The museum will be closed from December 24 through January 1. We will reopen on January 2 at 10 a.m.
Winter Shutdown
The museum will be closed from December 24 through January 1. We will reopen on January 2 at 10 a.m.
The Allen presents changing exhibitions along with engaging guest speakers and public programs.
Learn MoreThe Allen's collection is particularly strong in 17th century Dutch and Flemish painting, Japanese prints, early modern art, African art, and more.
Learn MoreExplore the full range of museum programs through free events, guided and self-guided tours, and resources for professors and PreK-12 teachers.
Learn MoreResources
Find podcasts, activities, and information for all age groups.
Support for the museum continues our tradition of bringing art to the people.
Learn MoreStudents often arrive at Oberlin College with an insatiable curiosity about art and museums. Since 1990, the Allen Memorial Art Museum, one of the top college museums in the country, has offered a class during the winter term that enables students to look behind the scenes at the Allen, explore museum careers, and experience teaching in the galleries.
“We expose students to what it’s really like working in a museum, and to the variety of jobs that are possible, from curating a collection to becoming an educator, registrar, art handler, or administrator,” explains Jill Greenwood, Eric and Jane Nord Family Curator of Education, who teaches Oberlin’s Practicum in Museum Education.
Students in this intensive course survey theories and practices of object-based learning, conduct research on artworks in the collection, prepare résumés for the art world, and meet with museum staff in a variety of professional roles. Practicum students also take field trips to the Cleveland Museum of Art and other museums in Akron and Toledo. Each January, the class attracts about 16 students from a diversity of majors, not just art history.
Photo by Yevhen Gulenko
As a capstone to the practicum, each student leads a gallery talk for classmates and later presents a Sunday Object Talk to museum visitors. While polishing public speaking skills, students practice a technique called Visual Thinking Strategies. Using this approach, tour leaders encourage members of the audience to look closely at a work of art and relate their own thoughts, feelings, and observations—not simply absorb facts.
Students who complete the practicum often pursue paid positions at the museum, whether as student curatorial assistants or as full-time, post-baccalaureate fellows.
“For me, studying art is the best way to study history. It grounds things in a way other methods don’t,” said Walker Shadle ’19, who took the practicum and was hired as a fellow in the museum’s education department.
“I’ve always known about the Allen, and its role at Oberlin was one of the main reasons I chose to come here,” he said. “When I was a student, my coursework emphasized theory and methodology. It was the practicum that showed me how to turn my interests into a career.”
Visit - Tours
Enjoy the intimacy of one of the nation's best academic art museums. Free admission since 1917.
Newsletter
Sign up for our e-newsletter to get information about our free events and latest exhibitions.
Join & Support
Your support makes a difference. Become a museum member, donor, or volunteer.