Friday Field Trips --Summer Edition

During the summers the kids and I choose one day to go on field trips.  Today we went to the Dallas Museum of Art.  Yes, I know today is Thursday but the kids are going to go see Mr. Popper's Penguins with my mother-in-law tomorrow so we went today.  It's a good thing we went today because it was the parade to celebrate the Mavericks winning the NBA finals.  So, the museums were half price if you were wearing Mavs gear and since I was I got half off admission to the DMA ($5).  Jack had been asking on a regular basis if we could go to the DMA ever since his class went earlier in the year.  He was so excited to show us everything he had seen when he was there.  His favorite painting was called, "The Icebergs" and it's a HUGE painting that is quite breathtaking to look at.  Caroline and I just sat there and marveled at it.  She didnt' think we had any place in our house where the painting would fit, so I explained where it had been placed and gave her an idea of the surroundings where it would have been.  She thought that was a better place for it since it was so HUGE.  She learned today that art is more than just paintings. 

We saw South American pottery, jewelry, and furniture.  She was interested to learn that furniture could be art.  The funniest part of the visit was the African art.  She giggled at the figures that were somewhat anatomically correct, and wondered allowed why people thought it was necessary to include those parts in sculptures and paintings.  She was quite interested in trying to read the descriptions next to each item, and learned why it's important to stand back away from a painting or sculpture.  Our final stop was the abstract gallery, and I'll be honest, I just don't get it.  Jack loved this part.  He wanted to show us "Action Jackson's" art.  It turns out AJ was Jackson Pollack.  Caroline apparently isn't into abstractness because she said, "I do that.  Maybe I can get paid for something like that." 

We ended our museum trip with the Trammel Crow museum of Asian Art.  My favorite part of that museum (besides it's free) is the hallway with all of the origami cranes.  They hang from the ceiling and they're beautiful.  I would've liked to have spent more time there, but the kids were museumed out (we spent about 3 hours at the DMA) so we left.  I'd like to go back and visit the Nasher Sculpture gardens with them sometime and maybe go back to the Asian Art museum and take more time. 

I was impressed with how well they did at the DMA and the AAM.  They asked very interesting and insightful questions and listened patiently to the answers.  They critiqued the art together and Jack was very respectful of Caroline's opinions as she was of his.  There were several rooms we didn't get to go see, so since they're free until they're 12 we'll be going back to explore some more.