The Illinois Art Education Association has named Anne Sautman of the Krannert Art Museum at Illinois the 2016 Museum Art Educator of the Year. The award annually recognizes exemplary contributions, service and achievements of one outstanding IAEA member. The award was presented at the IAEA conference in Normal, Illinois, on Nov. 4.
Sautman has been the director of education at Krannert Art Museum since 2006. In this role, she is responsible for the museum’s public and school programs that make the museum a welcoming and thought-provoking place.
The public programs consist of artist talks, family events, music performances, spoken word events, yoga and more. The breadth of programs is meant to appeal to diverse audiences on campus and in the community, and to offer multiple ways to engage, experience, learn about and contemplate art and its role in their lives.
Sautman started the Krannert Art Museum–Week at the Museum (KAM–WAM) program in 2011. In this program, public elementary school students have the unique opportunity to spend a full week at the museum learning about art, museums and engaging in lessons across the curriculum. The program now also offers another level, called KAM–BAM, in which students spend one full day at the museum with intensive lessons planned around a single theme. Whether a day or a week, the goal of these programs is to provide the opportunity for students to learn in a different context where they can engage with original artwork in a public space within their community.
Sautman also teaches a university service-learning course called Museums in Action, offered to undergraduates in art education at Illinois. Students learn the theories behind museum education and actively put them into practice through projects at Krannert Art Museum.
“I am very honored to have been selected for this award,” Sautman said. “I am grateful every day to have a career in which I passionately believe. Yet, to make this possible, so much relies on being surrounded by fellow museum staff and community members who support and appreciate my work.”
