The MOA

I feel fairly heroic when I take five small children to something cultural and there aren't any meltdowns. I guess it would be easier to wait until all my kids are older, but June would get the short end of that stick and my kids would never learn manners in polite society. So, without many second thoughts, I took all my children to the BYU Museum of Art.

They happened to be showing their exhibit featuring Carl Bloch and his paintings of Christ's life.  We were quite lucky to even get inside. The main parking lot was blocked off for only those coming to see the exhibit, so we had to park farther away. Once inside I was told they had some standby tickets and since we were early and it wasn't crowded yet, they gave us six. By the time we left the museum an hour or so later, there was a long line, so I was very grateful that we got to go in at all. And it was well worth it. The paintings were magnificent. Bloch's work is well recognized in the LDS church, but even so, there were several pictures that I had not seen before. I particularly liked a portrayal of Christ in Gethsemane with an angel by His side.

And the girls were very well behaved. There was a certain wall dipicting the 14 paintings Bloch was commissioned to paint after the art work was destroyed in a fire at the Freidrickburg's Castle. It took him 14 years to finish all the pieces, but it cool to see them all displayed together and the girls were able to pick out their favorites. (Please pardon if that history is incorrect. I read the inscription rather quickly. You learn not to take your eyes off children for long.)

After that we wandered downstairs and viewed lots of art showing the "Wide-Open Spaces" of the southwest.  Having grown up in Washington, I am more a fan of the greens and trees of the northwest than the browns and cacti of the south. Nevertheless, there were some beautiful pieces. Somewhere on the bottom floor we ran into this really cool media-art that you could interact with. I can't really explain it well, so here is the blurb from the MOA website:

Brian Knep is a new-media artist who uses science and technology to explore change, healing, struggle and acceptance. Healing 1, the work the museum will be showing, uses custom algorithms to create a glowing pool of organic patterns projected on the floor. These patterns tear and rebuild themselves as viewers walk across the projection, mirroring the healing process as a scar develops over a wound and reflecting the memory that those scars may hold.

Anyway, this is what it looked like. First, Robyn is walking across it and you can see the hole she left behind her. 

Then the girls sat down and waited for the art to heal itself. 

Um...I got scolded at a different place for taking a picture, but I didn't see anything down there that said no photography. Even so, just focus on the kids and not the art and maybe that will make it okay. That place was really cool and even Pearl liked walking around on the swirly floor.

Next, we just wandered and found another section. By then Pearl was getting rather feisty but we were in the World War II art, so that was probably appropriate. (After all, many of the pieces were supposed to inspire fear in the viewer, or at least incite them to action.) The kids said afterward that that was their least favorite section. I thought it was very interesting to see what the media put out to encourage people to contribute to the war effort. And yes, lots of the pieces were somewhat disturbing.

The last thing we saw on the way out was a huge tower of books. It was so incredible. I would have taken a picture, but that may have been what I got scolded about. It was really cool. Trust me, or go see for yourself if you live nearby.

And yes, I know I just told you yesterday that I wasn't taking the camera around, but I did have the stroller, so I decided to be brave. After all, if I was going to be supermom today, I may as well go all out. And you can't knock the price. We had a great morning and all for free.

Here are my art enthusiasts. (June looks particularly enthusiastic, don't ya think?)