Education

The Daura Gallery as a Tool for Faculty and Students

Introduction

The Daura Gallery is a vital resource at Lynchburg College for both faculty and students as a tool for research, teaching, and learning. The Gallery seeks to build relationships and further collaborations with faculty and students in their multidisciplinary projects.

Our Mission

The Daura Gallery seeks to serve Lynchburg College and the community beyond by providing opportunities for learning, enjoyment, and personal growth. These goals are achieved by strengthening the creative and curricular life of the College and encouraging the interdisciplinary affiliation of the visual arts with the academic disciplines. The Daura Gallery constantly strives to reflect the core values of Lynchburg College and to deepen our understanding of the human experience and cultural diversity.

The Daura Gallery's vision is to be a teaching Gallery with a premier collection and programs designed to complement, support, and challenge the academic experience of Lynchburg College students. The Daura Gallery exists to support the mission of Lynchburg College by being a resource for teaching through the collection, care, interpretation, and exhibition of works of art, and to enrich the cultural life of the College and the community beyond.

Gallery Staff

The Daura Gallery staff are happy to work with you to provide guidance and support for your projects. We will make every effort to accommodate your projects with the staff and facility resources available at the time.

The sections below discuss three ways that the Daura Gallery can be a resource for teaching and learning, which include:

• Exhibitions
• Collections
• Education

Exhibitions

Temporary Exhibitions

The Daura Gallery presents temporary exhibitions featuring works from the collection and works on loan of the highest possible quality and broadest range consistent with the Gallery's mission. Exhibitions and related educational programs are designed to interact with and support the academic experience of Lynchburg College students and to encourage the interdisciplinary affiliation of the visual arts with all other academic disciplines.

In scheduling exhibitions, consideration is given to the Gallery's educational objectives, to teaching programs of the College, and to special interests within the College and the community.

Disclaimer
The subject matter and themes found in the art of all cultures and in all ages often deal with explicit and/or abstracted ideas and images that some individuals may find to be difficult or offensive. Works of art selected for and/or included in exhibitions display significant artistic merit and academic integrity. Exhibitions and associated discussions are frequently quite forthright and challenging, as the content is expressive of diverse social, cultural, religious, and/or individual values.

How to incorporate Daura Gallery exhibitions into your teaching:

• Take an interactive docent tour of the exhibition with your class.
• Encourage students to volunteer as docents at the Daura Gallery (especially useful to improve public speaking skills, learn historical information, etc.).
• Require an unsupervised class visit to the Gallery and assign a reflection paper.
• Host your class at the Gallery and provide your own walkthrough of pertinent work(s).
• Structure a more guided looking/writing or looking/discussion assignment in the Gallery related to specific works on view/exhibition themes.
• Invite exhibiting artist(s) to talk in your class. (This may be especially useful if student art is on display).
• Encourage or require that students attend pertinent lectures, such as Select Sunday Lectures (held monthly at 2 p.m.) and write a response to the lecture.
• Collaborate with the Daura Gallery staff on a more involved education project. Examples include:
  
  • Writing classes, including creative writing, poetry, and expository classes do walkthroughs to use inspiration from the artwork in their discussions/writing.
  • In the Fall of 2009, the gallery held the exhibit, 50 Years of Rock, which would have been easily incorporated into a history, music, or culture course.
• Propose an exhibition with a specific focus to the Gallery that will encourage collaboration and support the Daura Gallery's mission.

Procedure

Contact Barbara Rothermel, at rothermel@lynchburg.edufor more information about incorporating Daura Gallery exhibitions into your teaching.

Collections

The Lynchburg College art collection began some years ago when former Art Department Chair Donald Evans used a small fund made available to him annually by President Orville W. Wake to purchase a few original prints for use as teaching aids.

From this beginning, Lynchburg College has assembled a collection that includes paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture by Pierre Daura, works by Amherst County folk artist Queena Dillard Stovall, and numerous works by other American and European artists. Other collections include works by student, faculty, and alumni artists. Acquisitions are made possible through the Lauer Memorial Endowment, established through funding from gifts by the late Ann Lauer in memory of her husband, Henri Lauer, and the Friends of the Daura Gallery.

Archival and Aggregate Collections

The Gallery maintains archival collections comprised of research and reference materials and/or works of art that provide material for study and research and give depth of the Gallery's overall holdings.

How to incorporate the Daura Gallery collections into your teaching:

• Select objects from the gallery's permanent collection for viewing up close in the gallery during a class session.
• Select objects from the gallery's permanent collection for viewing in the gallery.
• Collaborate with the Daura Gallery staff on a more involved collection project. The Daura Gallery seeks to incorporate art which compliments and fits the collection.
  
  • The Daura Gallery collection focuses on works from the time period of 1900-1970, which also coincide with Pierre Daura's time period of work. This includes works in the "Circle of Pierre Daura" such as works by artists connected to Pierre Daura, his students, friends, relatives, etc.

Please keep in mind that any acquisitions to the collection will be in accordance with the Collections Policy, and shall be weighed primarily in terms of their artistic merit. An acquisition's utility for teaching shall also be considered. The Daura Gallery reserves the right to the final decision regarding acquisitions.

Procedure

Contact Director Barbara Rothermel at rothermel@lynchburg.edu for more information. Based upon your area of interest, we can provide you with a list of applicable objects in the collection. Please note that requests for in-Gallery collection viewing and public display cabinets must be made at least four weeks in advance to allow time to access and prepare objects.

Education

The Daura Gallery presents several educational programs every semester. Educational programs relate to temporary exhibitions or the permanent collection and include discussions, lectures, film programs, events, and workshops. The Gallery does its best to offer research, publications, docent and volunteer programs, lectures and presentations, media information, opening celebrations, and other activities designed to interpret the collections and exhibitions and to stimulate interest in art. Whenever possible, these programs are developed in cooperation with academic programs.

The Daura Gallery maintains a docent program where participants are trained and give tours to Lynchburg College groups, local school groups, and members of the general community.

How to incorporate Daura Gallery educational programs into your teaching:

• Require your students to attend a Daura Gallery educational program (with prior arrangement, the gallery can provide an attendance sheet to track your students attendance) and require a reflection paper in response.
• Provide your students with extra credit for attending a Daura Gallery educational program.
• Take an interactive docent tour of the exhibition with your class.
• Encourage your students to enroll in the docent program-an opportunity that provides a chance for students to learn more about art, practice their public speaking skills, and learn more about galleries.
• Propose an educational program that relates to the Gallery's exhibitions and/or permanent collection.

Procedure

Contact the Daura Gallery graduate assistant at 434.544.8595 to make a recommendation or learn about upcoming educational programs.

Revised 01/2010