About the 25th

Thursday, June 25th, had so much activity packed into so little time. I am still mentally unpacking all that happened. I expected the day to be very long, and I wasn't wrong about that. I worked from 7:30am until 10:15pm!

The day began with a copious amount of traffic. I was late for the event, which was really disappointing and put me on edge all day. Luckily, everyone pitched in and got the TASBY kids rolling. Starting without, the group created camera obscuras. Once I arrived, we moved into the galleries upstairs. Adorned with our freshly made cameras, we investigated the works in the Abelló exhibition. In an effort to encourage the kids to consider the artistic process, we split into smaller groups and talked about works by Modigliani. The museum is fortunate enough to have some of the artist's preliminary sketches to accompany a couple of finished paintings. We then discussed complete and incomplete Dalí paintings. The kids seemed to have the most fun contemplating words to associate with paintings, based on the feelings they evoked. We concluded the group's activities by having the kids draw, followed by a discussion about their work. Afterwards, we adjourned for lunch. Upon our return, a Q&A with the Meadows staff was held. Some of the kids seemed really interested in the logistical operations of the museum. The TASBY day ended with a tour of the museum storage. 

The next event started at six. The museum hosted artist John Bramblitt and the DREAM kids. John is a blind visual artist, and the DREAM kids have various levels of low vision. We started by take a group. multi-modal tour of the museum. The tour included a range of works on exhibit, and we used everything from tactile drawings to garlic to allow the kids to  fully experience the works. I was fortunate enough to partner up with John and interact with the kids. The patience of the docents, combined with the passion of the kids, created the perfect recipe for success. We concluded the evening with a painting workshop, led by John. The kids were very open to experimenting and pushing themselves. They laughed, and chatted, and were so full of energy. From the moment they arrived, until the moment they left, their energy levels were exceptionally high. You never would have guessed these were high school kids with jobs!

My day was amazing. Now that things have slowed down, I'll be working on interpretation and programming for the upcoming Alba exhibition. So many hats, so little time...