Mya Dosch, a 2008 Cloisters intern (Carleton College, 2009) speaking with a camp group in the Cloister from Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa. Photograph by Leslie Bussis Tait
«Each summer, The Cloisters fills with the energy of young visitors, many of whom are experiencing our collection and gardens for the first time. Day campers from throughout New York City, as well as nearby suburbs, come for gallery workshops conducted by our summer college interns.»
The interns, who have a demonstrated interest in working with children and have had some college coursework in medieval art and culture, spend the first three weeks of their summer program learning about The Cloisters and its collection, as well as museum education techniques. The following five weeks are devoted to the gallery workshops, which accommodate as many as ten groups of day campers per day.
Day campers learning about medieval knights from Sarah Harshman, a 2009 Cloisters intern (Vassar College, 2011), in front of the Tomb Effigy of Jean d'Alluye. Photograph by Leslie Bussis Tait
This year's themes are Making Faces, which explores facial expression and gesture in medieval art, and Nature in the Middle Ages, which engages day campers with representations of nature in sculpture, tapestries, and other works of art, along with herbs and flowers growing in the gardens.
Day campers displaying their craft projects on the first day of summer gallery workshops, June 24, 2014. Photograph by Leslie Bussis Tait
Following a forty-five minute tour through the galleries, the day campers make a craft project to take home.
Natalie Polito, 2008 Cloisters intern (Tufts University, 2010) explains the uses and lore of plants to day campers in the Bonnefont Herb Garden. Photograph by Leslie Bussis Tait
If you would like to make an appointment to bring day campers to The Cloisters, please call the Education Office at 212-650-2280.