The Daura Museum of Art is a learning lab that supports, challenges, and complements the academic experience of University of Lynchburg students, reflecting the core values of the University, and deepening our understanding of the human experience and cultural diversity. Although our focus is on the fine arts, exhibitions are interdisciplinary; there are a number of ways our varied collections and exhibitions can connect with the many different academic disciplines and departments on campus.
Faculty: Incorporate Exhibitions into Your Teaching
Museum visits create a fresh learning environment in which artworks offer new ways to engage all students, even those who rarely participate in classroom discussions. Much like working in a lab, museum visits are hands on. They require active problem solving and teamwork. They push students of any discipline to consider the importance of continually asking questions, of approaching questions from different angles, and of understanding the interconnectivity of everything we do. We can work with you to include Museum class visits and programming into your curriculum which do not require previous familiarity with specific objects.
Our activities follow five models: visual literacy; art as a cultural context; art as a conceptual framework; art as primary text; and art as a creative focal point. Engaging in a series of close-looking activities can improve students’ critical observation and communication skills, conceptual understanding and application, and help them to discover how art can serve as a primary text or shed light on alternative perspective of course themes.
Opportunities
- Encourage students to visit the Daura Museum.
- Require an unsupervised class visit and assign a reflection paper.
- Exhibition-specific programs are often “Passport” events. Encourage or require that students attend pertinent lectures and write a response to the lecture.
- Host your class at the Museum and provide your own walkthrough of pertinent work(s).
- Structure a more guided looking/writing or looking/discussion assignment in the Museum related to specific works on view/exhibition themes.
Protocol
- Visits before or after regular hours should be requested one week in advance.
- Please inform students using the Museum for an assignment to use pencils only; do not write against the walls or on any plexiglass pedestals; leave backpacks at the coat rack.
Exhibition Proposals
- Faculty are encouraged to submit proposals for specific exhibitions, interdisciplinary themes, conceptual themes, and exhibitions in conjunction with seminars, symposia, or special events of any academic discipline, and other University-wide initiatives. The Daura Museum schedules exhibitions approximately one year in advance. All exhibitions for a specific academic year are confirmed prior to the beginning of the Fall semester.
- Faculty interested in co-curating or otherwise participating in the research and development of an exhibition should contact Steve Riffee.
Facility Usage
- The Daura Museum and the Dillard Lobby Gallery may be used for University-related functions (i.e., lectures, meetings, receptions) as approved by the Director. There is a nominal fee for use of the Museum after 4 p.m. and on weekends. Learn more about the Daura Museum’s facility usage policy.
Online Collection of Works by Pierre Daura
- Visit our GoogleSite to see our collection of works by Pierre Daura.
