Johns, Lichtenstein, de Kooning, Warhol. These names are familiar, but you aren't quite sure of their significance. You peruse the vast halls where museums house their treasures. Walking what seems to be an endless path of paintings and sculptures, you see the various names of their creators etched upon a bronze plaque below.

You wonder how Ellsworth Kelly's "Blue White" shows minimalism or how Max Weber's "Seated Woman" reflects subtle Jewish themes. You wonder if someone else shares your questions or if anyone can answer them.

Recently, the Rose Art Museum unveiled a new student guide program to accompany its myriad works and help visitors navigate the museum. The new tours will change how students visit the Rose Art Museum after its reopening this past week.

"The tours are a new and great opportunity for students to interact with art," said Rebecca Pollack '13, an Art History major and one of nine gallery guides for the museum this semester. In addition, Pollack is a member of the Student Committee for the Rose Art Museum, a student group that works with the Rose to organize events for students.

Though the program is first opening this semester, its development has been in the works since last spring. Over the course of several meetings, the museum was able to gather the input of several students and art lovers alike, listening to what each group wanted out of the program.

The gallery guides underwent an intense two-day weekend training session in April, according to Diana Flatto '12, who is working as a guide this semester and previously worked as a guard for the museum. The premise of the training was "based on simple guiding to more comprehensive visual expression, thinking and how people perceive art."

In addition, those students chosen as guides have continued to train throughout this semester, with two-hour sessions each week. Though the guide program is open to all applicants, it is recommended that those who apply have at least a background in art.

Although the museum has been on campus since 1961, prior to this semester, no official guide program was offered at the Rose.

In some special circumstances last year, Director of Academic Programs for the Rose Art Museum Dabney Hailey had visual thinking programs for anyone who wished to come.

This year, students have an opportunity to enjoy a more hands-on approach to the works of the museum.

"The most exciting part about the program is [that] it is run by students," Pollack said.

"Brandeis students giving tours for Brandeis students: [It's about] mutual contribution and critical thinking, whose purpose is to look at art in new ways together, and not for me to talk at you," she said.

This method of guidance will be done with the use of visual thinking strategies. The idea is that a tour guide will invite the group to look at and silently analyze a work of art for approximately one minute, after which they will ask the group what is happening concerning the piece.

In this way, every idea discussed is that of the tour group rather than that of the guide. In addition to the guide program, a new feature for the Rose Art Museum is the incorporation of iPod Touches, allowing people quick and easy access to information about works of art.

Though anyone from Brandeis can contact the museum and book a tour, the guide program is primarily geared toward clubs or classes, according to Pollack and Flatto. And although it is a small program, with only nine guides so far, each tour will be led by more than one guide.

"No tour will be led alone, there's always going to be someone with you, ... one guide leading and the other listening," Pollack said.

Currently, the majority of guides for the museum are involved in some sort of art on campus, be it for their major or a club. Still others are majoring in education. However, many of the guides are people simply focused on and admirers of art. Though art is not their major, several of these students in the past took a few Art History or Studio Art classes, enjoying them enough to help serve the museum.

Guides like Pollack hope that the program will attract tour groups filled with art-intensive people as well as those looking to pique their interest in the subject.

In addition, the program will provide an open forum for students to express their artistic opinions.

"It's our museum, a great asset we have on campus. Every Brandeis student should experience it," Pollack said.

"The Rose was built 50 years ago so Brandeis students could learn about art," Pollack said on the Rose's close proximity to students.

"It's a fabulous museum, probably one of the best university museum collections that there is. We're here. It's a really great resource for anything from art history to sculpting to painting," she said.

The guided tours are now open to the public since the Rose reopening last week.

"Some people don't even realize the Rose is open, … and it's a shame. It's a great museum with a really great collection," she said.

"We want to get students involved with the Rose again," Flatto added about the program's purpose.