Hill’s ‘inveterate student’ guides Art Museum guides

By MARIE FOWLER

Chestnut Hill resident Susan Mooers, 56, was at the end of a long shift as a membership volunteer at the Philadelphia Museum of Art a few years ago, when a visitor approached with a request. “You’d better get up there and dust those frames,” the gentleman scolded. “They’re dirty.” Ever gracious, Mooers simply smiled and assured him, “I’ll see that’s done, sir.”

Mooers, recently selected as the new chairman of the weekend guides, has served the museum as a volunteer in many capacities, beginning as a teen docent while still a Girl Scout. Working closely with the division of education, Mooers fielded visitors’ questions at the information desk.

Years later, in 1991, Mooers noticed a call for membership volunteers in the museum Members’ Bulletin. She applied, was accepted and joined the program, relishing the interaction with the public and helping members take advantage of opportunities. “I felt we were providing a service and, besides, it was great fun being involved with exhibition openings and previews.” Then, at the suggestion of a couple of the weekend guides, Mooers entered the guide-training program.

“I’m an inveterate student,” the redhead admits. “I adore the chance to study the collections with the curators. I enjoy learning, and guiding is a chance to continue schooling myself. I do have to confess that my husband insists if I bring home another book, the house will fall down.”

Having spent so many years at the museum, does Mooers have a favorite area or object? “I like everything,” she says, rolling her eyes. “That’s my problem. I do especially enjoy the period rooms; I love the stories they tell,” she continues, “and how painting and sculpture are integrated. You can talk more about culture,” she insists, citing her appreciation of the drawing rooms from the Powel House and Lansdowne House, the Chinese scholar’s study and the Japanese teahouse.

Along with two other guides and Marla Shoemaker, the museum’s senior curator of education, Mooers has spent the last year training a new class of 27 weekend guides. She freely admits, “I ate it up — the chance to study along with the new trainees and not take the tests! It forced me to look anew at how we organize and present our tours. It was fascinating to work with such diverse people, who came to the museum from such different backgrounds — and then to see them grow and interact. The chemistry clicked and they became a group.”

Mooers does acknowledge that “you forget how nerve-wracking the process is.” The trainees have been “checked out”— certified through a review process conducted by veteran guides — and are currently able to conduct the public on introductory tours of the museum. From now until February, they will continue to work up tours of more specific parts of the museum’s collections.

As head of the weekend guide program, Mooers will work closely with the other volunteer groups at the museum and museum staff. She has chosen an executive board that will oversee the guide group for the next two years. “I hope to be as supportive as I can to all of the guides,” Mooers stresses, “and to facilitate the integration of the new guide class into the program.”

With the addition of the newest group, the weekend guide corps will number just under 100 active guides, of whom about 10 percent are male. They are attorneys, librarians, educators, captains of industry, health care professionals, artists, writers, scientists and designers. Some are not long out of college and others are living in retirement communities. And while the newest group is just beginning, there are guides who have been with the program since shortly after its inception in 1960. The longest-serving guide has giving tours for 43 years. Each guide is required to give a minimum of 66 hours annually to the museum. In reality, most give far more, taking advantage of opportunities to train for and prepare tours of special exhibitions and permanent collections.

“My favorite special exhibition was the VanGogh portrait show,” said Susan, “mainly because I have always been fascinated by the man, not only because of his painting style but also because of the story of his life and its many twists and turns as he sought to become an artist.  I enjoyed reading his letters to Theo, which gave me a very personal perspective on his dealings with his family, with life in general, and with his life as an artist.  I also enjoyed hearing the response of visitors to the paintings and how many felt that his works were the products of his mental anguish, his absinthe drinking, his bipolar disorder, etc.”

Mooers grew up in Clifton Heights, Delaware County, and graduated from Villa Maria High School in Malvern. It was at Ursinus College, with her sights set on a life as a physician, that she met her husband, Tom. Marriage intervened and ultimately Mooers got her master’s in education at Drexel.

Mooers has worked at Jefferson Medical College for 30 years. As a lab assistant in the department of physiology, she does smooth muscle research. “Our experimental animals are the edible mussels,” she explains. But does she order them at a restaurant? “Never!” she says, adding that her husband loves them and is quick to warn her: “Don’t even open your mouth, Susan! I’m going to eat these and enjoy them.”

In yet another incarnation, Mooers is on the board at The Stagecrafters. In addition to working backstage in production, creating costumes and props, she has just been cast as Mrs. Hudson in Sherlock’s Last Cast, a comedy in which Dr. Watson plots against his comrade-in-arms, Sherlock Holmes. The show will open September 17. Previously, Mooers appeared in The Cemetery Club and as Florence (the neat one) in a female version of The Odd Couple.

Naturally, she found time to help out behind stage at Chestnut Hill Academy when son Andy (class of 2002) was there. She still remembers creating “10 angel costumes for hulking boys. Hemming was hysterical,” she laughs. “I just told them — ‘put your shoes on, put your arms down and don’t move.’” But, she confides, “it was a struggle!”

The remarkable Mooers learned to sew at the knee of her grandmother, who was a “tremendous seamstress.” Thus, Mooers, who made all of her clothes growing up, graduated to crafting professional-quality Ghostbusters, Batman and pirate costumes for Andy’s Halloweens.

Andy was bitten by the family acting bug and he’s now a film student at American University in Washington, D.C., and looking forward to a junior year abroad in Prague.

Mooers still enjoys needlepoint and counted cross-stitch, especially floral designs because — guess what — she gardens, too.

Since she clearly has too much free time on her hands, Mooers also serves as a trustee at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. In fact, she ran silent auctions for the Schuylkill Center and The Stagecrafters on the same weekend, while still managing to fit in a shift at the Art Museum on Sunday afternoon.

The Mooers household on West Willow Grove Avenue has always been cat-friendly. In fact, as many as seven were once in residence. But that’s only because, Mooers insists, the “Sylvester” that Tom and Andy brought home turned out to be “Sylvia” and soon there were a bundle of kittens for Mooers to wet-nurse.

So how does Mooers manage a full-time career and so many extracurricular activities? “A very supportive husband,” she stresses. Lest one think Mooers’ husband sits around and lets her have all the fun, he, following his retirement from Mellon Bank, is preparing to open an antiques and collectibles shop.

So, the next time you are at the Art Museum on Saturday or Sunday, look for the knowledgeable Mooers at the Information Desk. (But should you happen to see the striking redhead upstairs dusting the gilded frames, don’t be surprised!)