riboud’s life and works through the lens of her international influence.
Erin is a Black artist and creative who specializes in illustration, photography, and printmaking. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Illustration and Visual Culture program at Washington University in St. Louis. You can find her work at Instagram.com/erin_the_creator.
Barbara Chase-Riboud: Form Through Movement
This tour invites participants to look at Chase-Riboud’s La Musica series through the lens of our own bodies and movement within the gallery.
Shaelee is an artist who explores the relationship between the body, the environment, and memory through an interdisciplinary practice. She is currently pursuing a BFA in Studio Art and a BA in American Culture Studies and Latin American Studies at Washington University in St Louis. You can find her work on Instagram.com/shaeleecomettantart.
Monuments to Ourselves: Barbara Chase-Riboud & Automatic Writing Practice
Perhaps best known for her ambitious undertakings in contemporary sculpture, Barbara Chase-Riboud has also enjoyed an illustrious literary career since the early 1970s. Several works in Monumentale: The Bronzes fuse sculpture or drawings with the written word. Chase-Riboud employs a Surrealist technique known as automatic writing to inscribe her pieces with the “untranslatable … it’s in a language that no one understands except me.” On this thematic tour, audiences will engage in close looking exercises that center this untranslatable poetry, and then will have the chance to experiment with automatic writing of their own.
Kennedy (she/her) is a nonfiction writer and an American Culture Studies major at Washington University in St. Louis.
Show & Tell
Show & Tell offers visitors an immersive and interactive experience as they are guided through Barbara Chase Riboud’s extensive collection of work. During this tour, the audience will gain the opportunity to explore their sense of perspective, storytelling, and relationship to art. As a writer and artist herself, Riboud infuses all her work with her beliefs, with many or her sculptures and drawings designed to carry specific narratives. As a visitor to the gallery, Show & Tell teaches the principles of exhibition analysis, as well as challenges you to similarly craft your own stories centered around the art. Exercises involving reimagining, writing, and drawing the exhibit will allow for the audience to engage in practices simulating Riboud’s process, encouraging each of you to explore how art can convey meaning: how the work can Show & Tell.
May – A senior at Washington University in St. Louis, studying Illustration, Marketing, and Film, May hopes her experiences at the Pulitzer will hopefully inform her art practice and education, allowing for real life application in everyday life.
Here, There, and Back Again: Barbara Chase-Riboud
Tracing Chase-Riboud’s history and travels around the world, this tour sheds light on global art influences on the artist’s work and asks us to rewrite Euro-American conceived notions of artwork and practice.
Endie – (she/her/hers) a junior studying Art History and Psychology-Neuroscience-Philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis and a 2022-2023 Greenberg Fellow. She is interested in the intersection of human cognition and art, and enjoys watching documentaries, film critiques, and baking.
A Conversation with Cleopatra
The legendary figure of Cleopatra has inspired movies, theater plays, poems and songs, most of them emphasizing her position as femme fatale and her tragic romance with Mark Antony. In this tour, however, we will approach Cleopatra from a more intimate view: Cleopatra as a woman who despite all her power could not avoid the misogyny and racism of her time. The tour will follow the Cleopatra Series sculptures that Barbara Chase Riboud created for over two decades and will guide attendees to create their own poetic letters to this mythical figure.
My name is Karla (she, her, ella) I am a Hispanic Studies PhD student at WashU. I was the Museum Education Intern 2022 at the Kemper Museum, and I am currently the curator of the Millstone Gallery at COCA. I am passionate about creating intimate encounters with cultural pieces where each visitor feels their identity and experiences are enough to understand art.
