Nestled on SMU’s campus is one of Dallas’ hidden treasures, the Meadows Museum.
And working in that museum is one of the community’s most outstanding volunteers, Pat Ogden.
The Meadows Museum, opened in 1965, houses one of the most comprehensive collections of Spanish art in the world outside of Spain. The permanent collection includes masterworks by Spanish artists dating from the Middle Ages through the 20th century.
Lake Highlands resident Ogden has served as a volunteer docent at the museum for five years. She leads tours for junior high and high school students, adults and other museum visitors, but her favorites are the elementary school students.
“It is so rewarding to take the children on tours,” Ogden says. “Their little faces just light up. It’s like they come into a magical world.”
A tour with Ogden is not a dry, historical recitation of the paintings and their artists. Instead, the children step into an interactive experience with Ogden as their guide.
“Pat is a fabulous docent,” says Marilyn Spencer, volunteer coordinator for the Meadows Museum.
“She really relates well to school children and does all kinds of hands-on activities and games with them.”
“Cattle Drive,” a painting by Eugenio Lucas Velazquez, features the animals running through the streets of a Spanish city. Ogden teaches the children to experience the painting with more than just their eyes by creating an “orchestra” of students.
One section plays the part of the cattle, “mooing” as they run down the street. Another section makes the sound of the cattle’s thundering hooves. One group hollers and cries like the baby in the picture. When Ogden, the conductor, raises her hands, the students bring the painting to life with sound effects.
Elementary school students viewing a cubist painting by Pablo Picasso often can’t identify the subject of the piece. Ogden plays a game of “I Spy,” which helps students identify the objects in the painting.
“You realize sometimes that this could be a child’s first and only experience in a museum,” Ogden says. “You ‘re hoping to give them a love of the arts and an inquiring mind.”
Ogden also hopes each child will leave knowing the name of at least one master artist.
“I do games with the children because it keeps their attention,” Ogden says. “You have to be somewhat creative and shift gears to whatever grade level you’re teaching.”
Ogden became involved because she was grateful for her daughter’s full scholarship from the Meadows School and because she wanted to make a contribution. She stays involved because of the beautiful artwork and the children.
Spencer says she needs more volunteer docents like Ogden. No experience is necessary, only a willingness to learn and a desire to share the arts with museum visitors, she says. Training for tour guides begins Sept. 6.
Volunteers also are needed to work in the office of the museum, greeting visitors, answering telephones and assisting with data entry.
For more information, call the Volunteer Center of Dallas at 826-6767.
