Tell us about yourself: I'm a former language arts teacher at Cedar Rapids Washington High School. I earned both a bachelor's degree in general studies and a master's degree in teaching from the University of Iowa. I'm also a poet and a memoirist, currently posting memoir pieces from my late teens and early twenties on my travel blog, "From Now On."

What inspired you to become a Stanley docent? My love of teaching and art made the idea of becoming an art docent an obvious choice. I always enjoyed stimulating that "visual learning" part of my students' minds. Every year, I would take my U.S. Humanities students on a field trip to see the art and architecture of Chicago. At the Art Institute, I learned a lot watching their excellent a1t docents engage my students.

What are you looking forward to in the new building? Oh gosh, I'm looking forward to rediscovering all the artworks I've come to know as old friends. I've lived in or near Iowa City since I arrived here as an undergraduate student in 1975. When my kids were young, we'd often visit the museum on Sunday afternoons. The Pollocks, the Gustons, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Max Beckmann, Robert Motherwell, Joan Mitchell, Hannah Höch, all the West African art...