MoMA Field Trip

At pick-up time in the Kindergarten hallway on October 15, young voices enthusiastically reported about their trip to MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art.  I approached Ms. Milstead to learn more and asked if I may write about the trip.  To my delight, she informed me that only half of the Kindergarten attended and asked if I would like to chaperone the second trip.  On October 17, I found myself gliding through the MoMA, Ferris Bueller art museum style, hand in hand with Kindergarten South and four other Kindergarten parents who were chaperoning as well.  The only thing missing was the movie’s musical score.  It was a sublime experience that I captured on camera when my hands were free, which was when Ms. Milstead would have the boys sit in front of a painting to explore it together.

The paintings that we gathered in front were: The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh, The Red Studio by Henri Matisse, Three Musicians by Pablo Picasso, Broadway Boogie Woogie by Piet Mondrian, and Full Fathom Five by Jackson Pollack.  The boys studied these paintings before their visit, so when they saw them in real life they were enlightened and zealous to see them.  For example, as we entered a room with Jackson Pollack paintings, a boy told me, “We are now going to see the Jackson Pollack!” and said that he wanted to find the key.  He brought me closer to Full Fathom Five, and sure enough we found disguised in its layered paint drippings an iron key.  The boys reinforced and expanded their understanding of these artists and their styles, as did I.

In addition to these paintings, we visited the special exhibition called Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900–2000.  We saw hundreds if not thousands of organized, storied toys.  One of the chaperoning parents, Betty W., works for MoMA as an architect, and she helped to design the exhibit.  We were fortunate to have her expertise and help to navigate us through the large museum.  Thank you, Betty, and thank you to all the parents who chaperoned the MoMA field trip.

As you flip through the image gallery, I suggest, if I may, that you play the musical score in the Ferris Bueller art museum scene, Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want by The Dream Academy.