The last "museum experience" that Chuck had was checking out a Holiday Train Show at the Fairfield Museum. I'll leave it at this: we made several alarms go off, and derailed a bunch of trains. Although the docents and curators were more than understanding of my tiny display destructor, I haven't exactly wanted to run back and try it again.
The thing is, art runs through my veins. Growing up, my family spent vacation after vacation, touring museums all over the place. And some of my earliest work experiences were museum internships. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for exposing the youngest of children to the works of all kinds of artists. I can honestly say, that all this museum patronage impacted the way I view the world. Now that I'm a parent, that's something I'd like for my daughter. Although she's only two, I wasn't going to let one less-than-ideal museum experience stop me.
This weekend, we decided to try out the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Conn. The third Saturday of each month they have a program called "Family Art Experiences." According to their website, "From 10 am to 12 noon, children aged two to five are invited to play in the galleries, followed by storytime and art-making. From 1 to 3 pm, children aged six to ten are invited to engage in gallery games and hands-on art projects" We're always up for an adventure, but honestly, they had me at "play in the galleries."
This week, they were focusing on Mexican art with a visiting artist. When we got there, we got right to work making a piñata. Chuck was most interested in playing with the balloons that were intended to create the piñata's internal structure. With a little team effort, we were able to cover ours in plaster. While our balloon dried the staff led us into a gallery featuring the works of James Mollison. In this gallery, there were larger than life portraits of a concert-goers from different walks of life, from punks to hip-hoppers to Rolling Stone fans.
It took Chuck a little while to warm up to the gallery space. In her typical toddler style, she clung to me for about 10 minutes. Luckily, the education staff had some really simple, thoughtful, activities to do with the kiddos to get them involved. For example, they simply spread out a rainbow of construction paper in different shapes on the floor, and asked the kids to go find the colors and shapes in the artwork that surrounded them.
There are so many things about this activity that I loved!
- I loved love that it captured the interest of all the children, no matter what developmental stage they are at. Chuck's not at a point yet where she can name the colors, but that didn't really matter. This activity was great exposure.
- I loved that it was very interactive, and although the kids were gently reminded not to touch the art, at no point were they ever scolded for getting a bit too close.
- I loved that, it taught the kids, quite simply, to really look at the artwork that surrounded them.
- I loved that it taught them not to take art so seriously.
After we were done exploring the gallery, we went back to the workshop, did a little bit of coloring, and decorated our piñata.
After each one of my mommy/daughter adventures, I like to take a moment and think about what just happened. I find that I can get so busy chasing after Chuck (yes, even though we were in a museum, there was still a fair amount of chasing), that sometimes I don't know if we actually had fun. As we were leaving the workshop, one of the educators asked me how old Chuck was. Now that she is officially two, I find myself almost apologizing for her age. I was pretty much covered in plaster, had spent the better part of the last 30 minutes praying that my daughter didn't destroy a work of art, and calming a few near melt-downs. I looked up at this lady, and sheepishly said, "two." This kind educator, looked back at us and said "she did very well for two". And, that's about all I can ask for.
We will definitely adding the "Family Art Experience" to our regular activities. I can't wait to see Chuck grow a little bit each month, and, hopefully, to fall a little bit in love with museums.
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