Each summer, the Georgia Museum of Art hosts Art Adventures, a free summer art education program for children. Art Adventures invites children from day camps, daycares and community centers to experience art in person and even make some of their own.
This year, the program’s “Sensational Summer” theme invites children to explore art with all of their senses. During each 90-minute session, groups enjoy a tour of the galleries, play games and tap into their own creativity by making kaleidoscopes. It’s an immersive multi-sensory exploration of art.
It’s easy to view and look closely at art, but our eyes aren’t the only thing we use to experience the world around us. Have you ever heard it, smelled it or maybe even tasted it? Our senses – touch, sight, sound, smell and taste — are integral to our perception of everything around us, art included. This year’s adventure will give children a chance to learn about the importance of our senses.
The Art Adventures program has long been a part of the Georgia Museum of Art’s educational programming and, over the years, has offered a variety of fun ways for children to engage with and explore art.
In 2013, groups played detective and solved a mystery together by finding clues in the artworks on display in the galleries. In 2018, our participants explored the elements of art – color, line, shape, frames and form – by participating in a series of interactive stations that explained art basics such as how paint is made, how shapes come together in a composition and how to know whether a work of art is two- or three-dimensional.
So far this year, we’ve had quite a few camps and community youth groups visit us, but the program also had fun going off-site to bring the art experience to groups that aren’t able to visit the museum in person.
Thanks to support from the Terra Foundation for American Art, this summer the museum was able to hire and pay three interns to serve on staff as gallery teachers. The addition of Tallulah Sanders, Maggie Googe and Sarah Rose has made a big impact. Assistant curator of education Kaitlyn Loyd said:
To offer our summer art adventures for free to participants, the museum depends on donations and grant funding. The 2024 adventure is made possible thanks to a grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art. Established in 1978, the Terra Foundation has been one of the leading foundations focused on U.S. art and has been a strong supporter of the Georgia Museum of Art. This summer’s program will highlight its contributions to the museum by showcasing works from the Terra Foundation’s Collections-in-Residence program.
Mallory Lind, associate curator of education, appreciates the value of having additional paid staff for this year. “Having paid interns enhances our ability to give meaningful tours,” she said “but it also gives our interns the ability to see themselves as active and valuable members of our art education team.”
With more support and time to dedicate to the program, interns have been more involved in supporting the program’s mission, noted Lind. They have worked together to modify the gallery tour plan to better suit older teen audiences and are also writing scripts and filming videos for social media that feature background and context on selected works in the permanent collection and on works on loan from the Terra Foundation.
There’s still time to sign up and visit an Art Adventure session with your camp or children’s group this summer. Each session can accommodate up to 30 children, with one chaperone for every 10 kids. Interested in signing up your group? Submit a request using our online form at: georgiamuseum.org/visit/tours/register-for-a-tour/.
Authored by:
Isabel Davis
