The Walker is continuing to offer live virtual tours for K–12 classrooms to engage with art from the Walker’s galleries and Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Whether your school is open or you are meeting with students virtually, these interactive presentations are a great way to incorporate contemporary art into your curriculum this school year!
Format
Virtual tours take place over Zoom or Google Meet and are led by a Walker Educator. A typical tour experience is approximately 30 minutes, but we ask that you reserve 45 minutes in your schedule to allow ample time for set up, introductions, and student participation. Walker staff will set up a Zoom meeting room for your designated date and time and will share this link in advance via email. If your school requires the use of Google Meet, we can create a Meet link or join yours.
Content
Our virtual tours are led by professional Educators, who have extensive experience working with students in museums and classrooms. The Walker Educator facilitating the tour will use the screen-sharing feature to show high resolution images and videos of 3–4 preselected works of art from the Walker’s collection as they guide students through observation and interpretation exercises and discuss the context behind each piece. Additional Walker staff will be present to field questions in the chat throughout the tour, and there will be a few minutes at the end to reflect and discuss as a group. Student participation is highly encouraged!
What are the options?
K–5: ART INVESTIGATORS
In this tour, students will explore 3 works of contemporary art from the Walker’s collection, investigate their content and context, and react to them thoughtfully. Students will gain tools for appreciating and responding to contemporary art while sharing their responses with each other and, of course, having fun!
Cost: Free!
6–12: MAKING MEANING
In this tour, students will practice observing contemporary artworks, considering their context, and making informed and well-reasoned evaluations of the work, gaining the tools to become expert museum-goers and appreciators of contemporary art.
Cost: Free!
K–12: CUSTOM TOURS
Looking to make specific connections to your classroom curriculum? The Walker Educators can design a custom program plan connecting contemporary art to the topics that you’re exploring with your students.
Cost: K–5: $80 | 6–12: $100
K–12: CONTEMPORARY BLACK ARTISTS
This tour focuses on works by contemporary Black artists and sheds light on their practices and the issues they address through their art. Explore work by artists local and international and hone skills of observation, discussion, research and reflection to thoughtfully analyze artworks.
Cost: Free!
Choose from K–2, 3–5, 6–8, or 9–12 options.
K–8: STEAM
Connect concepts of science, engineering, mathematics, and ethics in unique ways with one of our STEAM tours. Learn about artists that think like scientists and consider the impact that technology and design have on the future and today’s world.
Cost: Free!
Choose from K–2, 3–5, and 6–8 options.
K–12: CONTEMPORARY AAPI ARTISTS
Learn about contemporary Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) artists and the concepts they explore in their artwork. Consider the historical and cultural context in which these artists work to make informed and well-reasoned interpretations. Students will see a variety of styles, themes, and mediums by a diverse array of AAPI artists.
Cost: Free!
Choose from K–2, 3–5, 6–8, or 9–12 options.
9–12: ART BY LGBTQ+ ARTISTS
Students will explore four artworks from the Walker collection by LGBTQ+ artists. Students will analyze the formal elements of the artworks as they consider the themes that they explore and the social and political contexts they were created in. This virtual tour will be available May 1.
Cost: Free!
K–12: ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
How do artists communicate through their artwork? What stories do they tell? In this lesson, students will try to answer these questions by carefully observing a variety of artworks and having informed discussions about them.
Cost: Free!
Choose from K–2, 3–5, 6–8, or 9–12 options.
When do virtual tours take place?
Tours can be booked Monday through Friday. Times are dependent on Educator availability, but our scheduling is flexible. Standard tours must be booked at least 1 week in advance. Custom tours must be booked at least 2 weeks in advance.
Who are the Walker Educators?
Our tours are designed and led by professional, trained museum Educators, most of whom are licensed teachers. All of our Educators have extensive experience working with children and youth of a variety of ages in both classrooms and museum spaces.
What is required to participate?
Students can sign in individually from their own devices or you can join us as a classroom, using a smartboard or other projection device. You will need a stable internet connection as well as audio and video capability. A Zoom account is not required for tours that take place on Zoom.
How do I book a virtual tour?
Please email tours@walkerart.org or call 612-375-7609 to book a virtual tour.
Are there other ways to explore the art at the Walker Art Center?
A range of free online resources including lesson plans, presentations, artist videos, and exhibition guides are available for teachers on our Resources for Learning page.
Onsite tours of the Walker Art Center and Minneapolis Sculpture Garden are not currently being offered. Please contact tours@walkerart.org or check out the latest visiting information here.
