A lot of school groups and families have been visiting the Dinotopia exhibition at the Woodson Art Museum in Wisconsin, as reported by Rob Duns of WAOW News. (Video link in case the player doesn't work)
Teachers have brought out model ships and dinosaurs to explain Arthur Denison's voyage to the lost island in the 19th century.
There's a book with a binding covered with the dinosaur footprint alphabet, bronze corner pieces, and bits of ferns sticking out from the bottom. Is it really Arthur Denison's journal?
I was about 10 years old when my family took me to the DeYoung art museum in San Francisco. With five kids, my family didn't go to art museums very often, so it was quite a novelty for me. Luckily, there was an exhibit going on of Norman Rockwell's paintings. I was only tall enough to see the shoes in his paintings. But what shoes! They seemed to have a life and character all their own.
At the exhibit, my dad bought the book
for me, and for the next few years, I studied every word over and over, especially the section in the back where Rockwell explained in great detail exactly how he made his pictures. Since I never met any real professional artists as a child or youth, and there was no Internet, that book was my lifeline, and I still have it. Maybe in a future post I'll show a few of my very lame early attempts to use the the Rockwell method.
Anyway, I just want to say that I'll look forward to meeting museum-goers of all ages at the Woodson museum next week, but I'll especially be looking for that 10 year old who is just like I was. I'll be visiting Wausau on March 1-3.
______
Dinotopia exhibition at the Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, Wisconsin
on AmazonThe traveling Dinotopia exhibit was organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum Contact them to get the show at your museum.
Cool post. It's always good to get young kids excited about art. Hopefully they don't lose the enthusiasm!
ReplyDelete