German House offers tour of art museum

At first glance, last Friday in the IU Art Museum was no different than any other day. Tours followed their docents or tour guides with close attention as they explained the history of the IUAM and its extensive collection.\nBut if you followed a certain 15-person group you would have noticed something very different; their tour was conducted entirely in German.\nThe German House, in conjunction with IUAM docent Helga Keller, sponsored the language tour as one of many activities it offers students. The German House regularly sponsors events celebrating German culture and language from a weekly Stammtisch -- an hour of speaking German held at Soma -- to regular screenings of German historic and popular cinema.\nSome events, like the tour, require proficiency in German, while other events -- like the annual Oktoberfest -- do not. The group primarily communicates through an e-mail list, and members attend events that strike their interest. \nNikole Langjahr, coordinator of the German House, said she was excited to offer this tour to students.\n"Helga approached me about offering this tour to the German House students," she said. "I was concerned that the students would not respond, but the response has been overwhelming. We are offering another tour of the first-floor gallery on Nov. 21, and we hope to offer another next semester that covers more of the museum."\nThe tour of 12 people was lead by Helga Keller, a 10-year volunteer docent with the IUAM. A native of Germany, she said the tour presented her with new opportunities.\n"Though I am a native German speaker all of my museum work is in English," she said. "It was a totally new way of thinking."\nSenior Anne Gill, who attended the tour, said she was delighted when she heard about the tour of the museum. As a student enrolled in 250-level German class, she heard about the tour through her instructor.\n"I studied abroad before," she said. "I miss being around German all of the time. I am a singer, and knowing German is really helpful; I would love to be fluent some day."\nAll tour members listened with attention as Keller delineated the history and stories behind some of the IUAM's most prized pieces. The collection of German artists ranges from Renaissance art to modern and post-modern pieces, all held within the first-floor gallery.\n"Ms. Keller gave us an excellent overview over several schools of painting, starting with the Middle Ages and ending in the present, with a focus on German artists," Langjahr said. "She made us aware of various interesting details in the paintings she showed us and also interspersed her tour with anecdotes from the artists' lives."\nSenior Jennifer Wangerin said she was glad to attend the tour. \n"Even though I am a senior, this has been my first time in the library since my tour of campus before I was a freshman," she said. "I've always wanted to come and check it out. When I heard about the tour I wanted to come and see what is inside; the fact that the tour was in German was an added bonus."\nFor more information about German House events, or to be added to the German House e-mail list contact Nikole Langjahr at nilangja@indiana.edu.\n-- Contact staff writer Brittany Ausmus at bausmus@indiana.edu.