School Programs

Docents provide guided tours for students in grades K-12 of the Museum’s permanent collection and special exhibitions. Tours include discussions as well as demonstrations of techniques and materials used by the artists. School tours fulfill the standards of the California State Framework for the Visual Arts: Artistic Perception, Creative Expression, Historical and Cultural Context, and Aesthetic Valuing.

Docent offer tours on these topics:

• American Art
• Asian Art
• Baroque Art
• Customized Tour (per teacher’s specifications)
• European (19th- and 20th-Century)
• Museum Highlights
• Renaissance Art *
• Sculpture Court
• Special Exhibitions

The Renaissance Art Cart can be incorporated into the one-hour Renaissance Art tour or may be scheduled as a 30-minute separate presentation. The Renaissance Art Cart contains a collection of objects that demonstrate Renaissance art techniques such as fresco painting, gold-leaf application, preparation of colors with pigment, and panel painting.

Docent tours are available Tuesday through Saturday at 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 2:00 p.m. and Sundays at 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. No tours are available on the third Tuesday of the month, when Museum admission is free. To request a docent–led tour online, please complete this form.There is no charge for daily scheduled public tours. 

Tours in Several Languages

Upon special request, docent-led tours for adults and children are available in Spanish, French, Chinese, German, Russian, and Dutch. Whether you are a fluent speaker of any of these languages or learning a new language, consider joining these tours and develop a new art vocabulary. Please see tour selection and language request.

Tours for the Hearing Impaired with American Sign Language

Museum docents use specific touring techniques as well as American Sign Language to lead gallery tours for children or adults with mild to moderate hearing loss who are diagnosed as Hard of Hearing (HOH). Please see tour selection and language request to request a HOH tour.

Children’s Workshop

This program offers students in grades 3 through 6 the opportunity to have practical art experience guided by the Museum’s volunteer docents. The two-hour session combines art education with an interactive gallery tour and creative art project, which fulfills the second standard of the California State Framework for the Visual Arts: Creative Expression.

Five workshops – The Investigative Eye, Stories in Art, Our Place in the World, Portraits/Faces, and Landscapes – for a maximum of 30 students each are offered weekly on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., October through May. 

Workshops must be scheduled online at least three weeks in advance. You may schedule or cancel a Children’s Workshop online.

In-School PowerPoint Presentations (Grades 1-6)

Presentations in the classroom are available by Museum docents for students in grades 1 through 6 to serve as an introduction to the Museum’s art collection. Programs are designed as an introduction and should be followed by a Museum visit. Each program is designed to fulfill the academic content standards for Visual and Performing Arts. Teachers may choose from the following presentations:

• Little Red Riding Hood: Highlights the basic concepts of color, line, and shape using a well-known fairy tale (recommended for grades 1-3)
• Hey Look!: Increases students' understanding of art by teaching them how to look at a variety of artworks (recommended for grades 2-4)
• Oh, California!: Illustrates the history of California through artworks from the Museum’s collection. (recommended for grade 4)
• Made in America: Traces the history of America through its art (recommended for grade 5)
• Nature in the Art of Asia: Explores animals and plants, as well as Buddhist, Shinto, and Hindu themes in the Museum’s Asian art collection (recommended for grade 6)

Receive more information on In-School PowerPoint Presentations or schedule an on-line request