Girl Scouts Tour Offerings at the Gibbes Museum of Art
The Gibbes Museum of Art is committed to enhancing curricula through the arts. In support of
that mission, the Gibbes offers specialized tours and workshops for K-12 students attending
schools, camps, and community-based organizations in the Charleston Tri-County area.
Addressing key themes and ideas found in the Gibbes permanent collection and traveling
exhibitions, these interactive programs are designed to encourage critical thinking and visual
literacy skills.
Tours can be scheduled Tuesday through Saturday. Doors open at 10am.
Guided Tours:
General Tour
The foundation of the K-12 program, this one-hour tour provides an introduction to the Gibbes’
collections and temporary exhibitions. Highlighting key themes found in the work on view, the
tour can be customized to focus on specific exhibitions, or a range of work that relate to inschool lessons.
Badge Connections Brownie: All In the Family, Colors and Shapes, Her Story
Junior: Celebrating People, Local Lore, My Heritage, Drawing and Painting, Visual Arts
Interest for 11-17: Heritage Hunt, Museum Discover, Visual Arts
Faces
This interactive tour takes students throughout the Gibbes to explore the characteristics and
language of portraiture. The portrait is not only an important element in the arts, but it plays a
key role in history as well as cultural and individual identity. Gallery discussions and hands-on
activities will help students recognize the importance of the portrait, while dissecting the visual
language that exists within these works of art.
Badge Connections Brownie: All In the Family, Colors and Shapes, Her Story
Junior: Celebrating People, Local Lore, My Heritage, Drawing and Painting, Visual Arts
Interest for 11-17: Heritage Hunt, Visual Arts
Courage by the Sea: Revolutionary Tales of the Gibbes Family
Students make the museum’s collection of historic portraits and landscapes come alive as they
become actors in a drama that traces the history of Charleston from the Revolutionary War to the
dawning of the Civil War. After a tour of the Museum, students join actress, Mary Droge in an
interactive play based upon the recollections and diary of Gibbes’ descendant, Hannah Frances
DeSaussaure Gibbes (1786-1878). Grades 3-12. The 2 hour program includes a tour of the
museum and the play. A minimum of 20 students is required for this tour.
Badge Connections Junior: Celebrating People, Local Lore, My Heritage, Theater, Visual Arts
Interest for 11-17: Heritage Hunt, The Performing Arts, Visual Arts
In Response…
For the past 10 years the Gibbes has been collecting examples of art and poetry created in
response to objects in the collection. Students will continue this tradition on this tour that
transforms the Gibbes’ galleries into a creative writing lab. After studying examples of literary
work inspired by images in our collection, students will select a work of art as inspiration for their
personal prose, short story, or play.
Badge Connections Brownie: Write Away, Creative Composing
Junior: Write All About It Interest for 11-17: Once Upon A Story
ABC Tour (for 3 - 5 year olds)
Designed to introduce pre-schoolers to the art world, this tour touches on portraits, landscapes,
and pictures that tell a story. Requires 45 minutes and one chaperone per 5 children.
Behind the Scenes
Students will be led by the Gibbes' very own Collections Manager and Preparator for a behind the
scenes tour of an art museum. Students will learn answers to questions such as who works at a
museum, why the lights are so dim, why it is so cold in the museum, and how art is stored....
Requires 1 hour. Badge Connections Brownie: Careers, Building Art Junior: Careers, Visual
Arts Interest 11-17: Museum Discovery, Visual Arts
Guided Tours: $5.00 per student with a minimum charge of $50 per group.
Guided Tours and workshops: $7.50 per student with a minimum charge of $75 per
group.
Courage by the Sea tours: $9.00 per student with a minimum charge of $180 per
group.
Self-Guided Tours:
The Gibbes Museum of Art welcomes leaders who would like to self-guide their group through
the museum galleries. Reservations are required for self-guided groups. Self-guided tours
require a minimum of ten students, and must take place during the museum's public hours.
Self guided groups are invited to sketch in the Gibbes’ permanent collection galleries using
approved drawing materials. Please request a sketching permit for your group when booking
your tour.
Self Guided tours: $4.00 per student with no minimum charge.
Scheduling a Tour:
To schedule a tour please send an email to tours@gibbesmuseum.org or call (843) 722.2706 ext.
41. Reservations are contingent upon availability. Please have the following information available
when booking your tour:
 your name and the name of your organization
 contact telephone number (cell or home number if available)
 type of tour you are requesting
 several dates and times you would like to bring your group
 age/ grade and number of people in your group
 number of chaperones (Safety-Wise requirement of 2 get in free)
 important thematic/curriculum connections
 special needs your group may require
 a credit card to reserve your date. Credit cards will not be charged unless payment is not
received by the morning of your tour date.