Art Museum Scavenger Hunt

Since we had already checked the boys out of school for dental appointments in Austin, we decided to also play hooky on all other responsibilities for the day and go visit other sites in Austin. Thursdays are a special day in Austin because the Blanton Museum of Art is FREE that day.

Sarah and Matt have been begging me for months to take them to this art museum (Matt even asked for that as a birthday gift instead of doing a party with friends...but his birthday is still months away). Oh boy, were they excited for this family trip!

I made worksheets for them to fill out in the museum. I wanted them to be thinking about the art, not just looking at it and passing by without a thought. I had questions such as, "What story was the artist trying to tell?" "What paintings did you like and which one did you dislike?" "Which ones convey a feeling of anger? Happiness? Sadness? Peace?" "Which one would you like to create?"

I also had an extensive scavenger hunt list on the worksheet. They were to find certain types of art (pottery, sculptures, woven art, wooden art, bone art (yes really. There is a room full of cattle bones as an art piece)) and certain random elements within paintings (different types of animals, babies, jewels, a house, bread, royalty, a cowboy, etc.) Luckily I was a bit familiar with this museum, so I knew some of the specific permanent art exhibits in the collection, so I could give them particular pieces to find along our journey.

Sarah and Matthew were both so thoughtful as they pondered the art. I'd talk with them and teach them how to analyze the piece based on composition and color choice. It was so interesting to see what they noticed.

It was so fun to see how in tune they were to the color cues from the artist. Matthew would say things like, "This painting makes me feel happy because it's full of cheerful yellows" or "This painting makes me angry because of all the red choppy lines and black clouds."

I also found out they despised the same paintings I do (you know, the type of modern art that is just a big splash of black paint on a bare canvas? Yeah....I always think my kids could make one better. Matthew agreed heartily with that opinion. I guess that style of modern art just isn't for me.)

Daniel was bored after 10 minutes. He spent most of the time loudly whispering how his legs were tired (even though I offered to push him in the stroller) and how boring this place was since he couldn't run and shriek. He spent a lot of time just staring at the ceiling, complaining how boring it all was. I think if I stared at the ceiling I would be bored, too. I'm sorry he was too little to enjoy this place, and the older kids were sorry he couldn't be more patient. All well...someday he'll enjoy it.

We visitied our favorite vintage candy shop, The Big Top Candy shop, on Congress Avenue. Nate and I had told the children they'd be given a dollar to spend for having appropriate museum behavior and another dollar for finishing the worksheet/scavenger hunt. Sarah and Matt were delighted. Matthew picked a box of Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and Sarah filled a bag with different flavors of rock candy.

Matt could hardly wait to start tasting the bad flavored jelly beans. He tried them each as soon as we stepped out of the store. That story is told through pictures in my next post.