Just A Little Trip

Since we chose to spend money on the house rather than a big trip this summer, we just took a few little day trips and one overnight trip for a bit of a vacation.   Our overnight trip was to Houston, where we visited the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.     I'll just go ahead and say that I enjoyed the Museum of Fine Arts best.   I have loved learning about dinosaurs since I was a child and it was exciting to see the new exhibits.   With three kids in tow, though, the other exhibits and the size of the museum made for a long day.    The Museum of Fine Arts was more my speed.   I am always impressed with the range and quality of exhibits there.

We have a poster from the museum that features this beautiful piece, The Elder Sister,  by WILLIAM BOUGUEREAU:


The children were so excited to see it in person, in all its glory.   E was especially impressed by the array of art before her young eyes.    I tried to let her just experience it.   It irritates me beyond measure to see children being drug through a museum and subjected to a lengthy lecture about each piece.   Children should want to return to art museums!   So, I did some gentle guiding.   One painting had incredible textures achieved and I had her put her head near the wall, so she could observe the difference in texture from the side and then notice how it was achieved when she looked at it from the front.   I would ask her where she thought the sun was in some paintings with beautiful shadow and light work.   There was a grouping of paintings depicting the Annunciation to the Shepherds and she was able to see how different artists could interpret the same subject.   We also played a game as she named paintings as landscape, portrait, or still-life when I pointed out some of them to her.   She enjoyed the various fashions portrayed in the portraits.   She's been trying to copy them from memory since we returned.   My tour wasn't as good as the one I observed with schoolchildren at the National Portrait Gallery in London, but E said it was her favorite museum and she talks about a return trip, so I'm pleased.

These little trips are perfect for our family right now.   The two youngest are too little for a long trip and we need to make our funds really count when we take big trips.   





Comments

  1. Sue Elvis30 July 2012 at 23:11

    Terri,

    The WILLIAM BOUGUEREAU painting is exquisite. I can just feel the heaviness of the baby's head on the girl's arm, and the feel of those little plump arms. I will have to look this artist up. Thank you for sharing.

    God bless!

    ReplyDelete

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