Art Appreciation

Yesterday we took the kids to the North Carolina Museum of Art. Grammy and Granddad are in town so we were looking for a Raleigh-based activity for the morning that would allow us to get to Jason by lunch time. I was a bit apprehensive of taking the girls to the art museum, since our last art foray in Chapel Hill was a bust (mainly because of the icy welcome we got from museum staff - we were tailed from the moment we stepped in the doors and definitely got a "how dare you bring small children in here" vibe even though the museum does children's programs from time to time!). And when the woman at the information desk yesterday says to me, "You're brave," I mentally questioned my decision to bring a 4 year old, 2 year old and 5 month old to the art museum. BUT.......

It all turned out JUST FINE and I think the girls even had a good time. Eliza did state, about 5 minutes into our visit, that she was done. Literally, she said "I'm done." But we managed to work through that. We went in telling the girls there were three main rules - No touching. No running. No screaming. Hayden did great; Eliza did pretty well. Even Molly behaved herself. :)

One of Eliza's low points. Good thing the floors were nice and clean -and free of art.
please, please can we go outside and look at the water?

One of the things that really helped was that the museum had a child activity kit you could check out, that identified about 5 paintings and had little activities to go along with each piece of art - like color bingo, touch the textures, or a puzzle. Granddad did a great job being the keeper of the kit and helping the girls (mostly Hayden) through the activities.

Color bingo (which we made up our own rules for) that went along with the American Impressionist painting below.

The girls search for hieroglyphics and learn about symbols in the Egyptian art gallery.

Plus the museum had easily accessible, lovely outdoor space, which when coupled with ridiculously warm weather (75! in February!), made for a good escape from the toned down behavior required indoors.

There wasn't a whole lot of serious discussion or perusal of the art, but we did manage to look at four of the works of art in the kit, and wander through two-thirds of the galleries. We did talk about the Rodin sculptures and Hayden had fun posing like some of the statues.

Granddad is telling Hayden about how her daddy posed like the thinker in front of the original statue in Paris when he was a boy. Maybe I'll find that pic and scan it in some day.

We also got to take some fun(ny) photos of being buffeted by the wind while outside in the Rodin garden.

Can you tell it was a tad windy?!

Hayden was about done with the museum after the garden, but we convinced her to go see the modern art piece in the kit. She had fun doing the puzzle that went along with it.

What better way to appreciate art that from a reclining position?!

Despite my apprehensions, (even though the art museum was my choice), we ended up having a very nice visit. And it was easy to go meet up with Jason for lunch. We will definitely go back again; we'll just be sure to keep it in small doses.

I asked Hayden what this statue would be called, and she said "The Hugging Statue". Close!