Expose Yourself to Art

For our last big trip of Spring Break, the family headed out of the Burrow and went to Los Angeles so we could take in the Renoir and American Stories exhibits at LACMA. After the amazingly long drive (traffic was well, you know), we arrived and prepared to meet the Masters, as it were. The kids were really good, but they got a bit restless after seeing that there were only rooms of paintings in our first exhibit. But who can really blame them? After seeing Copley's Watson and the Shark there is little that can be that exciting! The hub and I would have loved to meander slowly and see the brilliant way the museum set out the exhibit, but we understood that little ones (even little 11-year-olds) need to experience art at their own pace and develop an appreciation. Also, they were hungry. What's a mom to do? Feed 'em.

So we lunched and found the sculpture garden where everyone perked up, and pictures were taken and art was squealed at. Gavin, especially, wanted his picture taken with every sculpture, which wound up being funny and a tad annoying. We also walked around the La Brea Tar Pits, which is right next door. This was both interesting and smelly, and the kids were fascinated and saddened by the poor ancient animals' fates.

We completed our tour with a journey through the Renoir exhibit, which was absolutely wonderful. Renoir's paintings (yes, lots more paintings) are incredible, and it was a bit humbling to see these great works that we may never have the chance to see again (a fact I kept reminding the kids about). All was great until the room full of nudes, which brought all kinds of reactions.

Mine: "Aw crap. This could be bad."

The Hub: Much study and gazing is needed in this section.

Grace: "Mom, don't you find this a bit disturbing?"

Sean: "Mom . . . ." (I cut him off before he could even ask in his much-too-loud-for-indoors-voice and explained about nudes and artists and drawing the human form, etc. which might have been more information than he needed, but he seemed content after my explanation.)

Gavin: Let's just say, the Maillol sculpture Action in Chains truly touched him -- or was it the other way around? My son just could not keep himself from poking the belly button of this nude female form. It could have been so much worse, I know (think "Tune In Tokyo"), but I was still mortified, and we rushed from the room of nudes into, well, another room of nudes. Oh, that Renoir . . .

After contemplating a painting titled Large Bather and realizing that the large bather Renoir painted was indeed smaller than myself, we marched out in disgust (okay, that was just me) and up to the third floor where there is a nice permanent Warhol exhibit. Along with the other crazy pop art and modern sculptures, the Warhols were a huge hit with the kids. Add to that the fact that all fingers and other body parts stayed away from the tempting art and you can say that this was the kids' and our favorite place. Gavin and Sean even tried to mimic the dance steps featured in one of Warhol's paintings, which was really cute.

It was a wonderful day and a good chance to talk about the art and the artists the boys and I have studied these past few months. It was gratifying to hear them discuss Homer and Matisse and recognize a Cassatt painting from one of their books. We even had a cute moment at the end where we all sat in chairs and looked at a series of prints by an unknown-to-us artist. I asked each child which painting was his/her favorite and why. The answers varied, and the reasons covered everything from deep thought to surface impressions, but that was okay. I assured them that all their answers were correct because with art all things are possible and nothing is ever wrong.