Appropriate for tourists and tots, seniors and students, and even experts and ignorami, the Norton’s tour program offers a wide range of topics, themes, and possibilities to enhance your group’s visit. Guided tours may even be customized for your specific studies or needs.

Guided tours are available by appointment only for groups of 10 or more people. There is no charge for a guided tour. School groups are required to provide one chaperone for every 10 students. A short 10 minute game will be played at the end of each tour to reinforce the lesson of the day.

Click here for a full listing of Docent-Lead tours.

T.E.A.M. stands for “Tour And Education Activity Merge” and combines a hands-on art lesson in our new classroom space with a docent-lead tour from the Norton’s roster. In the past students have honed their weaving skills after learning about the Norton tapestries, and even made landscape collages inspired by the Hudson River School collection. The Norton also conducts writing prompt sessions in the art galleries.

TEAM Events are available by appointment only, limited to groups of 60 or less. There is no charge for a TEAM event. School groups are required to provide one chaperone for every 10 students.

Click here for a full listing of T.E.A.M tours.

Schools are encouraged to make use of the museum’s resources at any time. We offer several Self-Guided tour brochures, which are available in the lobby or can be mailed in advance. We also have several activity guides for students of all ages. The most popular of these is the Norton Scavenger Hunt, available both online and in the Fairy Tale Gallery.

All visits need to be scheduled in advance. One chaperone per ten students is still required, even for a visit. Admission to the gallery is free. Details of our permanent collection are available online at or by calling 318-865-4201.

Click here for a full listing of Self-Guided tours.

During the colonial period and the early days of the Republic, American artists painted either imitations of European subjects and styles, or in a somewhat primitive limner tradition. Then art met transcendentalism and the first truly American style was born with the painters of the Hudson River School. The wonders of the American landscape continued to enthrall native and immigrant artists through the Luminist, Barbizon, and American Impressionist styles. At the Norton we’ll explore the journey through American art history with the innovations and master works of American painters like Thomas Sully, Rembrandt Peale, Thomas Cole, George Inness, and Mary Cassatt.

How was America born? Where did her people come from? What challenges did they face? Using paintings, porcelain, and sculpture, students explore the timeline of American History from the first Native American inhabitants to the closing of the frontier in 1890. Works by Thomas Sully, Rembrandt Peale, Charles Russell, and Frederic Remington are included in this tour.

Believe it or not, bronze-casting has been with us for about 5,000 years. And still the first question almost everyone asks is, “How in the world do they make metal do that?” We will answer that question with a powerpoint presentation and an exploration of the golden age of American sculptors and sculpture. Statues by Augustus Saint Gaudens, A.A. Weinman, Anna Hyatt Huntington, Charles Russell, and Frederic Remington are included in this tour.

This tour is a fun, uncomplicated introduction to artistic vocabulary where students learn to appreciate artwork by putting in their “artist’s eyes.” A reading of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do you See, begins a great hunt for colors, and we’ll have fun with finding lines and forms in art work after reading Lines that Wiggle.

America’s fascination with the West and her peoples began as soon as Europeans landed on its shores. In the beginning, only the bravest men (fur trappers, traders) ventured beyond the coastal regions into the wooded unknown. A steady course of land acquisition from the Louisiana Purchase through Seward’s Folly kept Americans and newly-arrived immigrants heading west. America’s early western painters brought back to the east breathtaking landscapes and genre paintings of the land’s original inhabitants that continued to encourage this westward expansion, as well as build an image of the most profound American icon – the cowboy. Paintings and sculptures by John Mix Stanley, A.D.M. Cooper, Solon Borglum, C.M. Russell and Frederic Remington are included on this journey into the Old West.

The decorative arts are traditionally defined as ornamental and functional works in ceramic, wood, glass, metal, and textile. On this guided tour we will discuss the Norton’s porcelain with masterworks from Cybis and Wedgwood, glass with 19th century pressed glass and the Steuben collection, metalwork with colonial silver and the Revere Bell, and textiles with 16th century European tapestries, and prove once and for all that the decorative arts are more than a craft or hobby– they are the work of true masters.

Showcasing a significant portion of the Norton’s permanent collection of arts by European artists, this tour explores everything from Renaissance tapestries to Neoclassical pottery to Romantic sculpture to Impressionist paintings. Titans of the art world such as Josiah Wedgwood, Mary Cassatt, and Auguste Rodin are introduced and their works explored and explained.

Up until the early 19th century, art was primarily for the aristocracy. One had to be highly educated not only to create the art, but also to appreciate it. However, as the Industrial Revolution rolled on, a new middle class emerged and soon became dominant. A group of artists, most of whom came from this new middle class, rebelled against the academic model and developed a new style called Romanticism. The political struggles of France in the 1800s led directly to a revolution in painting and sculpting practices, giving rise to painters and sculptors like Antoine Louis Barye, Rosa Bonheur, Mary Cassatt, and Auguste Rodin.

The French Neo-Classical sculptors of the 18th century inherited the mantle of the Italian Renaissance, creating beautiful representational statues and busts, like those of Jean-Antoine Houdon.   Soon, however, these gave way to the more expressive sculpture of the Romantics with the marvelous wildlife pieces of les animaliers and from there to the experimentation of French titan Auguste Rodin. This tour explores the evolution of French sculpture from a celebration of aristocracy to a celebration of art itself.

Any visit to a museum is automatically a visit to Greco-Roman history. The word “museum” itself derives from a Greek phrase mean “Home of the muses”. The Greeks and the Romans, long after they were political powers, continued to educate, inspire, and inform Western culture; they provided the foundation for the civilization in which we continue to live, and their thoughts and deeds continue to awe and instruct us more than a thousand years after their world ceased to exist. The tour explores the classical influence of ancient Greece and the Roman Empire on works and artists in the gallery, and unravels in depth the history depicted in the tapestries.

In the early years of the Republic, America was still struggling with self-definition, still feeling entrapped by older European models of culture, feeling most keenly of all, its own perceived lack of history.  Then an English immigrant named Thomas Cole, influenced by a love of the natural world and transcendental philosophy, took up his paintbrush and began the first American art movement: The Hudson River School. America’s landscapes unfold from East to West as Manifest Destiny is manifested in paint with a bevy of works in the Norton’s permanent collection including Thomas Cole, Thomas Moran, and Alfred Bierstadt.

A common misperception is that "the folk" and folklore exist only in remote or isolated regions and that both are rapidly disappearing in the modern world. However, from the samples students will hear of Louisiana's inexhaustible storytelling tradition, it is evident that this tradition is a vital part of the state's personality.  Louisiana's storytelling tradition serves as more than a superficial source of entertainment. It teaches values, reflects shared beliefs, and draws people together. Students will enjoy folktales performed by a professional storyteller, chosen to correspond to works in the museum. Stories occasionally rotate, but the favorites of Jean Malin and the Bull Man, and Wiley and the Hairy Man are always on the docket.

Trying to incorporate as many senses as possible into a museum visit, students will pop in their “artist’s eyes” and tune their “musician's ears” to explore selected works throughout the gallery. Some songs will be sung, others will be played on a boom box, but all songs include participation, observation, and critical thinking skills. The soundtrack on our journey of paintings and sculptures includes such favorites as “She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain,” “The Green Grass Grows All Around,” and the campfire favorite “The Bear.”

The painter Piet Mondrian once said, “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” The great artists were great because they did something that no one else could do; when you see their work, you recognize it as uniquely theirs. But before artists can make their own unique “mistakes”, they have to learn the craft of painting. This tour is an introduction to the tools of the trade and artistic vocabulary, where students will have the chance to identify the painting techniques of some of our most famous artists, including George Inness, Winslow Homer, Mary Cassatt, and Peter Ellenshaw.

This tour was born with a young man’s questions: “When was color invented?” The Norton explored the history of painter’s pigments, delving into how the old masters created their first paints. We uncovered some gruesome discoveries: 20,000 insects expired for a scintilla of scarlet; 12,000 mollusks gave their lives for a pinch of purple, and countless artists paid the price for color in infirmity, invalidism, and even death. The high cost of art hasn’t just been measured in dollars and cents. Combining science and history, we’ll identify which artists used what type of paints to create their masterpieces.

One was a professional artist and an amateur cowboy, while the other was a professional cowboy and an amateur artist. Exploring the painting and sculptures of the powerhouses of cowboy art - Frederic Remington and Charles Russell - students will learn how the mythology and legends of the Old West were created or captured.

Intended to immerse all students into the arts, this tour presents an introduction to sculpture in the permanent collection that students (and chaperones!) may explore with their hands. This very special tour includes works by Augustus St. Gaudens, Frederic Remington, and Auguste Rodin. Please limit the group to no more than 10.

Inspired by classic stories from childhood and painting and sculptures in the museum, a professional storyteller will present tales involving the baddest of the bad in storybook land. Have no fear: the program is not nearly as scary as it sounds. We’ll hear the tale of the “Seven Brothers,” a Caddo Indian tale that uses Native American Sign Language, listen to the brave feats of daring and cunning of a small boy in Wiley and the Hairy Man, and even have the chance to let a puppet wolf tell HIS side of the story with The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.

Mystery lies at the heart of every horror experience: who’s that tap-tap-tapping on my window? Why is that shadowy figure lurk-lurk-lurking in the corner? What IS that how-how- howling at the moon?! Delve into the deep mysteries of the R.W. Norton Art Gallery on this terrible tour of terror!

Get revved up for Halloween with this story filled-tour inspired by our spookiest art. All new ghost stories await those brave enough to attend. Our professional storyteller is fully capable of protecting even the youngest of our visitors from the fearful denizens lurking in our midst, so feel free to bring the whole class. We’re just DYING to meet y’all....

This tour is free of charge and limited to groups of 30 people.

What makes gift-giving so precious has nothing to do with money. It has everything to do with the quality we might call mindfulness – paying attention, knowing what was really important, giving something that reflects an understanding of those often intangible things that are most important to the recipient. Join us as we explore the gifts our artists have given to friends, family, and the world at large with this guided tour of our permanent collection.

Our professional storyteller will spin all new yarns about the days of yore, warming hearts and eliciting grins about the spirit of the season.

This tour is free of charge and limited to groups of 30 students.

Celebrate the season with the Spring Walking tour! We'll take the guided tour outside for a tip-toe through the tulips. Wear your walking shoes - we have 40 acres of manicured gardens, including our famous azalea beds, bronze statues, and watergardens to explore.
Do dark skies threaten on the day of the tour? Fear not! We'll enjoy an indoor Rainy- Day tour, exploring spring-themed artwork throughout the museum.

This tour is free of charge and limited to groups of 30 students.