Volunteer Tour Guides at Wharton Esherick Museum

Save to Favorites

The Wharton Esherick Museum (Malvern, PA) is currently seeking dedicated individuals to join our team of volunteer docents. Docents lead hour-long tours through the Museum talking with visitors about Wharton’s life, furniture, sculpture, architecture and functional art. Training is ongoing, and we are as flexible as possible with scheduling docents; you can do as few as two or three tours a year, or give one of our docents a run for his title of the most tours given in one year (52 in 2012). We do have age restrictions and ask that interested docents be at least 18 years old.

Being a docent here is a lot of fun, but don’t take our word for it. Here’s what a few of our docents say about volunteering here:

"Being a docent allows me to be the person sharing the joy of Wharton's work and life with smart people who have gotten themselves to his delightful corner of the world. It's like being the smiling parent watching the kids dive into presents...."

"It is extremely rewarding to share this "hidden gem" of a museum with interesting people. I love sharing Wharton's world on my tours, but also love learning from our visitors."

"Esherick was about living in and with art, not just in the presence of it. This is one of the only places in the world where you can experience that on a daily basis."

Wharton Esherick (1887-1970) was a sculptor who worked primarily in wood, readily extending his unique forms to furniture, furnishings, utensils, interiors and buildings, creating sculptural environments. His motto, "if it isn’t fun, it isn’t worth doing," is evident in the joyful expression of his work, inviting the eye and the hand. A National Historic Landmark for Architecture, his hilltop studio/residence, with more than 200 of his works on exhibition, has been preserved much as it was when the artist lived and worked there. For more information see our website at: www.whartonesherickmuseum.org

If you’d like to know more about becoming a docent, please give us a call 610-644-5822 or email information@whartonesherickmuseum.org. This is an unpaid, volunteer opportunity. If you haven’t taken a tour, please come visit and talk with our staff to see what it’s all about!