Field Trip: BMA
06/23/12
This week I took the girls to the Baltimore Museum of Art to explore the art galleries and sculpture gardens. I wanted the girls to experience artwork in a mature gallery setting and to spend some time drawing (if they were so inspired). Despite the heat we spent some time in the shaded sculpture garden where they began sketching.
The BMA is now a free museum in Maryland and the information desk is extremely helpful. We were offered a costume pack corresponding to artwork in the museum (Queen/Princess, Dancer, Native American or King). Genevieve was brave enough to wear it for the entire visit and was rewarded with compliments and helpful guidance from the staff throughout the museum. Inside, the girls (ages 2.5 and 5) were drawn to the Sondheim Artscape Finalists, what I call the mostly Matisse gallery and finally, the miniature rooms display on the main level in the American Decorative arts gallery.
The Cone Sisters collection is the foundation of the museum’s collection. One room has an interactive virtual tour (link within pop-up) allowing you to use the touch screen to visit their apartment from the early 1900′s. We discussed how interesting it was that two sisters lived so closely together and how they may have come to appreciate art so passionately. I asked Mira if she would like to be surrounded by that much artwork in her own house one day (answer: yes), meanwhile I tried to keep Genevieve from crawling up the period furniture on view.
Ultimately, we visited the Matisse room twice. Was I surprised that they loved Matisse so much? Not a bit. What’s not to love? The paintings are whimsical and colorful dominated by beautifully contemplative women, a small pup, pattern and flowers.
Before we left, I took them into the art shop and allowed them to each choose a few postcards to remember their day. They already want to go back.
Materials:
- notebooks
- writing instruments
- imaginations
- inspiring surroundings
The BMA offers many programs for families, among them are Free Family Sundays programs offering hands-on workshops and guided tours. We just missed June 10′s Sew a Textile, but July and August promise several architectural and sculptural themed activites that sound just as interesting.
This entry was posted on Saturday, June 23rd, 2012 at 12:39 pm and is filed under Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
