Praxis Course: Museum Studies Praxis Seminar
Semester: Spring 2026
Faculty Advisor/Professor: Monique Scott and Tiffany Stahl
Community Partner(s): Barnes Foundation and Calder Gardens
Field Supervisor: Marie Edland and Liza Herzog
Praxis Poster:
HART_AnnaRoth
Further Context:
This semester, I was thrilled to develop skills in data conduction and research methods through my role conducting the Collaboration for Ongoing Visitor Experience Studies (COVES) survey at the Barnes Foundation and Calder Gardens! The Barnes Foundation was chartered in 1922, and it houses the collection of Albert C. Barnes, a doctor who made his fortune from producing an antiseptic. With this fortune, Barnes aimed to
create an accessible and educational artistic environment. He collected artwork, worked in social justice and progressive education, and hosted free art classes in his Merion home, where the Barnes collection was first housed. His collection moved to Philadelphia in 2012, and to this day, the artwork is arranged in the same way as in his Merion home– in unique “ensembles.” The artwork is not grouped by specific eras or artists, but rather grouped through categories specific to Barnes. The Barnes Foundation still offers classes, as well as continuing to work in
community engagement. Some works on display are the unique “ensembles” including Impressionist, Modern, African, Indigenous American art and metalwork, as well as the rotating special exhibits, such as Freedom Dreams.
The other space where I was situated is Calder Gardens. Calder Gardens is a new institution founded in 2025 as an open space for reflection at the intersection of Alexander Calder’s art, nature, and architecture. It is an operating partner of the Barnes, and sits right across the Parkway. Calder was known for his mobile sculptures. You can walk through the building and experience an integration of exterior and interior space with the building’s wide windows, cement walls that appear to be wood, actual wooden elements, and more. There is a consistent rotation of artwork in some areas of Calder Gardens.
COVES is a study that connects over 130 scientific and artistic museums through a survey synthesizing visitor experiences. My role started by approaching visitors in the Barnes and in Calder Gardens as they were leaving and asking them to complete the COVES survey. Many of the questions on the survey ask about visitor experiences on a scale of 1-10 or Poor to Outstanding, with the higher numbers generally indicating more positive visitor opinions. There are other statement questions and areas to write in opinions. This survey is important because it gives the Barnes Foundation an indication of who is attending the space and why, as well as
indicating where the Barnes is excelling and where there may be room for improvement.
My next role involved analyzing the data collected from COVES. This included sorting through the written-in comments that are not as easily visualized on a sliding scale, and coding them as positive or negative, as well as including the reasoning behind that code. Visitors tended to be a
diverse range of ages and ethnicities, though on weekdays they often skewed towards older visitors. On the visualized number scale, the Barnes is doing well, as indicated by COVES, and this is also reflected in the comments that are written in. Most people enjoy the unique assemblage of the art and the experience. The most common negative review is aboutthe lack of signage around the artwork. Many of the positive comments appreciate that the experience is more open-ended, with options for docent tours and free 15-minute discussions about the exhibitions.
I felt incredibly lucky to experience a role that involved interacting with visitors in the middle of a constantly changing space. My takeaways were consistently positive– the amount of visitors that were happy to take the survey always surprised me, and I noticed that the most collaborative experiences in the foundation (like PECO Sundays, with music and arts and crafts) tended to draw in the largest crowds. I am looking forward to applying the data collection and research methods that I used this semester to future tasks, and I will continue looking to the Barnes as an example of immersive community interaction within an institutional space!