Summer Fun Ahead at the Museum

03.21.2024
A photograph of some butterfly art
There's plenty of art to be enjoyed at the museum and at home this summer.

Ah, summer. The season beckons us to relax, slow down and find new ways to have fun and experience joy. Summer is still a few months away, but it’ll be here before you know it. If you’re making plans for your children in the balmy days ahead, the Georgia Museum of Art has programs that aim to encourage children’s creativity and engagement with the world of art.

Art Adventures

The Art Adventures program has long been a part of the Georgia Museum of Art’s educational programming. Over the years, the program has included a variety of fun ways for children to engage with and explore the world of 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 exploring 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.

This free 90-minute art experience will be offered on select Tuesdays and Wednesday, with both morning and afternoon availability, from June 5 to July 24, for camps, community centers and other groups. This year, our “Sensational Summer” adventure will lead participants in a multi-sensory exploration of the museum’s permanent collection. 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.

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, said Georgia Museum of Art assistant curator of education Kaitlyn Loyd.

The program will also facilitate a learning opportunity for two University of Georgia students. “Funding from Terra will support program activities, including two paid student gallery teaching positions,” said Loyd. “Under the guidance of education staff, summer gallery teaching interns will learn strategies for engaging groups in object-based learning, facilitate tours and lead students in art-making projects to expand on gallery experiences.”

Inspired by the variety of ways that visitors can experience art using all the senses, each 90-minute session includes interactive gallery tours, games and an art activity. Day camps, daycares and community centers are invited to take part in this free summer program. Each session can accommodate up to 30 children, with one chaperone for every 10 kids.

Interested in scheduling your group’s Art Adventure? Submit a request using our online form at: georgiamuseum.org/visit/tours/register-for-a-tour/.

Art at Home Collection

While opportunities for creativity and inspiration are abundant in the museum’s galleries and classrooms, our Art at Home projects nurture children’s experience with creativity and art to go beyond the walls of the museum. Over 130 creative activities and projects are also often accompanied by short educational lesson guides that explore related art concepts and history.

The collection is a free resource that can be a valuable tool to help children and families explore creativity and art at home. Most Art at Home projects are catered to materials you probably already have on hand at home. These simple projects are low stress and allow families to have fun and express their inner artist together. A fun creative activity can also provide some relief with some cool indoor fun when children’s all-too-familiar summer lamentation of “I’m bored” becomes a daily source of parental stress. Take a look through our collection, bookmark your favorites and plan ahead for the dog days of summer. You can thank us later.

So, what kind of projects are in our collection? Many of the projects were originally activities in our Toddler Tuesday or Family Day programs, so they’re easily suited to young children. While projects are sure to be a lot of fun for children, art education has also been shown to have a positive impact on children’s development and is a valuable and meaningful way to create lasting memories with your family. Art at Home projects are regularly updated and available to you on our website and our Pinterest board.

So, just what kind of projects are in our collection? From abstract painting and photo collages to mixed-media portraits and fabric dyeing, Art at Home offers a variety of projects that can turn a lackluster summer afternoon into a fun-filled creative experience for the whole family. Below, you’ll find a sampling of a few of our favorite projects:

Other Summer Fun at the Museum

The Georgia Museum of Art has a lot of other events coming up in the months ahead. Here are a few to note on your calendar:

Family Days:
Earth Day – Saturday, April 27, 10 a.m. – noon

April is Earth Month, with Earth Day taking place on April 22. Explore environmental works of art in the galleries, complete Art Cart activities and create your own work of art inspired by our green planet.

Eye Witness – Saturday, May 18, 10 a.m. – noon

The exhibition “Kei Ito: Staring at the Face of the Sun” uses photography to examine the possibilities of healing and reconciliation in the shadow of the Atomic Age. Explore the galleries with interactive Art Cart activities and make a work of art to take home.

Summer Scapes – Saturday, June 15, 10 a.m. – noon

Join us as we look at the traditions of landscape and plein-air painting to celebrate the arrival of summer. Have fun in the galleries with Art Cart activities and create your own work of art inspired by the outdoors.

 

New exhibitions:
A Perfect Model: Prints after Anthony van Dyck’s Portraits (June 8 — December 1, 2024)

Anthony van Dyck (Flemish, 1599 – 1641) was one of the most successful artists of his generation, especially admired for his evocative portraits. He undertook the ambitious project of creating a series of prints depicting famous scholars, military men, nobles and artists. Van Dyck’s prints were widely copied by his contemporaries and were often altered and reprinted over the centuries. This exhibition presents prints that attest to Van Dyck’s lasting impact as printmaker and portraitist.

Saint Petersburg as Franz Liszt Saw It  (August 10 — December 1, 2024)

This exhibition is organized in conjunction with the Liszt Festival at the University of Georgia’s Hugh Hodgson School of Music in October 2024. The event celebrates the legacy of the Hungarian composer and pianist Frantz/Ferenc Liszt (1811 – 1886). This year’s edition of the festival highlights Liszt’s visits to Russia in the 1840s.

Our exhibition features works on paper from the Georgia Museum of Art’s permanent collection showing Russia at the time of the great musician’s visit. Large lithographic prints feature cityscapes of St. Petersburg, while small hand-colored ones picture genre scenes and different occupations: coachmen, porters, water carriers, innkeepers, street peddlers. All these prints were issued by the same publisher, Giuseppe Daziaro (1796 – 1865). Daziaro held shops in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Paris and Warsaw. He also collaborated with the French printer Lemercier à Paris. Within their sweeping vistas, the large cityscapes contain figures and scenes that find close parallels in the small prints.

 

Want to know more about upcoming events at the museum?

Authored by:

Alexandra King