PULLMAN – The Washington State University Museum of Art will host free public art tours of the WSU campus July 19 and Sept. 13.
Long time museum docent, H. Clare Wiser, will lead the tours. The event offers an opportunity to view a number of sculptures placed around campus with Wiser explaining the history and relevance of each piece.
The tours will start at 11:30 a.m. on the plaza outside the Museum of Art located on Wilson Rd. and will end at approximately at 12:30 p.m. The tours will vary, offering a unique experience for participants each time.
Since the tours begin outside the museum, participants will enjoy a perfect opportunity to expand their art experience by visiting either the “2006 Curator’s Choice: From the Palouse” exhibit (May 22 – July 23), or the “Francis Ho: Faculty Focus” exhibit (Aug. 18 – Sept. 24).
Leading the tours will be Museum of Art/WSU docent, H. Clare Wiser, a professor of mathematics emeritus who retired from WSU in 1996. When asked what first attracted him to art, Wiser explained he was “dragged” to an exhibit of Genevra Sloan, a local painter from Moscow on display in Thompson Hall in 1963. He ended up loving her work and afterwards became intrigued with all that art had to offer.
Now, Wiser leads public art tours as a way of encouraging others to engage in situations where they are challenged to look at the world differently. “It’s a way of training your eyes and mind to notice that which you might otherwise miss,” he said. Wiser relates the experience of taking a public art tour to a photographer’s experience when taking a photo. “The photographer is looking at something in a different way– trying to capture it in a certain light.”
For any further information or to find out how you can join their team of docents, contact the Museum of Art/WSU at (509) 335-1910 or visit the WSU Museum of Art Web site at: www.wsu.edu/artmuse.
H. Clare Wiser, WSU Museum of Art docent, relaxes while explaining the piece “Cobumora” seen in the background.
