She Liked It! She Really Liked It!

To be honest, a lot of times I take Chloe to the museum because I want to go.  I know that she would rather be at the playground or at the pool, but I’m hoping that she will appreciate all of the culture that she is exposed to later in life.  However, this Thursday I took her to the latest exhibit at The Studio Museum in Harlem, and I do believe that she actually enjoyed it!  We started out looking at Stanley Whitney's series “Dance the Orange” and she commented on the various shades of pink in the paintings.  Victory!

Stanley Whitney

The standout for her was Lauren Halsey’s mixed media exhibit “Kingdom Splurge.” It is unlike anything that we have seen at The Studio Museum. Chloe was proud of the fact that she recognized that the entrance was reminiscent of Ancient Egyptian tombs that she has seen at The Met, and she enjoyed walking into the pink and purple iridescent “kingdom.”  She looked at the various textures and words on the wall, and enjoyed finding familiar objects in the exhibit.

Lauren Halsey

Before we left we visited the Lorraine O’Grady exhibit, "Art Is", on the bottom floor.  In 1983 O’Grady created a float for the African-American Day Parade in Harlem.  She and 15 other artists dressed in white carried golden frames and periodically jumped off of the float and asked people to pose behind them.  The resulting photographs are full of dignity and joy. 

Lorraine O'Grady

Chloe and I talked about the point that the artist was making about people in Harlem.  She said that O'Grady wanted white people to see that black people were equal to whites.  We talked about how it was more important to think about what we as black people think of each other.  Deep conversations for an almost 3^rd grader . . .  I think that I'll take her roller skating tomorrow :)