This morning I’ll be a chaperone for an art museum field trip.
Our fifth graders do this amazing program that takes them to the museum 4 times over the course of a number of months, and they study the full museum lifecycle — from artist to curator to docent, and everything in between. My tall one went off this morning sort of vibrating with excitement.
The museum is The Blanton Museum of Art on the campus of UT-Austin.
It is lovely and I cannot wait to spend time there with a bunch of 10- and 11-year-olds.
My personal connection to the Blanton was an inspring ekphrastic poetry project I participated in a couple of years ago. Many of of us were invited to choose a piece from the permanent collection and write in response. The results were pretty dynamite.
From that show, there’s this from Austin poet, letterpresser and friend Judy Jensen.
Chloris and Zephyrus, Revisited
After Sebastiano Ricci’s Flora
By Judy Jensen
She seduced me. Just look at her –
flanked by admirers, she glows as if
lit from within. A lily among reeds.
I can barely lift my gaze, shamed, even
as I recall her scent.
(Go here to read the rest and see the original art…)
(Go here to explore other poems and their inspiration…)
I have to head to the museum now. Happy Friday, friends…
Tanita Says 🙂
You have such an amazing school system. Thank God for it!
One thing I really miss about being home and close to my sibs is that I can no longer ride herd on the field trippers. Of course, now that they’re SEVENTEEN and THIRTEEN now (yikes! When did that happen?!) there’s a lot less field tripping, but it was a lot of fun when I got to do it.
Enjoy your art museum, and I’ll smile at my memories of accompanying my sibs to the “synmphony.”
Re: Tanita Says 🙂
You are the cream of the sisterly crop, Tanita. The cream of the crop…
Y’know, I think it’s just sort of the perfect storm of good ol’ neighborhood bones, incredible teachers and a creative community vibe. We’re lucky. There are problems — there are at every school — but the goodness outweighs the badness to be sure…
And y’know what else? Sometimes it’s just a matter of accessing what’s out there. So, in this case, the museum sponsors this ongoing program but art teachers need to apply for it and I don’t think many do. Too much extra effort???