Preservice Seminars
Art Camps
Studio Art Programs
Home School Classes
Volunteer Opportunities
Lecture Series
Artist/Teacher Workshops
Lunch a l'Art
Arts for Healing
Artists of the 21st Century
Exhibition Tours
Humanities-in-Residence
Preservice Seminars
The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art offers
collegiate-level visual arts education seminars
for future classroom teachers enrolled in
colleges and universities in the Southern
Alleghenies region. These seminars emphasize
teaching of the arts through an
interdisciplinary approach that contains art
history, aesthetics and criticism. Preservice
teachers are given the opportunity to design
museum education curricula that enable them to
serve as docents for school tours, evaluate art
programs and conduct hands-on art projects.
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Art Camps
The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art offers
children's art camps every summer. The two-week
camps are facilitated by Museum staff and SAMA-rostered
residency artists. The camps, designed for
ages 5 through 12, provide children with
exposure to a museum setting, as well as a
chance to work with a variety of artists and
artistic media.
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Studio Art
Programs
The Museum offers several studio art programs
throughout the year at its
Ligonier Valley facility. Programs may include
lessons in watercolor, clay,
photography, basket-making or wood-carving. The
programs are intended to further the public’s
appreciation for the creative process, while
assisting in the development of their own
artistic talents.
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Home School
Classes
Museum programs extend beyond the public schools
to provide the best experiential education for
the home school population in our region. Full
day workshops are designed for students and
their parents to examine all the Museum has to
offer while they work together with Museum staff
and a selected resident artist.
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Volunteer
Opportunities
The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art offers
volunteer opportunities
to qualified applicants. Museum docents attend
training sessions to prepare themselves to guide
visitors through the galleries in lively
discussion about the Museum’s permanent
collection and special exhibitions. To learn
more about the Volunteer Program, contact a
member of our staff.
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Lecture Series
Speakers
visit the museums throughout the year to give
presentations relating to the current
exhibitions. Our gratitude extends to the
trustees of the Emma Clyde Hodge Memorial Fund,
who sponsor a lecture series at the
Museum’s Ligonier Valley facility.
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Teacher/Artist Workshops
The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art conducts
artist and teacher workshops for over 300
artists, art educators and art advocates each
year. Interdisciplinary workshops integrate the
arts with other academic content. Academic
standards, assessment, residency planning and
advocacy, curriculum integration and
teacher/artist interaction are discussed in
educational forums.
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Lunch a l’Art
The Museum offers Lunch a l’Art programs with
all of its exhibitions. The programs, which
include a luncheon and special presentation,
encourage a greater understanding of various art
forms and movements, as well as a deeper
appreciation for the exhibitions presented by
the Museum.
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Arts for Healing
SAMA offers its Arts-in-Education and residency
programs to meet the needs of individuals
suffering from pain and discomfort. Trained
artists and Museum educators will work directly
with therapists and patients to create
meaningful works of art that act as a way to
alleviate the pain and discomfort brought on by
health issues. The benefits of introducing the
arts into the healthcare setting are endless.
Patients will feel better emotionally by
developing a means to express their feelings in
a creative way. Physical benefits are encouraged
by the actual creation of art, whether it be
creating a sculpture out of clay, painting on
large canvas, or performing an expressive dance.
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Artists
of the 21st Century
The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art hosts two
student art exhibitions at its
Loretto and Ligonier Valley Museums. The
exhibitions, open to schools that participate in
the Museum/School Partnership Program, feature
more than 300 works of teacher-selected art
exhibited with full museum text panels. Public
receptions, lectures and special events
accompany the month-long exhibitions.
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Exhibition Tours
The Southern Alleghenies Museum
of Art offers tours led by Museum
staff and/or docents. Detailed
information about the exhibition and
participation in hands-on
activities allow visitors to explore relevant
themes, media and technique.
Tours of exhibitions are free of
charge to all school districts and organizations
participating in the
Arts-in-Education and Artist-in-Residency
programs. Non-participating
districts are charged $3 per person ($1.50
tour, $1.50 hands-on activity
material fee). Tours are available for all
exhibitions at each of the four
Museum sites in Altoona, Johnstown,
Ligonier Valley and Loretto. To
address specific needs and to schedule
tours, contact the Museum of your
choice. All Museum tours can
include a hands-on experience.
Contact names and numbers are listed
on the inside back cover.
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