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Margaret "Peggy" Burchenal is a freelance museum education consultant currently working in the Boston area. As a museum educator, her work primarily revolves around the implementation of Visual Thinking Strategies, a theory of education revolving around art discussion developed by Philip Yenawine and Abigail Housen, in museum settings.

Education
Margaret Burchenal graduated from Princeton University in 1974, with a Bachelor of the Arts in art history. After receiving her bachelor's degree she obtained a Master of the Arts in art history from Harvard University.

Philadelphia Museum of Art
Margaret Burchenal began her career in museum education at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. One of her first tasks at the museum involved supervising community performances at the museum's Isamu Noguchi exhibit. Other tasks at the museum included assisting with community involvement programs and art education programs for the visually impaired.

She also worked to reform the presentation of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's permanent collections. As part of her reforms, Burchenal created gallery guides for visitors to understand the thematic connections amongst material in the museum's permanent collections.

Portland Museum of Art
After leaving the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Burchenal spent six years at the Portland Museum of Art. At the Portland Museum of Art, Burchenal worked with curating programs related to exhibitions, managerial duties, and grant writing.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Burchenal started work in the education department of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in July 1988. Her work involved working with the museum's school program and Boston Public Schools. Burchenal left the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in June 2000.

Visual Thinking Strategies
At the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Burchenal discovered Visual Thinking Strategies at a National Art Education Association conference. After discovering the program, Burchenal began to integrate Visual Thinking Strategies into the curriculum for museum educators in the museum.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
In July 2000, Burchenal began work as the Esther Stiles Eastman Curator of Education and Public Programs at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. At the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, her work focused on reforming the docent training program, integrating Visual Thinking Strategies into school programs, and working with the artist-in-residence program.

Burchenal left the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in January 2018.

Getty Sabbatical and Thinking Through Art
Burchenal was a "guest scholar" at the J. Paul Getty Museum in the summer of 2001. Her work at the Getty, focusing on the application of Visual Thinking Strategies on school groups, would be carried over to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum when she returned that fall. Her work at the Getty resulted in a three-year million-dollar grant from the United States Department of Education to create a formal program around Visual Thinking Strategies.

The grant resulted in Thinking Through Art. Thinking Through Art is a program intended to teach museum educators how to implement Visual Thinking Strategies within their own museums.

The program also resulted in a documentary of the same name. The 20-minute documentary shows children learning through Visual Thinking Strategies, intercut with interviews from Philip Yenawine. The film was produced by Vida Health Communications, Inc.

Professional Groups
Margaret Burchenal has served on the boards of the National Art Education Association and the Massachusetts Art Education Association.

Writing
In 2007, she co-wrote the academic article "Thinking Through Art: Transforming Museum Curriculum" with Michelle Grohe for The Journal of Museum Education. The article The duo also collaborated on the 2008 article "Reimagining School Programs," on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's Visual Thinking Strategies-focused school program, for the academic journal Visual Arts Research. She also edited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's catalog In the Company of Artists, focusing on 25 years of the museum's artist-in-residence program.

Awards and Honors

 * National Art Education Association: National Museum Educator (2002)

Publications

 * Burchenal, Margaret and Michelle Grohe. 2007. "Thinking Through Art: Transforming Museum Education. The Journal of Museum Education. 32 (2): 111-122.
 * Burchenal, Margaret and Michelle Grohe. 2008. "Reimagining School Programs." Visual Arts Research, 34(2), 66-75.
 * Burchenal, Peggy, Abigail Housen, Kate Rawlinson, and Philip Yenawine. April 2008. "Why Do We Teach Art in Schools? The dialogue continues. A response to Winner/Hetland." NAEA News: Advancing Art Education. https://vtshome.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/17why-do-we-teach-art-in-the-schools_NAEANews_April08.pdf