Virtual School Tours

Join us for virtual guided tours of the permanent collection!

MAG now offers exciting new ways to bring our collection to life and to connect students and teachers with art from around the world! We have developed a great way to offer synchronous virtual tours for students in grades K-12. These virtual tours will be facilitated by a MAG educator or docent via a video conferencing platform during regular school hours.

• All school tours complement the New York State Standards: K-5 and 6-12.
• Virtual school tours are available Monday through Friday.
• For more information about virtual tours contact Sydney Greaves.
• To book a tour please email tours@mag.rochester.edu or call 585.276.8974.
• Virtual tours are being offered for $3 per participant.
• Virtual tours can be up to 45 minutes long.
• Virtual tours are led by MAG educators and/or docents. One will be in touch with you to plan the tour shortly after the tour is booked.

Some of our more popular tours:

Animals in Art

Animals in Art (PDF)
Let MAG help you integrate art into your teaching, from wherever you and your students are! Slideshows of artworks from MAG’s collection with guiding questions engage critical thinking skills, make curriculum connections, and inspire many other possible activities.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Science, Social Studies
Grade Level: Elementary

Shown: Egyptian, Saite Period (664–525 BCE), The God Horus as a Falcon [1953.44]; Martin Johnson Heade, Hummingbird with Cattelya and Dendrobium Orchids, (detail) 1890 [1976.3]; Chinese, Camel, 700–750 CE [1931.14]; Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, Oxen on the Beach, (detail) 1910 [1914.8]; John Steuart Curry, Oak Tree, (detail) 1939 [1996.97]

Art and ELA: Storytelling

How do artists tell stories? Look for clues to setting, characters, plot, action, and outcome in artworks, and use critical thinking skills to “read” the story in a work of art. Developed especially for 3rd and 4th grades by MAG and the Rochester City School District.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA

Grade Level: Elementary

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Details shown: John Sloan, Chinese Restaurant, 1909 [1951.12]; Franz Snyders and workshop, The Fox and the Heron, 1630–1640 [1972.75]; Roy De Forest, The Dipolar Girls Take a Voyage on the St. Lawrence, 1970 [1986.134]; Lilly Martin Spencer, Peeling Onions, 1852 [1988.6]

Art History

Trace the numerous styles, themes and materials explored by artists of many cultures using representative artworks in the Gallery’s collection. Tours may focus on any aspect of art history; please discuss your objectives and plans with the docent during the pre-visit call.

Curriculum Connections: Art

Grade Level: Secondary

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Details shown: Rachael Ruysch, Floral Still Life, 1686 [1982.9]; Jean de Marville, Mourner’s Niche from the Tomb of Philip the Bold, ca. 1384-1390 [1949.51]; Walter Goodman, The Printseller’s Window, 1883 [1998.75]; Claude Monet, Waterloo Bridge, Veiled Sun, 1903 [1953.6]; Egyptian, Mamluk Period, Section from a Qur’an endowed by Sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri, late 15th century [2008.69]

Genesee Journey

Follow the stories of upstate New York, Rochester, and the Memorial Art Gallery itself through artworks in the Gallery’s collections. Portraits, landscapes and decorative objects all provide a glimpse into aspects of American life in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies
Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Details shown: American, 19th century, Colonel Nathaniel Rochester, before 1831, [1934.1]; Asher Brown Durand, Genesee Oaks, 1860 [1974.5]; Colin Campbell Cooper, Main Street Bridge, Rochester, 1908 [1926.20]; John Frederick Peto, Articles Hung on a Door, after 1890 [1965.3]

Learning to Look: An Introduction to the Gallery

What is an art museum? What can you learn by looking at an artwork? Students of all ages explore the Gallery’s collections through finding details, learning new vocabulary and sharing their own observations.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies
Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Details shown: Fernand Léger, Footed Goblet, 1924 [1946.11]; Chinese, Funerary Urn, 2500-1700 BCE [1999.56]; Charles Looff, Merry-Go-Round Goat, ca. 1900 [1971.40]; Fritz Trautmann, Galaxy, 1942 [1956.65]; Sir Henry Raeburn, Lieutenant-Colonel Hay MacDowell, ca. 1795 [1968.102]

Many Faces, Many Places

Travel through time and space and hone observational skills on a cross-cultural world tour. Come face-to-face with artworks such as masks, paintings and statues representing cultures from major world regions, including the Arctic, Central and South America, Europe, Asia, ancient Egypt and sub-Saharan Africa.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies
Grade Level: Elementary

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Details shown: Makonde Culture, Mozambique, Crest Mask (Lipiko), ca. 1950-1960 [2006.71]; Indian, A Royal Couple on a Terrace, 1800–1850 [2007.20]; Greater Nicoya, Costa Rica, Jaguar Vessel, 1000-1350 CE [1969.90]; Flemish, Allegory of Vanity: Lady with a Mirror, ca. 1600 [1955.132]; Jerome Myers, Sunday Morning, 1907 [1998.74]

Passport to the Past

Explore universal themes of civilization such as writing, religion, and burial customs through artworks and artifacts 500 to 5,000 years old, representing the MAG’s Mesopotamian, Egyptian, East Asian, Greek, Roman and Medieval, and Renaissance European collections.

Curriculum Connections: Art, Social Studies (Grades 6, 9, AP World History)
Grade Level: Secondary

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Details shown: Egyptian, Inner Coffin of Pa-debehu-Aset, 332–30 BCE [2000.11.1]; Greek, Corinthian Helmet, late 7th century BCE [2008.70]; Roman, Fresco Fragment with Cupid Holding a Mask, before 79 CE [1928.75]; Sharaf al-Abawani, Sgraffiato Ware Pot, 14th century [1951.350]; Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli, Portrait of a Boy of the Bracciforte Family of Piacenza, ca. 1560 [1976.13]

Sacred Stories, Myths and Legends

“Listen” to artworks with a story to tell, “hear” how culture influences art and “see” how beliefs and stories pass down through narrative and symbolic art. Compare and contrast ancient beliefs and living traditions from diverse cultures, including Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA,Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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Details shown: Thai, Ayudhya Period (1350–1757 CE), Head of a Buddha [1930.33]; Francesco Solimena, The Triumph of Judith, 1704–1708, [1980.43]; Bamana Culture, Mali, rest Mask: Male Antelope (Chi Wara) [1969.107]; Peter Paul Rubens, Ulysses Landing on the Island of the Phaeacians, after 1625 [1961.27]; Egyptian, The God Osiris as a Mummified Man, 1069–332 BCE [1951.116]

The Memorial Art Gallery’s 2020-21 School Programs are sponsored by the William and Sheila Konar Foundation, the Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation, Doug and Abby Bennett, the Wan Jou Family Foundation in memory of Shi-Ling C. Hsiang, the Waldron Rise Foundation, the ESL Charitable Foundation, Anne O’Toole, Jody and Bob Asbury, Wegmans, Rosemary Christoff Dolan, Deborah G. Goldman, and three anonymous donors. Funding is also provided by New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Additional support for School Programs is provided by the Docent Endowment Fund, the Emma Jane Drury Education Fund, the Louis D’Amanda III Endowment, the Joanna M. and Michael R. Grosodonia Fund, and the Frank Grosso and Diane Holahan Grosso Fund.

The McPherson Director of Academic Programs is partially endowed by an anonymous donor and supported by the Joan Feinbloom School Programming Fund. Support for the Estelle B. Goldman Assistant Curator of Academic Programs is provided by the Estate of Estelle B. Goldman.