WOW Reads: Bonus - RAP on University of Arizona Museum Day 2025

Join the Worlds of Words Center Reading Ambassadors (middle and high school) as we recap our experience around University of Arizona Museum Day.

Twelve cultural and science collections on the U of A campus offered free or reduced admission and special programming on Saturday, March 29, 2025. In this bonus episode, we briefly discuss... 

• The UA Museum of Art
• Center for Creative Photography
• Greivenkamp Museum of Optics
• Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research
• Worlds of Words Center

Worlds of Words shared three experiences for U of A Museum day: our original exhibit "Cepeda Stories: Everyone Has a Story to Tell," art from our archives that complement the exhibit, and award-winning global picturebooks with outstanding illustrations.

The Reading Ambassadors share how these kinds of campus-wide events impact them personally and how they benefit the community.

Special thanks to the U of A Research, Innovation & Impact and the committee who worked to launch this second campus-wide day celebrating art, science and the humanities, including the above listed units as well as Poetry Center, Coit Museum of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Museum of Democracy, African American Museum of Southern Arizona, Flandrau Science Center, Museum Association of Arizona, and The Archive of Visual Arts.

This podcast was recorded in the Worlds of Words Center studio in the U of A College of Education.

Producer/Host: Rebecca Ballenger, Worlds of Words Center Associate Director
Audio Engineer: Liam Arias, Worlds of Words Student Employee and U of A Radio, TV, Film Major

For more information on the Worlds of Words Reading Ambassadors, visit wowlit.org and look under "About."

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We Can Promote Global Literature Together!

The Worlds of Words Reading Ambassador program is completely free for participants who receive a book for themselves and a book to share with their school librarian, ELA/English teacher, or other school entity. If you would like to support this program, please make a gift on-line through the University of Arizona Foundation.

Thank you for listening and keep reading!

Transcript

Hello and welcome to WOW Reads, a podcast of the Worlds of Words Center that centers voices of middle and high school students on literature written for them. 

Worlds of Words Center of Global Literacies and Literatures is committed to creating an international network of people who share the vision of reading books and children together, thereby opening windows on the world.

Worlds of Words Reading Ambassadors engage in a university experience of children's literature within the University of Arizona College of Education. Reading Ambassadors learn about literature for young people under the direction of faculty and staff with expertise in children's literature, education, library science and marketing. 

We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of indigenous people. Today, Arizona is home to 22 federally recognized tribes, with Tucson being home to the O’odham and Yaqui. Committed to diversity and inclusion, the university strives to build sustainable relationships with sovereign native nations and indigenous communities through education offerings, partnerships, and community services. 

This is Rebecca Ballenger, the associate director of Worlds of Words. I'm here today with our Reading Ambassadors who have participated in the University of Arizona Museum Day, Saturday, March 29th, where 12 different units on campus opened up with free or reduced entry and special programing.

Let's start with you, Audrey. Where did you go to today? 

I went to the laboratory of Tree Ring Research, I went to the center for Creative Photography and the Art Museum, I'm not sure, yeah, the art museum. 

Was there anything that stood out for you? 

I thought that the Hank Willis Thomas exhibit at the art museum was really touching and I also thought that there were some really cool pictures from the Center for Creative Photography. 

What about you Kenzie, where did you go today? 

I also went to the Center for Creative Photography and the Laboratory of Tree Ring Research. But I went to the Optics Museum, and I found how we developed the different optical instruments, very different across history. There were so many different types throughout our development. 

Minerva, you went to Museum Day today. What did you see? 

I was able to go to the Optics Museum and the Flanders Museum. My favorite museum today was the Optics Museum, because they had all the students that were learning about optics, where you could go up and they would describe different lenses, ways to make telescopes, and I learned a lot from that and how you have to refine them, which was super cool. 

Yeah, I love that they have their students involved because they carry a level of enthusiasm that translates when the public comes to campus. You also mentioned some of the collections there that you got to see. 

Yeah. Like the different kinds of camera lenses and this one person was able to describe to me why you need five different lenses in a camera, which I didn't know before, but apparently, it's because the light reflected onto it like a dome lens only reflects in the middle. So, you get a perfect clear image in the middle, but everything else is blurry. You need another opposite dome for, I don't know. 

Do you think I have all of those lenses in this phone? 

Probably really small ones. 

Janesha, what about you? Where'd you go today? I went to the UofA Museum of Art, where I saw a lot of different varieties of artists and their art styles from high school artists to abstract artists. I also went to the Center of Creative Photography, where they captured your daily life in a photo. 

What kind of role do you think a university campus, particularly one that's a land grant institution like the University of Arizona, what role do you think that they play in the communities where they exist? 

I think they play an important role. I think especially, I'm going to go back to the art museum, like the exhibit that I saw had a lot to do with issues like social issues. It's like today in our community, which I thought was really touching. I think that anyone that came to this campus and saw that exhibit, no matter how old they were or what member of the community they are would get something out of it. So, I think this university and universities like this play an important role in our community for that reason. 

I would agree with that. I also, not even the museum, saw so many young families with young children just out on the mall or just hanging out and that was nice to see just coming together on a university campus.

I feel like it connects us all as a community to be able to experience something for everyone to enjoy, like coming to a museum and just seeing everyone else also enjoy it. Like I remember when I was going to the Museum of Art. That's when families were like, "Oh, do we have to pay?" And then they were like, "No, it's fine." They were really excited. Excited to go and see the wonderful art that they have. 

Yeah, I'm actually so grateful for the museum being here because- I mean the university being here, because from this, I have gained so much experience by not only being on a college campus, but also being exposed to activities and really cool, enriching learning experiences, like at the Optics Museum.

So, we're recording right now from the Worlds of Words Center Art Studio, where we have hung an exhibit of artwork by Joe Cepeda, “Cepeda Stories: Everyone Has a Story to Tell.” Talk a little bit about what you saw while you were here in the Worlds of Words Center. 

He has, like you said, written a few of his own books, but mostly illustrates for other books, and his style is very shape based. There's a lot of all obvious shapes going on, but it's oil. It's oil and an acrylic background. Sorry, I'm not explaining this well.

I think you've got it just right. It is shape based, it has an acrylic base, and it is oil on top, so I think you hit all of that. 

Yeah, he, I think he has a really literal style and a lot of his paintings that I'm looking at right now have a scene from either, the community school, your personal life, whether that's with your family, by yourself, in your own spaces, like a backyard or a room. Yeah, it's cool all of his pictures tell a story, and you don't even need words to do that. 

Entirely relatable. 

Yeah, I like how all of them, they show a different relationship. So like, family, your school relationship with friends, and then even your own just a private space that you can just be yourself. 

I thought it was really interesting because it captured people's daily lives and put them into these paintings, and I thought his process was really interesting as well. It was like everyday stories captured in an everyday way.

Yeah, I love that. So, can you describe his process a little bit? 

So first he lays down an acrylic base and he simplifies the objects in there with base colors. Over that he goes with oil paint and adds more detail, but he tends to keep the acrylic base visible to show his process. 

Yeah, very shape based too and that's part of what makes it accessible. 

Minerva, what did you see today at Worlds of Words that stuck with you? 

Not only was there this amazing exhibit by Joe Cepeda, sorry, but there were also these picture books from not only the US, but from other countries. This one from the UAE is showing, clown that doesn't have any words. It's just like a clown, with very monotone colors, that in the U.S, I find extremely scary. But in this book the clown is just trying to find its way in the world, making a living and all these kids just come up to it and love it. I mean, I don't know, I just think that's amazing to see the difference in these two countries with how children's books are, I dont know, available.

So, the clown sort of has makeup that reminds us of Stephen King's “Pennywise.” That sort of stylized smiley face that comes all the way up through the eyes. But the lips are black, and the eyes are round and empty. 

Which makes it even more scary, but the kids in the book loved this clown. I think it's interesting just to see how it's different in countries of what is liked and what's not liked. 

So, a different perspective, right? Clowns everywhere, but the depiction of clowns maybe differ by country. 

I was looking at the different picture books from all over the world, from the U.S and international countries. I notice how different the illustrations are and how in other countries they each have their unique style. Like in the U.S. it's bolder, brighter colors. But in other countries, I don't know, it's more culturally based almost? So, I found that really interesting. 

Awesome, thank you. Thank you for your insight. Thank you so much for participating in UofA Museum Day and coming by and checking out Cepeda’s stories. And as well as the international books that we have on display. Thank you to Liam and Alexis, who will be our sound engineer for this podcast. We're recording from the Worlds of Words Center.