24 hours of Art

Art is a huge part of my life. HUGE. I must be creating or seeing art every day. It is so important to me to pass this on to my children... to make sure that they have the ability to create the type of art that they want to create--and that they are exposed to all the many types of art that can be made so that they can choose their own path.

I had been planning on taking the children to the BIG Art museum in Kansas City this week, but the weather kept being crappy and I was feeling crappy (I broke two toes Wednesday, walking sucks), and and and... (excuse excuse excuse)... But last night, I emailed my friend a silly video (I mean--white guys rapping! It was silly, people) and told him to one up me. Oh boy howdy, did he ever. He said "how about this... I will roll it with a profound life changing indepth video..." http://blip.tv/file/1785698 Somehow he always knows when I need a boost, and how to deliver an effective one.

So he gave me this beautiful, inspirational piece of art that perfectly describes the artist's mindset--at least, this artist's mindset. The depression and apathy that has a tendency to set in, but he also steps back and voices this one thought that will not ever leave my head, and that absolves me from any guilt of not having a "real" job right now--we are so lucky to be able to live a life that enables us to be there for our families when they need us to be there. For our children and their school events. For our spouses, if we have one. He also says "What will you be thinking about when you are flat on your back when you are 80? f-stops? shutter speeds? Layouts in magazines?" It is unanswered, but the intent behind his message is clear-don't take yourself, your JOB so seriously that you miss out on life going on around you.

With that fresh in my mind, I decided that I WAS going to take the kids to KC to attempt the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Fine Arts. I told them what we were doing when the woke this morning, and Sam was initially wary. I showed him the website, and told him a bit of what to expect, and what I expected of him. He has been exposed to a lot of galleries and art walks in his little life, so this was just a reminder of how to behave. But he hadn't been to a huge museum like this one before. I told the girls what we were doing and that there was going to be a car trip. Everyone got excited. I loaded up on Advil/Tylenol for my foot, threw more in my purse, grabbed food for the day and dashed to Kansas City.

The car has... issues. I had to stop at Target and get antifreeze when we hit KC. Wasn't going to let it damper the beautiful day. I took about 12 wrong turns, trying to get into the parking garage (to be fair--rush hour rules for turn lanes had gone into effect, it was confusing). We just laughed, and all the little readers in the car kept an eye out for the right street signs for me. We got there, we parked, we got our bag and camera ready (oh, did I mention I brought my FILM camera? Oh yea, old school Amanda went out for fun today! Flashes weren't allowed, so I thought, What the hell, I might as well go for it). We went in, pottied, got our map and had already decided we were just going to look at the Photography, European and American Indian Art exhibits (that's what THEY called it, I'm still shaking my head over that one). We poked through a little bit of the Contemporary Art and American Artist collection too.

Kate found a sculpture that she loved called "Horse". It was a full-sized horse made of sticks and adobe mud. And it was awesome. There was another contemporary painting that she loved too that was waterfalls or fountains. Now I don't remember... I thought it was jellyfish. *shrug*

Sam was interested in everything. I showed him how to read the placards describing the art piece, and talked to him about contemporary art and how a lot of it was mixed media type stuff now. The children were able to see the abstract really very clearly--it just shows how amazing their minds are. He liked the sculpture pieces best--in every single period of art we explored, he was glued to the cases holding the clocks, the silverworks, the ceramics, the statues... He was a little startled to find the Renaissance statues to be naked... but after a very matter-of-fact talk, he was able to shrug every other bit of nudity off as no big deal--as it is in our house. People are naked under their clothes, everyone has seen a naked person, deal with it and move on. I dislike prudishness with a passion. And after talking to him about it, I realized he was more offended that in this particular statue they were naked sitting on top of a boar's head. Why would you sit on an animal naked? It was funny once I realized why he was offended. My funny little guy.

We walked through the European galleries for a while. Paige had just been absorbing everything in, amazed at the sizes and all the different things to look at. Then we walked into one of the American Art galleries, and I am so glad we did. She looked up and saw THIS painting and was transfixed. Mrs Cecil Wade, Portrait of a Lady, 1886 by John Singer Sargent. Kate liked it, told me that the dress detail was pretty; Sam was paying attention to a clock behind us; I had the camera out to take a picture of a different painting--but Paige just stood there, staring at her. I started to walk away with the others, who were pulling me down the gallery to more... and I realized she was still standing there with the most beautiful look of awe on her face. I knelt down next to her, wrapped my arm around her waist, and looked at it from her level, with her eyes, like I had never seen a bit of classic art before. I asked her if she was looking at this painting. "Oh yes!" "Do you like this painting?" "Oh yes, mama! Look at her!" "Why do you like *this* one Paige? Wht makes this one special? Is it because it is big? Or is the dress pretty? or the lady?" "Oh, the lady is so beautiful and her dwess is looking so soft. She is a beautiful bwride!" And so I stood on my knees in this gallery for several minutes, enjoying my baby girl's wide-eyed wonder at this portrait.

We stayed inside for a little bit longer, and then went outside to the sculpture gardens to let the kids run off some of their energy (hey-2.5 hours inside an art museum? If I hadn't been gimpy, I would have ran around with them). We wandered back through to the parking garage, my foot was done. Happy as clams, they parked their butts back in their seats, buckled in, I gave them their dinners, put more antifreeze in the car and we headed home.

As I'm carrying the bags back inside the house, Sam turns to me and says "Thanks for taking me to the art museum today Mom. It was really cool!" Oh... my mommy heart about burst with happiness in that moment. We made a wonderful memory today, and he gave me a great reward.

I must remember to not give up because I *know* it won't be perfect. Nothing in life is perfect. Today, the car gave me fits, Sam tossed a fit in Target, my foot currently feels like a water balloon and is 8 different shades of ugly... but it was a PERFECT DAY spent with my favorite people. Thank you for the inspiration. Tomorrow will be a gorgeous day to shoot the rest of the roll of film, maybe at the park? We'll see.