IU Art Museum: We need more students

Junior Aaron Jackson would rather go to a basketball game than spend an afternoon at the IU Art Museum.\nJackson said he's been to the museum just once, and it wasn't voluntarily.\n"It was for a history class," he said. "We had to go." \nJackson isn't the only student disengaged from the fine arts on campus.\nIU Art Museum Director Heidi Gealt said fewer students are coming into the museum on their own free will, and she would like to see that change.\n"Art is for everyone," she said.\nGealt said she thinks students have false ideas about fine art based on depictions of curators in the popular media and might be too intimidated to visit the museum for the first time. \n"There's a snobby perception of curators," Gealt said. "They don't want to educate you; they want to feed your eye."\nShe added that students needn't know or learn anything about paintings to just enjoy browsing any of the 30,000 pieces on display at the museum.\n"Artists just want to rock your boat," she said.\nSophomore Megan Melcic admits she knows little about art but has visited the IU Art Museum once to view an exhibit on photography. She can relate to Gealt's ideas about curators.\n"There's a stereotype of artists being very cultured," she said.\nEmily Powell, manager of external relations for the museum, said students might not realize all the things the museum has to offer them, like free admission to all galleries and an original Picasso painting.\n"Students need to take baby steps," Powell said. "They can come in to get a cup of coffee and then maybe step into a gallery. If you have a free half-hour, come in and look at one thing."\nIn addition to free admission, free guided tours are provided for anyone interested at the museum at 2 p.m. every Saturday and private tours can be arranged by contacting iuam@indiana.edu.\nLinda Baden, associate director of editorial services, said the museum's Web site is a useful resource for students, as it allows browsers to look at some of the most famous pieces on display at the museum. She said the museum's collection is probably one of the top five in the nation and doesn't understand why more students aren't taking advantage of it.\n"We're such a visually oriented society," she said.\nGealt acknowledges that students are busy and suggests this is another reason fewer students are visiting the museum voluntarily.\nJackson can attest. \n"Students work or have to study," he said. "I like art but I just haven't had the time (to return to the museum). You can't do it all."\nBaden said museum workers are attempting to initiate a 10-minute tour to offer museum visitors a brief learning experience. Also, to get students into the building, banners outside the museum, like the current one to promote the Art Sinsabaugh photography exhibit, will be a more common marketing tool.\n"Part of it is just letting students know what's here," Gealt said. "It's worth a visit."\nFor IU Art Museum hours and special events, visit http://artmuseum.iu.edu.