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SCHEDULE OF MUSEUM VISITS FOR SUMMER 2009 |
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ArtMuse summer tours for adults:
July 15th: The New American Art Galleries, Metropolitan Museum of Art
August 5th: Chelsea Art Museum: Iran Inside Out; and several Chelsea Art Galleries
BOOK YOUR SUMMER ART SERIES NOW!
Customized Schedules Availble JUNE through MID AUGUST
BOOKING PRIVATE ART GROUP SERIES NOW FOR FALL 2009 SEMESTER
REGISTER YOUR GROUP EARLY AND RECEIVE A 10% DISCOUNT BEFORE JULY 1st |
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NEW EXHIBITIONS |
SIX GREAT NEW MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS TO SEE WITH YOUR KIDS THIS SPRING
By Natasha Schlesinger, Founder of Art Muse
Spring is in the air but the chill is still keeping us inside and looking for interesting and fun activities to do. That makes for a perfect museum outing for you and your family. Here are a few of my suggestions.
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JAPAN SOCIETY:
KRAZY!
The Delirious World of Anime + Manga + Video Games
Until June 14
This is a small but unusual exhibition on Anime and Manga art. In addition to drawings and examples of printed images by various well-known Japanese artists kids will be surprised to find that there is an actual room with video games (most of which they are very familiar with: from Mario to packman) that they are encouraged to play in as well as a split-level stepped gallery of flashing images from numerous videos that they can watch all at once on the big screen or pick and choose for more select viewing. It’s a multi-sensory experience. Ages 6 and up.
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COOPER-HEWITT MUSEUM:
Fashioning Felt
Until September 9th
Cooper-Hewitt always serves up unique exhibits that can be easily missed but shouldn’t be. This one exhibits the world’s most versatile material. Everyone knows felt from art projects or blankets but even adults will be surprised at how many uses can be applied to felt from furniture to airplane flooring to clothing and art. Kids can sit in a Mongolian-inspired tent and touch felt objects in a touch-gallery or watch videos showing the traditional and more modern ways of making felt from sheep’s wool. Bring some craft felt, markers and ribbon along and have your kids make a bag or wallet or even a collage. Ages 4-10 years. |
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METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART:
Part 2: The Charles Engelhard Court and the Period Rooms
The New American Wing Galleries
Opens May 2009
Don’t miss the opening of the newly refurbished American period rooms and the Charles Engelhard Court. The Court has been one of the favorite destinations in the museum. We have all missed it in the past year and a half and now will have a chance again to run through the open space and look at the fountains and sit and admire the façade of the bank. The museum has installed a glass elevator to the period rooms adding to the attraction of traveling back in time to America of George Washington’s or Abraham Lincoln’s time. Ages 5 and up.
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WHITNEY MUSEUM OF ART:
Claes Oldenburg: Early Sculpture, Drawings, and Happenings Films
Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen: The Music Room
Opens May 7, 2009
Claes Oldenburg is one of the best known artists of the Pop generation. You might recognize his oversized soft sculptures that always make one smile. These will be on view in this exhibition to amuse your kids from the quentissential BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich) (1963) to the Soft Toilet (1966). The show will also have drawings, films of the artist’s Happenings and a whole room dedicated to his sculptures and drawings of musical instruments. This is a must see for kids as they will certainly appreciate the sense of the absurd and the humor Oldenburg imbued into his objects. Ages 3 years and up.
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THE GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM:
A Year with Children 2009: Selected Works from Learning Through Art
May 13–August 9, 2009
A Year with Children 2009 showcases art by students participating in Learning Through Art (LTA), an artist-in-residence program of the Guggenheim Museum. There is no better way to inspire kids to create and strive to achieve something than through looking at art done by other kids and installed by a major museum. This is always a very inspirational and fun show. Ages 5-12 years.
Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward
May 15–August 23, 2009
Fifty years after the realization of Frank Lloyd Wright’s renowned design, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum celebrates his work with an exhibition titled Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward. Finally visitors will get to see that there is more to this artist than the building itself as they will be invited to explore his creation process through drawings and models and even projections of the finished projects as they advance up the ramp. Ages 8 and up.
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ART REVIEW |
THREE GREAT EXHIBITS TO VISIT THIS SPRING
By Natasha Schlesinger, Founder of Art Muse
CAST IN BRONZE: FRENCH SCULPTURE FROM RENAISSANCE REVOLUTION, METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, until May 24th
This is a relatively small exhibition for the museum but one that allows the viewer to encounter some very prominent figures from French history from Catherine de Medici and King Louis XIV to Diderot and Voltaire. Bronze is a wonderful material that has been explored by sculptors for thousands of years. Since ancient times the lost wax technique has been used to translate human physiognomy into bronze. What the viewers will see is the variation of the bronze skin on the surface of the sculptures. One will notice that bronze is a tool of realism in the hands of a gifted artist and a material that is strong enough yet malleable to produce fantastic physical expressions, movement and action that certainly was used for action-packed mythological compositions such as the Labors of Hercules. All that can be viewed in this exhibition. Well worth a trip.
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EDWARD STEICHEN: IN HIGH FASHION, THE CONDE NAST YEARS 1923-1937 INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF PHOTOGRAPHY, until May 3rd
Edward Steichen was one of the most important and interesting photographers of the 20th century and certainly his years at Vogue produced a treasure trove of images that captured the likenesses of iconic figures in American culture. The exhibition takes us from 1923 when already known as a painter and a pictorialist photographer he was first hired by Vogue to 1937 when Steichen left behind fashion photography for war documentation. It's wonderful to see and perhaps reconsider distant but still famous figures of the silver screen such as Katherine Hepburn, Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich or those whose fame is historic like Winston Churchill, Amelia Earheart and Walt Disney. Steichen rethought fashion photography during his years at Conde Nast and pushed forward the image of an independent Modern woman.
Jennie Holzer: Protect Protect, THE WHITNEY MUSEUM, Until May 31
For over thirty years, Jenny Holzer's work has paired the use of text and the centrality of installation to examine emotional and societal realities. The current exhibition at the Whitney is all about sensory evaluation. When you first walk in, lit up letters are flashing and moving across the floor and disappear into the wall beyond but not before letting us enter Jenny Holzer's world of words, meanings and social messages. One would proceed with caution in this maze of lights and letters as the messages will be sharp and emotionally charged. Be careful not to read the text out loud if you take your kids. |
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ARTMUSE VIDEOS |
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Using Art to Make Museums Fun for Kids
Natasha Schlesinger's, ArtKids program uses art projects and games to make museums fun for kids. |
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| About Art Muse
Art Muse is an amazing resource for people of all ages to learn culture, history, and art through museum tours throughout NYC. It offers three separate options for tours:Adult Art Tours, I-Pod Tours, and Art Kids. In Adult Art Tours, each tour is presented as a lecture and discussion of current exhibitions and permanent collections in museums and occasionally galleries in New York. I-pod Tours offers an option for people or families with busy schedules and limited time. People can be part of a tour when it is convenient for them.Art Kids holds weekly after-school classes but also bi-monthly saturday classes or special classes and birthday tours that introduce children to the excitement of visiting New York City museums.
All of these tours are guided by Natasha Schlesinger. She is an independent art historian and art consultant who has been working in the art field for the past 20 years, specializing in the history of decorative arts. Natasha was a specialist in European furniture at Christie's Auction House for four years, and then went on to open her own international firm Meridianne LLC. Natasha holds a Master's degree in the Decorative Arts from the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Culture and Design. Natasha is also teaching a master's course on the history of Furniture and connoisseurship for the Cooper-Hewitt Graduate Program this Spring.
For More Information:
ns@artmuseny.com
(646) 678-4497
www.artmuseny.com |
Past Art Musings:
May 2009
March 2009
November 2008
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