{"id":713,"date":"2023-05-26T18:18:29","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T18:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/portfolio.sfdesk.com\/cpt\/?p=713"},"modified":"2023-05-26T18:18:29","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T18:18:29","slug":"visiting-the-museum-with-your-child-thoughts-from-an-art-writer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/portfolio.sfdesk.com\/cpt\/2023\/05\/26\/visiting-the-museum-with-your-child-thoughts-from-an-art-writer\/","title":{"rendered":"Visiting the Museum With Your Child: Thoughts from An Art Writer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Visiting the Museum With Your Child: Thoughts From An Art Writer<\/span><\/p>\n

As a child, I accompanied my parents and their friends to museums, galleries, festivals and street fairs where they looked at art. The mysteries of that adult world mingled with their elusive conversations on the topic. Though I remember some amount of boredom, it eventually became curiosity. And that curiosity turned to love. \u00a0Last year, I finished my dissertation on experimental writings of the art-world, from museum verbiage to art criticism- today I teach at The School For Visual Arts \u2013 but there is no greater teacher than the art itself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of that boredom came from my father\u2019s insistence at viewing every single artwork in every single room. It was exhausting. I do not recommend this approach to museums when accompanied with kids. My mother was a little more haphazard and I learned a similarly selfish approach to art, which I highly encourage. You should look at what you want. With enough time, you\u2019ll become curious about what you didn\u2019t think you wanted to see.<\/span><\/p>\n

The winter months make going anywhere a bit of a chore. It\u2019s cold, so everyone needs multiple layers, and often by the time you are ready, you are too tired to go. That doesn\u2019t mean that once there, you should stay for the whole day. Two hours is enough. Don\u2019t overdo it. Let it be a taste of the museum. There\u2019s so much to see and you can return. If kids don\u2019t associate a museum with a long, drawn out, quasi-educational endeavor, they will be more likely to enjoy returning.<\/span><\/p>\n

I also recommend taking breaks from looking at art. We all know the exhaustion of a long day spent at a museum because this was the only chance to see the show or the museum. Likewise, the young eye is not accustomed to this extended duration of looking and needs to refresh. Unlike the moving image from a tele-visual service, which constantly provides new visual input, the motionless art in a museum is pouring an accumulation of details about the same thing. The eye keeps seeing more about the same one thing and that depth of experience is tiring. For children under six, I recommend taking a break every 15 minutes or so by going to the bathroom, getting a drink of water, looking at the other visitors in one of the hallways or landings. Older kids usually start getting antsy between 20-30 minutes, that is until they are hooked.<\/span><\/p>\n

At any age, you can identify artists and learn about the history, but don\u2019t make that the exclusive point of a museum trip for them or for you. If you can help them appreciate art, they will want to learn more. In my own teaching, I often have students read poems and short stories about art and I have found they often then want to see it. An interesting fact about the artist or period planted before going to the museum can help generate interest. Let interest be enough. Curiosity will guide them to find out more.<\/span><\/p>\n

Up to 4 \u2013\u2013 Museums can be fun with little ones. One friend regularly took his one and two year old daughter to the Museum of Modern Art during the weekday afternoons, where she enjoyed the Abstract Expressionists the most. She decided to look at the art by lying down on the floor. From then on, they often looked at art from different angles, from the floor, the far side of the canvas, and so on. The guards didn\u2019t ever mind!<\/span><\/p>\n