Introduction Learning from the masters is a key objective of the University of Wyoming Art Museum. The museum has extensive education programs for all ages, including pre-K through 12th grade, university and college students, and adults. The education team, including a master teacher, creates programs that enhance and expand an understanding of art, culture, and personal creativity for museum visitors, based on the following model: observe, question, explore, create, and reflect. Using the museum's exhibitions - including the traveling Artmobile exhibits and the museum’s Traveling Exhibits program - as the focal point for these activities, participants experience diverse forms of visual expression through investigative museum and studio processes, connecting with artists and scholars across disciplines and areas of study. Our educational philosophy The museum’s approach to interpretation and education encourages intellectual inquiry; supports, enhances and partners with the academic programs of the university and regional education systems; respects and encourages multiple perspectives and the exchange of ideas about the visual arts; demonstrates excellence in content through all of its programs; and enables the creative spirit to grow. Our educational vision We foresee a time when students of all ages regularly experience the rich resources available through our collections and exhibitions, workshops and art talks, tours and studio classes, and our outreach programs – not as onetime events in their lives, but as repeated activities building on the art explorations, knowledge and intellectual inquiry experienced with each visit. Faculty and teachers will see themselves as partners with the museum in a joint educational process that emphasizes authentic learning grounded in the artwork and expertise of visiting artists and scholars. A community of learners will emerge from all walks of life, intent on contributing their diverse voices to the exchange of ideas precipitated by the museum’s exhibitions. The museum galleries and studios will ring with the sound of excitement as visitors find and explore their own creative spirit, inspired by the work on display. This is our vision: a museum that plays a critical role in the everyday life of the community, enhancing and expanding individual and collective understanding and awareness of the contemporary issues that affect us, as seen through the eyes of the artist. Our communities will realize this is the great contribution artists have made throughout history, and will continue to make as we move into the future.

Hank Cossairt enjoys the Art Museum education programs in the summer of 2007.