It is amazing to think that anyone living on or near NC State’s campus is only a 10-minute drive away from genuine ancient Roman statues, the largest collection of Auguste Rodin’s sculptures in the southeast, magnificent Kehinde Wiley portraits, or even the only complete Giotto di Bondone altarpiece residing outside of Italy. These and countless other remarkable works can be found in the North Carolina Museum of Art, and anybody interested in virtually any style or medium of art have the opportunity to take one of the free tours of their collections that are available to the public.*

Since opening in 1956, NCMA has offered free admission to the public for its incredible permanent collection. While this is a generally well known fact to most visitors, fewer are aware that a non-ticketed, hour long tour is provided on a daily basis.  Delivered at 1:30 p.m. by one of the NCMA’s docents, these tours are typically an hour long and vary from topics such as a general chronological introduction to the museum’s West Building, art and religion, a outing into the museum’s Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park offered on the weekends, or an abundance of other possibilities that make the massive permanent collection more accessible.* The museum’s docents come from a wide array of backgrounds, such as collegiate academia or freelance artistry.

“The basic guideline for our tours is that they have a theme that showcases a particular part of the museum,” said Beth Shaw-McGuire, coordinator of tours and docent education at the NCMA. “We encourage the docents to take visitors to different parts of the collection so anyone can get an idea of the range of things offered here, particularly collections such as the Judaic or Rodin collections.”*

Since many of these docents have a background in education, the flexibility allowed with tour topics allows for a thoroughly enthusiastic and in-depth experience for any visiting tourist. Even in cases where specific docents are not in the fields of a given tour, they go above and beyond to give the most accurate, informative tour possible.

“I got to do the Glory of Venice tour, which I saw as a tremendous opportunity,” said Diane Beckman, a former professor of French and World Literature here at NC State and current NCMA docent, “I saw a great opportunity with this tour and so I ended up going to Venice.  That was definitely the one I went out and learned the most for. It changed my life and opened my eyes in ways that I used for the tour.”

These well-articulated and educational nature tours are available to everybody and only require showing up to the information desk in the West Building before the 1:30 p.m. tour. Additionally, the less standard Ask Me type tours are offered, where docents are positioned around a particular gallery to answer any questions which pique the curiosity of their attendants, a setup particularly attractive to those who prefer to absorb collections at a slower pace. 

“Ask Me docents will stand around an exhibit such as the African or Egyptian collections on the weekend,” Beckman said. “Anyone can come up to them with a question, and if they see someone pausing at a particular piece maybe they’ll come over and ask if that person has any questions.”

All of the scheduled docent-led tours can be found on the calendar of events located at http://ncartmuseum.org/calendar/. Through these tours, NCMA offers the opportunity to experience a collection of some of the world’s most impressive pieces while being informed by enthusiastic and scholarly guides.*

*Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include accurate quotations from Beth McGuire and provide correct information.