Stanford University

Class Visits

Students engage with art during a class visit at the Cantor

Who we are

The Cantor acts as a resource for the Stanford community as part of the university’s mission to “serve as a place of enlightenment and freedom of thought and expression.” The Cantor’s diverse collection of 40,000 objects, ranging from ancient to contemporary art from all regions of the world, allows for learning, teaching, and research across a wide variety of disciplines.

 

What we do

Cantor educators work with instructors to design customized class visits. We place an emphasis on sustained close-looking, open-ended interdisciplinary inquiry, and active learning. During class visits, students develop their visual literacy, practice observational and oral communication skills, solve problems, and think critically and creatively.

We welcome class visits to the Cantor galleries. Providing advance notice will enable us to ensure that your class is not interrupted by other groups and that the art you wish to see is available. Use the request form below to make arrangements for either a self-guided gallery visit or a gallery visit led by a Cantor educator.

In addition, the Cantor has a classroom devoted to studying art not currently on view. Although many works are exhibited in the museum’s galleries, the vast majority of the Cantor's collection is kept in storage. To facilitate teaching and research related to our collection, we invite faculty and other Stanford instructors to request objects from storage and hold occasional sessions in our classroom. Our curatorial and academic staff will collaborate with you to design the most effective educational experience possible.

Due to unexpected staffing changes, we are not currently able to accommodate visits to the museum’s classroom.
We will continue to accept requests for self-guided visits to the galleries on days that the museum is open to the public.
We anticipate returning to a more robust class visit program in Fall 2022.
Request Self-Guided Visit

Research Consultations, Assignment Design and Other Engagement

If you are interested in other types of engagement, including research consultations and object-based activity or assignment design, please contact the Cantor’s academic staff at cantor_education@stanford.edu.

 

Requesting High-Resolution Images

If you would like to request high-res images of Cantor collection objects for use in your teaching, contact Shanna Dickson, Associate Registrar, at dicksons@stanford.edu. Please consult our online collection and include the name of the artwork(s) and the accession number(s) in your request. We are able to supply up to 20 images to each faculty member each quarter. We will fulfill your request within 5 business days of receiving your email. Images may be used for study, research, and educational purposes only and may not be published or reproduced without further approval.