Running Head: Humanities Research Paper
Humanities Research Paper
Mark Gonzalez, Miles Miley, Erika Halterman
University of Phoenix
Introduction: History of the Phoenix Art Museum
The Phoenix Art Museum has quite a bit of history before officially being dedicated on November 21, 1959. The Phoenix Women’s Club developed a fine arts program in 1912 and the first painting, Carl Oscar Borg’s Egyptian Evening, was purchased in 1915. In 1925 the State Fair Committee formed The Phoenix Fine Arts Association and in 1936 the Phoenix Art Center was created. Philip C. Curtis, who is considered to be the founder of the Phoenix Art Museum, moved to Phoenix from Michigan in 1947. He first visited in 1936 to help set up the Phoenix Fine Arts Association, but then returned and set up permanent residence in Scottsdale until he passed away in 2000. As Phoenix’s population continued to grow throughout the years there was a need for several expansions of the museum. It originally started out as 25,000 square feet and today is now approximately 160,000 square feet.
“The Phoenix Art Museum has a Docent program. A Docent is a teacher who serves the Museum and the community. The word “docent” is derived from the Latin word docere meaning to teach. Docents do touring, art lectures, research, and library staffing. The training program lasts 18 months. After becoming a Docent, a minimum of 100 hours of service a year is required. Thirty of these hours must be done with direct service to the Museum, through touring, speaking, research or library support activities.” (Phoenix Art Museum, The Docent Program Brochure)
The Museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday from 10am to 5pm. On Thursdays the Art Museum is open from 10am to 9pm. There are several different tours that you can take throughout the day. The featured exhibit tour can be seen at 1:00 pm every day. The Masterworks tour can be viewed at 2:00 pm every day, and at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm on Saturdays. Both of...