Beltane Beltane Moon
Tour at 10:00 AM. Sophomore honor students from Hastings, Minnesota. We looked at sculpture by MCAD trained sculptor, John Flannagan. A late Monet painted in his Japanese garden after his eyesight had begun to fail. A late Matisse, Pensees, a pretty picture, not important in his oeuvre, but beautiful on its own. We dissected Picasso’s Woman With Armchair, then looked at the painted puzzle by Magritte, investigated Henry Moore’s Warrior With Shield and talked about photorealism with Frank.
This was a smart, thoughtful group of teenagers. They had fun, had ideas, were familiar with art.
At noon I had a group of 3rd graders from Fairmont Elementary. The first three objects to which I took them, “We’ve already seen this.” Hmmm. This was an odd situation since the same group of kids had the same docents with the same tour theme. So.
I noticed they had a laminated card with particular paintings they needed to check off. “May I see that?” We then went on a treasure hunt to find the remaining paintings or objects they hadn’t seen. We had a good time, ending at the Wu Family Reception Hall. Which, of course, they had already seen. Sigh.
After that a fun continuing education with improv performers on temporary staff with the MIA. They’re bringing improv techniques to many different aspects of the museum. It was fun and reminded me that once I had been an actor. And not a bad one.
