Awe is an emotion that can be triggered by being around something larger than yourself, that’s not immediately understandable. It's that feeling you get when you look up and see millions of stars in the night sky; witness a beautiful landscape or set eyes on an artwork for the first time. Museums and galleries, historic settings and buildings can all provoke awe. And you can foster more of it in your programmes by thinking carefully about the artworks, objects you include, the questions you ask ...
Dec 09, 2021•25 min•Ep. 32
This week on the podcast: I’m delighted to be talking to Jo-Anne Sunderland Bowe and we're talking about how to teach with objects. Jo-Anne is director of Heritec Limited, a UK-based heritage education consultancy which works on European collaborative projects. Jo-Anne has a keen interest in object-based learning and creative and critical thinking. in today’s chat we talk about the values that drive her work and her passion for object-based learning and teaching. We talk about what object-based ...
Dec 02, 2021•29 min•Ep. 31
For our thirtieth episode, I’m delighted to be talking to Catherine Chastney. Catherine is an art educator and owner of social enterprise I Picture This. Catherine’s work focuses on bringing art and the joy of discussing art to older people, from creating conversations in care homes, to creating art cards during lockdown and working with people living with dementia. In this chat we explore the strong values that guide Catherine's work - she is passionate about that anyone can look at and discuss...
Nov 25, 2021•29 min•Ep. 30
So in today’s episode I’m talking about how to develop a reflective practice in your work. A reflective practice is simply the art of thinking about or reflecting on what you do. It is a way of recognising, capturing and articulating what we’re learning on a moment by moment basis. By following any of the suggestions in this episode, you will develop a questioning approach to your work . You will stop and pause to think about why things are as they are and how they might be in the future. You wi...
Nov 18, 2021•27 min•Ep. 29
Today I’m focusing on colour. Colour is one of the 7 elements of art along with shape, line, form, texture, value and space. It's a vast subject - but today I don't want to focus on colour theory or the science of colour. Instead, I want to get you thinking about how you approach colour with your audience during an art discussion. I’m going to look at different ways you can create discussion about colour with your groups to get them engaged in artworks. Colour is important because it can make yo...
Nov 11, 2021•16 min•Ep. 28
Today I’m delighted to be talking to Kenia Santos - an educator based in Brazil with specialisations and interests in art history, philosophical inquiry, social and emotional learning, thinking routines and slow looking. We discuss how she uses thinking routines in her work to encourage and develop slow looking, how she keeps her teenage students engaged for 3 hours in her art classes and how we can develop empathy through slow looking. Kenia is a passionate educator, slow looking enthusiast and...
Nov 04, 2021•26 min•Ep. 27
The traditional lecture-style guided tour is dead, long live the interactive tour! Well, it’s not actually, it’s still alive and kicking in some quarters, but in my opinion it shouldn’t be the way we think about guided tours in the 21st Century. Traditional lecture-style ‘walk and talk ‘ guided tours with an expert guide are still fairly common and in some places are still a standard way of ‘presenting’ an historic site, a city or a museum to the public. Things have definitely changed in the las...
Oct 28, 2021•25 min•Ep. 26
This week’s episode is inspired by recent classes in the Visible Thinking Membership where we've been exploring the concept of using drawing and sketching for slow looking and observation. When people are learning how to draw, they actually learn how to observe first. And being a sketcher makes you a better observer - it’s as though you are seeing something for the first time when you’re trying to draw it. Today I’m talking about using drawing as an observational exercise. It’s not a test of how...
Oct 21, 2021•26 min•Ep. 25
Today I’m really excited to be chatting to Louise Thompson - a museums and wellbeing consultant as well as the health and wellbeing manager at Manchester Art Gallery for the past 9 years. We’re talking how about art and objects can be used to learn wellbeing skills and improve mental health. Louise has over 12 years experience of arts and health practice and is hugely passionate about using culture and creativity to improve people’s wellbeing. We discuss: Louise’s work and some of the wonderful ...
Oct 14, 2021•35 min•Ep. 24
Have you ever asked a question that was greeted with nothing but silence? You look around and all you can see are blank faces. The silence is scary because you don’t know what people are thinking. It could mean anything. You wait a little longer and still nothing happens. Just the sound of tumbleweed rustling by…. You've just experienced a ' tumbleweed moment ' - a period of dead air or silence. And it’s awkward and uncomfortable - not just for you but also for your participants too. You don't k...
Oct 07, 2021•20 min•Ep. 23
In the past week I’ve just started teaching my Visible Thinking in the Museum Online course (VTMO) to a group of international educators excited to start confidently leading discussions around art and objects. There’s always a buzz when we get going and an enthusiasm to learn as much as you can as quickly as possible. But I always try to slow down participants, so that they can take it one step at a time and build up their practice (and confidence) slowly. So this week’s episode is for all the n...
Sep 30, 2021•20 min•Ep. 22
Today I’m really excited to be introducing our first guest chat on the podcast - Samantha Boffin. Samantha is a voice actor, director and audio drama coach working with clients on voice technique, voiceover and communication. Your voice is one of your biggest assets when it comes to storytelling, entertaining and engaging your audience. In this episode, you will discover how to look after it, use it and make the most of it with simple, fun and actionable techniques. Samantha shares some wonderf...
Sep 23, 2021•25 min•Ep. 21
Today I’m talking about the 6 core elements in my popular Visible Thinking in the Museum Online (VTMO) course - elements that you should also have in your educator repertoire to connect with your audience and engage them with art and objects. I'm sharing with you: How the course came about during the start of the pandemic in 2020 How it was designed and why The 6 core elements of the course and why they're important to you What you will get out of VTMO Next week, I’m teaching VTMO for the final ...
Sep 16, 2021•23 min•Ep. 20
Would you love to learn how to design and lead engaging discussions around art and objects in just 4 days? On Monday through to Thursday next week, I’ll be sharing 4 principles that are key 🔑 for creating engagement and connection when you're designing and leading art discussions. In this BONUS podcast episode (a first for The Art Engager!) you’ll learn everything you need to know about what happens when you join the challenge, who it's for and how it will work. Join in the 4 day Art of Engag...
Sep 11, 2021•7 min
Today I’m sharing some thoughts about how you can successfully design and lead engaging discussion-based programmes around art and objects. I’ll be talking briefly about the difference between different types of 'talking' in museum education - conversations , discussions and dialogue - before moving into 11 tips for success in creating conversations around art and objects. Links Support the Show - https://buymeacoffee.com/clairebown Sign up for The Art of Engagement Challenge - https://mailchi.m...
Sep 09, 2021•26 min•Ep. 19
Leading tours and educational programmes that are based on discussion, inquiry and interaction can be a scary business. Both for you and for your participants. And if you’re about to take your first steps, it might seem really daunting. However, do remember that any concerns you have are perfectly normal and you’re not alone (we’ve all been there and had to start somewhere). Take it one step at a time and with time, practice and guidance, it will get easier (I promise!). In this podcast episode,...
Sep 02, 2021•20 min•Ep. 18
Over the past year, I’ve attended some fantastic interactive online sessions and I’ve led hundreds of my own. I’ve also attended some pretty dull one-way presentations and long lectures. No matter what type of session you are leading - be it a virtual tour, an online art discussion, an online class or course - you need to keep your session interactive to stop participants from tuning out. You need to find a variety of ways to engage people throughout the session. Online experiences that emphasi...
Aug 26, 2021•25 min•Ep. 17
Today I’m doing a deep dive on the most famous and well-known thinking routine of them all - See Think Wonder. I’m going to share with you how you can use this thinking routine in your art discussions and why it’s one of the best routines for getting started with Visible Thinking in the Museum - my method for engaging and connecting with audiences, art and ideas. It’s actually the first thinking routine that I teach when I do a training with teams of educators or guides in a museum and the first...
Aug 19, 2021•18 min•Ep. 16
How can you improve your questioning skills without resorting to reading long lists of tips and techniques and do's and don'ts? What can you use to help you create, sort and evaluate better questions? The simple answer is: ART. I’ve been using artworks for years to help me to brainstorm, sort, re-word and improve my questions. Artworks (and objects) provide an engaging and focused way to work on your questioning skills. I’m not an ‘expert questioner’ by any means and have found that this is a sk...
Aug 12, 2021•20 min•Ep. 15
Today I’m sharing 5 simple slow looking ideas for the summer. In our fast-paced society, we scan, we skim and we scroll. We have forgotten what it’s like to really look at something. Slow looking is a wonderful alternative to life in the fast lane. The 5 activities I'll be sharing in this episode are simple, effective ways to slow down, improve your observational skills and focus and notice more details around you. You can use these slow looking activities throughout the summer - either on your ...
Jul 22, 2021•23 min•Ep. 14
Today I’m talking all about how to use the ‘Unveiling Stories’ thinking routine to investigate multiple layers of meaning with a photograph. This is part of a new series of episodes on the podcast where I share a thinking routine with you and all the insights for how you might be able to use it with an artwork or object with groups - either in-person or online. Unveiling Stories was our ‘thinking routine of the month’ for June in my Membership Programme. Every month we have a specialist thinking...
Jul 15, 2021•21 min•Ep. 13
Many of us are experts in our field - possibly art historians, historians or archaeologists - and want to share that incredible knowledge with the groups we lead in our programmes. But knowing what information to share, how to share it and when to share it is often tricky – especially on interactive, discussion-based programmes. And what happens when you add too much information? And how much is too much ? Sharing information that is engaging and memorable (without overloading your participants)...
Jul 08, 2021•24 min•Ep. 12
Perspective-taking is about seeing a situation or understanding a concept from an alternative view point, such as that of someone else. It is a skill that needs to be encouraged - particularly in children. Your brain has to work quite hard to get good at perspective-taking. And in the opposite direction of what it is hard-wired to do - which is to place YOU at the centre of everything. Engaging in perspective-taking means moving away from this starting point in order to understand others. THE GO...
Jul 01, 2021•18 min•Ep. 11
So, this week in honour of our 10th episode I’m talking about 10 common traps to avoid when asking questions! For some people questioning comes easily. But for the majority of us, we are not asking enough questions AND we’re not phrasing them in the best way. The good news is that we can all become better questioners with time and practice. To become a better questioner, it’s really important first all to avoid these 10 common mistakes. Which ones of these are you guilty of? I’ve certainly done ...
Jun 24, 2021•22 min•Ep. 10
Welcome back to the Art Engager podcast! Today I’m talking about building rapport and creating a great group dynamic in the 'new now'. Creating a great group dynamic is even MORE important now after the last year or so. We will need to take extra care to create social comfort and psychological safety, we will also need to build trust and social interaction. In this episode I'm talking about : what group dynamics are the different types of groups you might come across the roles people play in gro...
Jun 17, 2021•27 min•Ep. 9
Today I’m talking all about how to use the ‘See Think Me We’ thinking routine to create personal and community connections with artworks. This is part of a new series of episodes on the podcast where I share a thinking routine with you and all the insights for how you might be able to use it with an artwork or object with groups - either in-person or online. See Think Me We was our ‘thinking routine of the month’ recently in the Visible Thinking Membership . Every month we have a specialist thin...
Jun 10, 2021•16 min•Ep. 8
Slow looking is not only an important part of my work, it is also a personal practice - something that I’ve been doing regularly for the last few years. I’m really interested in developing my observational skills and I’m also fascinated by what happens when we spend a longer period of time looking at something. Our general approach to looking is, however, flawed and we try to look at things as briskly and efficiently as possible. We need to slow our looking down and give our brain the time and s...
Jun 03, 2021•18 min•Ep. 7
In this episode, I’m discussing 6 essential thinking routines you should have in your educator repertoire. These are thinking routines that you can use to create engaging discussions with art or artefacts or routines that will help you develop and grow in your work as an educator. I’ve found it really hard to select just 6 thinking routine out of the 100+ routines out there, but I’ve come up with a list that every educator should have in their repertoire to draw upon in different situations or f...
May 27, 2021•23 min•Ep. 6
Facilitation is a key part of creating engaging and interactive discussions around art and museum objects. But developing the skills of a good facilitator is an art form in itself – it requires practice, patience and the best facilitators MAKE IT LOOK SO EASY. Sometimes people wonder why I chose the word 'facilitator' - rather than guide, educator, teacher, docent, or interpreter - to describe people who lead participative, discussion-based experiences around art and objects. It’s certainly not ...
May 20, 2021•15 min•Ep. 5
In this week's episode, I’m sharing my 5 golden rules for asking brilliant questions. But what is a brilliant question? Asking more questions is one way to get more interaction and engagement in your programmes. But asking the wrong types of questions can actually shut down the discussion and stop people participating at all. So, in this episode, I'm sharing 5 rules that will help you to ask questions that create interaction and engagement, open up discussions and encourage everyone to participa...
May 13, 2021•20 min•Ep. 4
