Giving LACMA another chance

August 31st, 2010. Published under family fun. 9 Comments.

Hold the statue’s hand while I take your picture. He scanned the surroundings before timidly touching the statue’s fingertip, all the while reminding me that the guards may not like it. He is such a fearful child. My son was hesitant to get close to any artwork at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art). Poor thing. Our last visit did not really make us feel welcome. We were reprimanded four times by the museum guards. And I was thinking that it wasn’t such a good idea for them to give kids free memberships because LACMA is not a very kid-friendly place. They have to move slowly , talk quietly, and keep their hands to their sides. I was all stressed out trying to restrain my rambunctious children. Museums are like mausoleums, unfit for creatures that are full of life.

Nothing fazes my four-year-old. She touched the sculpture just to annoy her older brother. I kept looking around, expecting a guard to pop out and tell us off.

Boone Children’s Gallery. This is a new addition to LACMA. I had my qualms about visiting LACMA again, but we went there last August 13, after my dental appointment. It was late in the afternoon and I wanted to wait out the rush hour traffic on the freeways. I didn’t want to bring the kids to a mall and have to listen to them beg for  a racing barbie  or a star wars action figure. In this place I didn’t  have to spend a dime. My kids have free membership.

I announced that we were gonna be artists for an hour or two. My son proceeded to do what he does best. Whine. I pretended not to hear. We sat down. Across the table was a baby, in a high chair, imitating Jackson Pollack’s painting style. His mom was cheering him on. An artist-looking guy came over to welcome us and give us art materials. Our unease started to melt away.  It was refreshing not to hear a brusque warning from a museum staff.

What did he say this was, again? Tempura paint?  My son looked at me in exasperation, and chided me that tempura is for eating and not for painting.

My little girl just went down to business right away. I like it when people just do things without complaining.  She painted a monster of some kind. Then she declared that she wants to be “a artist”.

My son’s masterpiece. Beautiful! It must be humpty dumpty wearing a ceremonial mask. I made something, too, but I threw it in the trash.

Nice place. People were happy here, especially those two old guys in the next table. They looked like little kids. With their faces all scrunched up in concentration, they wielded the brush like a musical conductor’s baton. Each time they finished a painting, they would hold it up and examine it with obvious pride. It was delightful to watch them.

By the time we had to go home, my son begged me to check if they have some medieval armors on display. We only found a samurai armor and he asked me  to snap a photo of him beside it. There was no other armor aside from that so he suggested that we just look at some paintings instead.

No reprimands for us on that day. My kids have learned the proper way to behave around expensive art objects. I guess, they’re starting to acquire some culture.