Highlights of the Collection
Capacity: 65 Students
On Highlights Tours, students participate in interactive, inquiry-based conversations that introduce them to the art and cultures represented in the galleries of the Carlos Museum. Highlights Tours offer an introduction to the museum, its exhibitions of Africa; ancient Egypt, Nubia, and the Near East; ancient Greece and Rome; the Indigenous Americas; and South Asia; as well as European and American Works on Paper.
Special Exhibitions
Insistent Presence
On view September 13 - December 14, 2025
(Visual Art, World History, Social Studies, ELA)
Capacity: 30 Students
Grades 6 - 12
Drawn from the collections of the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and curated by Emory PhD candidate Margaret Nagawa, Insistent Presence features works of sculpture, painting, ceramics, and printmaking by 24 artists who have lived and work on the African continent and in the diaspora. The exhibition examines how artists have reimagined the human figure to pose questions about social and political histories, contested identities, and a possible future for how we relate to one another. The artists in the exhibition think about twenty-first-century ways of being in the world and invite us to reflect on ourselves, our relationships, and the worlds we inhabit.
Insistent Presence: Contemporary African Art from the Chazen Collection was organized by The Chazen Museum of Art at The University of Wisconsin–Madison and curated by Guest Curator Margaret Nagawa. Generous support for this exhibition was provided by the Straus Family Foundation.
Guiding Questions
- How are traditional and contemporary social norms represented by the artists?
- How is the diversity of the African continent made visible through art?
- How is colonialism, nationalism, and independence represented in art?
- In what way does the human body represent power, belonging, and agency?
- What is the meaning of “insistent presence”?
Tour by Collection Area(s)
Capacity: Varies by Collection
Collection areas available for tours include Africa, the Art of the Americas, ancient Egypt and the ancient Near East, ancient Greece and Rome, and South Asia. If you would like to combine several areas of the collection, which is recommended for groups over 30 students, please make note in your online tour reservation or call 404-727-3187 for assistance in planning your field trip.
Animals in Art | Grades K-5
(Visual Art, ELA, STEAM)
Capacity: 65 Students
Explore how cultures around the globe have understood, interpreted, and depicted the animals in their environment. Students are encouraged to make observations and inferences that foster visual literacy. As they explore artistic interpretations of animals across the collections, students will learn how people have been keen observers of their environment, and how their relationship with nature helped shape their perception of the world around them.
Guiding Questions
- How did the observation of animals in their natural habitats give form to the beliefs of different cultures?
- How can an animal represent certain characteristics (clever, lucky) in one culture and very different characteristics (evil, conniving) in another?
- What aspects of the animal’s appearance or behavior has the artist highlighted? What does that say about how the animal was viewed?
- What do these objects tell us about how these cultures interacted with, viewed, and revered animals? How is that different (or similar) from our relationship with animals?
AP Art History | Grades 9-12
(AP Art History, Visual Art, ELA)
Capacity: 50 Students
Prepare for the “250” at the Carlos Museum. From works of art on “the list” like Maria and Julian Martinez’s black-on-black pottery to other objects from cultures across the globe, time spent in the Carlos galleries offers students the opportunity to connect with the artistic process, strengthen their visual literacy skills through examination and analysis, and contextualize works of art they study in the classroom.
Guiding Questions
- What is art, and how is it made?
- How do artistic decisions about artmaking shape a work of art?
- What can you infer about a work of art by analyzing its form, function, content, and context?
- What variables can lead to multiple interpretations of a work of art?
Archaeology | All Grades
(STEAM, Social Studies, Visual Art)
Capacity: 65 Students
As they explore the galleries, students will hear about pioneering archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon and the development of stratigraphy at the ancient site of Jericho. They will learn about the methods archaeologists use to analyze objects once they have come out of the ground, including drawing, x-ray, chemical analysis, carbon-14 dating, and other scientific techniques that contribute to the understanding of material culture.
Guiding Questions
- How can archaeology help us interpret the past?
- What is the benefit of scientific techniques in archaeology? What methods are helpful? Why?
- How have scientific techniques helped us understand the values and behavior of cultures from the past?
Drawing in the Galleries | All Grades
(Visual Art, Art History, Social Studies, STEAM)
Capacity: 65 Students
Extending the long tradition of drawing in museums, close looking and drawing exercises in the galleries of the Carlos will emphasize or reinforce the principles and elements of art and increase visual literacy and observation skills.
Guiding Questions
- How have artists and artisans from the past utilized the principles and elements of art and design?
- How can studying existing objects and works of art throughout history contribute to a young artist’s practice?
- How can students observe and form a greater understanding of materiality, depth, perspective, dimension, and construction through drawing?
The Science Behind Art Conservation | Grades 4-12
(STEAM, Visual Art and Design, Careers)
Capacity: 65 Students
Students learn to think like a conservator, understanding the real-world questions and problems that museums confront when working with material that can be thousands of years old. This interactive tour examines three major areas on which conservators focus: research, treatment, and prevention.
Guiding Questions
- What is art conservation?
- What do conservators do to prevent damage to works of art? How do they conduct research? How do conservators determine appropriate treatment strategies?
- How do chemistry, physics, and biology inform conservation?
- Why is conservation important in the care of museum objects?
- What scientific and ethical questions do conservators consider before treating an object?
Water: The Source of Civilization | All Grades
(STEAM, Social Studies, Visual Art and Design, ELA)
Capacity: 65 Students
Students are invited to explore how different cultures have approached the excess and scarcity of water and how this natural resource has influenced civilization throughout history, particularly through art, design, ritual, and religion.
Guiding Questions
- What can works of art tell us about the environment in which they were created?
- How do cultures respond to the excess or scarcity of water?
- How does water help to shape the social structure of a culture?
- How is control of water related to power?
- What role does water play in religious belief and ritual?
- What materials have artists associated with water?
