Visiting some of the GREATEST art musuems without ever leaving home!

Some of my most enduring memories are associated with museums. I have been blessed with many opportunites to see incredible works of art and artifacts in person. I never really thought about this being a "lucky" thing, it was just part of my childhood and education.

As an adult and an educator, I am realizing how fortunate I am that I have visited a number of world class museums. For many of the images I show students, I can relate stories of seeing the actual work or a work by that artist. I tell students about the smell of the museum, waiting in line for tickets or general anecdotes about my experiences.

Sadly, many (if not most) of my students have never experienced a world class museum in person. They have no real connection to the art they see in textbooks or in prints.

But yesterday, a little of this changed with the use of Google Cultural Institute!!!  Google Cultural Institute is a virtual museum where you can see the masterpieces of all time in high resolution photos. You can zoom in and actually see the brush strokes!

Even better, you can virutally visit museums! My students LOVED "walking" the halls of the Musee' d'Orsay in Paris and I loved telling them about my visit many years ago.  Or how about the Museu de Arte Moderna de Sao Paulo and see the work of my favorite working artist Beatrix Milhazes.

Check out Google Cultural Institute for yourself and if you want, you can take a look at a couple of my galleries that I've made.

I created one for the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth.
http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/user-gallery-edit/kimbell-favorites-mcl/iwKy4D1Se6LdJA

and one for Geometric Abstract art
http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/user-gallery-edit/geometric-art-mcl/agJyvbsZsL8dLA

But a word of caution... you are going to want to travel to see these in person!! So get your passport ready!

The Amon Carter Museum.. a Family Friendly Museum

I love museums. All museums. But I really love art museums. Sure, I'm an art teacher so I'm supposed to say that, but really, it's because of the memories that go with museum visits!

 

Over the years I have been to a lot of museums. My parent's took us to museums growing up and one of my enduring memories is seeing the Faberge egg collection at the Kimball Art Museum. I would have been about 9 years old. I can still see those eggs in my mind's eye.

 

 

 

Moving forward.. remember this picture from a couple of years ago? This is Lexi standing in front of the Remington at the Amon Carter Museum. I love this picture, it so captures her love of the painting!



 

And here she is today. (well, actually yesterday).

 

Look at how much she has grown! And I have to say it makes my heart happy that the girls remember the paintings and ask to go "check" on the black horse!

 

There were so many wonderful pieces of art to look at and ponder. Of course, there isn't much pondering when you have a 3 year old. I know that the docents were worried as Kylie and I were discussing which of the masterpieces that she could recreate at home! Kylie was sure that she could create this one easily...

 

I'm sure Morton Schamburg would be so pleased!

 

One of my favorites is Hidden in Plain Site by Sedrick Huckaby. It is enormous, it's an 18'x14' oil!

 

 

There was also an exhibit of Romare Bearden. This was my favorite. What I loved was seeing his small watercolor paintings and then the large collage of the same thing! It was really cool!

 

 

There are so many other incredible pieces that I would tell you about, but really if you live within a few hours of Fort Worth Texas, you should go see them yourself! The Amon Carter Museum is FREE everyday!!!!! Where else do you get to see works by Calder, Cassat, O'Keeffe and many more for FREE!

 

This is why I think the Amon Carter is one the best museums for families. There is plenty of space between pieces, the workers are pleasant and if you can only get your 3 year old to "enjoy" the museum for 45 minutes, you aren't frustrated, because it was FREE!

 

Then when you go out front, there is a lot of space to RUN!!!

 

 

 

If you have never taken your children to an art museum, you should! Here are a few tips:

1. If you can contain your small child in a stroller, do so.
2. Practice walking up to a picture and looking at it with 2 feet between the picture and the body.  Practice wrong and have your child correct you!
3. Go to the museum with no expectations!
4. Challenge your child to find his/her favorite piece in each gallery. Have him/her find the one with blue, or the cutest kid.. or something simple like that.
5. Preview the museum, know where the nudity is... if you don't want to have "the talk" about human anatomy with your small child, then you might avoid the statuary with anatomically correct bodies!
6. Leave while you are all still in a happy place! This means that you will leave before you have seen all of the work. This means that you will not have time to read the information about the pieces. This means that you will practically be looking at the art at a run! But what is important that you leave while the kids still think this is fun.
7. Plan to return next year!