The Woodlands Children’s Museum, with support from The David Gottlieb Education Microgrant from The Woodlands Arts Council, successfully introduced an art appreciation program in 2023 that allowed young children to gain exposure to famous paintings and compare and contrast the images with pop culture. The “Looking at Art” presentations were offered 7 times throughout the year and were very popular and well attended by young children, homeschool families, parents and grandparents. Over 40 different artists were featured along with 14 different genres. The presenter showed 6-10 different pieces of art at each session. First, she showed a famous painting and discussed its unique features such as images, color, lighting, shape, texture and other aesthetic features. Next, she showed a piece of art with pop culture icons that children could easily identify and that used similar images, color, lighting, shape and texture. The recurring sessions have allowed children multiple opportunities to engage in discussions about art. The presentations were very popular, with our highest attendance during the summer months.
The Looking at Art program at the children’s museum was very well received by the community and the staff observed its impact in many different ways. On several occasions, the museum hosted field trips from local preschools and elementary schools on the same day as the Looking at Art presentations. The teachers, students, and parent chaperones were excited to participate in a special program during their visit and commented that art history was not something that this age group had much exposure to at school. They liked the way the paintings were paired with pop icons that young children could easily recognize and thought this was a very creative way to introduce famous artists to early learners. They were impressed that the children sat still, responded to questions from the presenter, and enthusiastically participated. The children were excited to see which painting was “revealed” next! The teachers felt that the presenter did a great job of talking about art in a way that young children could understand, and also kept the pace of the presentation moving quickly to keep children’s attention. Another way that the Looking at Art presentations impacted our community was by offering an introduction to art history for homeschool students. At some of the sessions offered in the Fall, we had a few older children attend who specifically chose to visit the museum in order to attend the Looking at Art program. They shared with our presenter that they enjoyed painting and wanted to learn more about famous artists. After the presentation, the students stayed behind to talk to the presenter and ask several more questions. The famous paintings and pop culture parodies also inspired our museum staff to think about art projects that we could offer in our Art Bar exhibit. By providing a hands-on activity that reinforces the concepts shared during the presentation, children could further explore color, shape, lighting, texture, and other aesthetic choices. These visual perception skills also help children connect words to pictures and are an important pre-literacy skill. The David Gottlieb Education Microgrant has successfully impacted the social fabric of our community and enhanced early learning for hundreds of children in our community.