Docent Highlight

A docent since 2019, retired physician Dr. Ellen Buerk has enjoyed getting to know her fellow docents while presenting through the Institute for Learning In Retirement (ILR) Art Museum “Up Close” course and learning all about the art exhibitions on view each semester. She was drawn to the museum’s volunteer program by the enthusiastic docent members and the notion that she could continue learning about art.

Ellen grew up on a farm in Preble county where her family raised corn and hogs. She remembers coming to Oxford for library visits and music workshops. She graduated from Miami University with a degree in zoology and then went on to Ohio State for medical school. After her residency at Columbus Children's and Cincinnati Children's hospitals, she returned to Oxford where she practiced medicine at Oxford Pediatrics and Adolescents (for 45+ years) and taught at Children's until her retirement in 2017. She and her husband Jerry (whom she met at Miami) raised four children (10 grandkids) who now live in Ohio, Colorado, and Washington.

Ellen is a painter; she began painting in grade school and has continued it as a lifelong hobby. She continues to do weekly watercolor classes and has been travel journaling for a while now. Ellen has created more than 20 watercolor travel journals of her trips all over the world including trips to Sicily, Greece, and Ecuador to name a few. She can also be seen pedaling her way all over town and is an avid biker – logging more than 7,000 miles on her bike in the last five years. She is also a member of the Oxford Bike Club.

She remembers visiting the museum shortly after it opened in 1978 and has been a regular visitor ever since. “It’s a town treasure,” Ellen proclaimed, and she has so many stories to share of her past experiences attending events and visiting exhibitions. The highlight for her – what she referred to as a pivotal and critically important exhibition – was the 2018, Telling a People's Story exhibition. She attended EVERY related program and visited the exhibition often reading the books, meeting the artists and authors throughout the semester, and purchasing several of the books which she keeps out even now on her coffee table. Her favorite book from the exhibition was Preaching to the Chickens about the young John Lewis.

Her favorite part of being a docent is the people and the Monday morning talks where she and the docents get to learn all about the artwork featured in the current exhibitions which prepares them to assist in many ways throughout the semester. Ellen’s most recent contributions to the museum includes making preparations for the Girl Scouts program at the museum. Her advice for anyone interested in volunteering as a docent at the museum is to come give it a try, and once you get settled in you will figure out where to apply your skills and interests in support of the museum’s mission.

Interested in becoming a volunteer docent?

We welcome volunteers to assist with our programs and activities and to help strengthen ties with the local community and partners. Our volunteer docents are gallery guides and educators who regularly help the Art Museum, give tours, and assist with events and outreach.

For more information, please write to: ArtMuseum@MiamiOH.edu