Introduction

This is one in a series of nine reports describ-ing the Denver Art Museum’s four-year commitmentto making the museum an imaginative and playfulfamily destination. Thanks to an invaluable grantfrom The Pew Charitable Trusts, the museum hasbeen able to develop and refine its programs forchildren ages six to twelve and their adult compan-ions. Funds were used to create permanent familyservices that can be maintained at minimal costs,both in terms of dollars and staff time. From theoutset, these offerings were built to last. Althoughadults remain the museum’s primary audience, fam-ilies are now a strong second.

What is a Family-Friendly Art Museum Like?

Families’ needs are anticipated fromthe moment visitors walk through thedoors. For example, they can pick up awelcoming brochure, Free Things for Kidsto Do Today, from the ticket counter. Thetwo-sided foldout, featuring Seymour, the

family programs mascot, spells out what is availabledaily, on weekends and during school breaks. TheTry This section encourages kids to go on a huntthrough the museum to find images of Seymour, whois always posted near fun stuff for families.

Rather than offering only ephemeral live pro-grams or classes for families, the museum has creat-ed permanent fixtures on every floor that make theDenver Art Museum a good option for families

whenever they may visit. There are nowmore than twenty-five places in the muse-um where visitors can find over fifty fami-ly activities. These offerings range fromquick riddle games to more in-depthbackpack activities. Some are available

only on weekends or holidays, but mostare out all the time.

While some activities are led by staffor volunteers, the vast majority are do-it-yourself. For many families, freedom ofchoice is critical to enjoying visits and

Introduction • 2

Many families visiting for the first time often are unaware of the treasures that await them. To familiarize families with currentprograms and entice them to return for future visits, the museum created this free flyer packed with fun activities to do today.

wanting to return.Using the many educa-tional programs andactivities as a guide,families can decidewhat parts of the

museum they want tofocus on.

“We try to make it eas-ier for families to get to

activities,” said Janet Meredith,director of marketing at the museum.“Parents don’t have a lot of time to sit withkids and research where they are going.Brochures, signs, and directions have tomake it clear and easy. With kids you haveto move, or you lose their interest.”

Seymour plays a valuable, visible rolein the overall navigational scheme. Basedon a pre-Columbian ceramic vessel in thepermanent collection, he was discoveredduring an all-museum staff hunt for amascot. With cameras in hand, museumstaff searched the galleries for an animalthat could be developed into a symbol forfamilies. In the end, they narrowed theirinitial fifty selections to two—a monkeyand a crocodile. The simian characterwon hands-down, after a weekend surveyof kids visiting the museum, said familyprograms coordinator, Maria Garcia.

“We were asking kids to put adjectiveswith these two animals,” Garcia said.“The thing we found out about crocodilesis that they eat kids! So we ended up withSeymour. Kids really saw a monkey as amore animated, playful type of character.I remember them saying, ‘I can totally see

this monkey talking. This monkey climbstrees. This monkey gets into trouble.”

In museum brochures and signsSeymour sometimes wears sunglasses,rides a skateboard, skis, and even swimsin Hawaiian print shorts. He is a sourceof endless creativity and entertainment tothe museum’s graphic designers.

Why Families as an Art MuseumAudience?

Reaching a larger and more diversefamily audience is an effective way togradually increase attendance at theDenver Art Museum, which in the pasthas been perceived as a place more foradults than for kids. By enticing familieswith young children, who make up about40 percent of the Denver metropolitancommunity, the museum can tap into areservoir of potential visitors. OnSaturdays, which are free for Coloradoresidents and tailored toward families,nineteen percent of the visitors come withchildren.Twenty-sixpercent ofnon-Anglovisitors onthat daybring theirkids.

In the fallof 2000, themuseumadded anotherincentive toencourage

Introduction • 3

family visits. It restructured its pricing sothat kids twelve and under are always free.Like free admission for Colorado residentson Saturdays, this provides a bigincentive for families to come and explorewithout digging into their pocketbooks.

This economic change enables theDenver Art Museum to be on more equalfooting with other institutions in theDenver metropolitan community that tra-ditionally draw families, such as chil-dren’s and natural history museums, theaquarium, and the zoo. These cultural andscientific institutions have a strong natu-ral appeal for families while art museumstraditionally do not. By removing the cost,one barrier is eliminated instantly.Financially, first-timers as well as repeatvisitors don’t have anything to lose.

“We have to communicate that this isgreat for kids,” said Meredith. “We wantfamilies to understand that this is worth try-ing. Once they are in the museum, we deliv-er on our promise of being family-friendly.”

Creating future adult audiences isanother benefit of family programs. “Youare more likely to become an adult visitorif you come as a child with your family,”Melora McDermott-Lewis, director of fam-ily programs and master teacher forEuropean and American art, said.“Families model great visitor dynamics.You wander around looking at things withpeople you know well and value. Youguide yourself and learn to experience themuseum in your own way, learning skillsthat can carry over into your adult life.”

Children want to explore with their

parents or other adults who are special intheir lives. Sharing experiences togetheradds value to visits. Family time is spe-cial in part because it is spent in thepresence of loved ones. In the intimacy ofsmall, caring groups, lifelong passionscan take shape. Families are brilliantlypositioned for nurturing such potential.

“The education department has hit onall the notes,” says DAM director LewisSharp. “If you can attract children, theycan develop lifelong interests in museums.”

Using Play as a Model for Family Learning

Each family that comes to the museumis enjoying time off. They want to havefun. Knowing this, the education depart-ment began to seek out and explore otherplaces kids and families go, such as toystores, children’s museums, and favoritewebsites. They also read stacks of maga-zines recommended by librarians at theDenver Public Library.

“We wanted to see where families weregoing and what was capturing their atten-tion,” Garcia said. “We were trying topick up on these things and bring theminto the art museum setting, becauseobviously they were working.”

Despite their casual agendas, a lot oflearning goes on within families. In herarticle, “Museums as Resources forFamilies,” D.D. Hilke noted, “Familiescoming into your museum may or may notremind us of a herd of horses, but in thehustle and bustle of coat shedding, shoetying, bathroom stops, and parental

Introduction • 4

attempts at corralling youngsters in thefoyer, the analogy is often apt … How canwe lead this herd of individuals into ourexhibitions and make them learn? Dealwith their primary agenda first. Families

do not come to the museum to learn. Theycome, first and foremost, to have a goodfamily outing. All else is secondary.”

The Role of Master TeachersCritical to achieving these goals are

the education department’s master teach-ers, who for the past decade have workedin collaboration with curators. Masterteachers are assigned to individual collec-tions, as are curators. They bring knowl-edge and sensitivity to the particular col-lection for which they are responsible andto all aspects of the activities and galleryinstallations they develop. These educa-tors are not only conversant with the con-text, philosophies, and techniques of art,but also with the psychology of responsesby viewers with varied backgrounds. Theymust know the art, and they must be gift-ed teachers. Master teachers work withdesigners, publications and audio-visualstaff, and curators to design galleries thatoften include interactive and didactic ele-ments. They also develop games, puzzles,or other family activities. Master teacherswork in close collaboration with othereducation staff who coordinate family pro-grams on a day-to-day basis.

Master teachers talk with, interview,and observe parents and children to buildupon their understanding of museum visi-tors. One of the most frequently usedmethods for gathering this information isthe visitor panel. A cross between a focusgroup and a community advisory group,visitor panels allow staff to find out whatvisitors thought of their museum experi-

Introduction • 5

Knowing that families come to the museum not only tolearn, but to have fun, banners like this one use minimalinformation to encourage visitors to take part in activi-ties. In this case, the message is clear: Dress up likeEgyptian animals.

ences and what they would recommendfor improving those experiences.Educators then apply what they learn tothe ongoing family program, led for morethan a decade by Melora McDermott-Lewis, with help from many staff mem-bers, including Maria Garcia, coordinatorof family programs, and PattersonWilliams, dean of the education depart-ment. These three educators envisioned abigger, more integrated picture for familyaudiences. To help bring their vision tolife, they called on the entire educationdepartment and many other museumdepartments such as marketing and secu-rity. Making the DAM a family destina-tion was truly a museum wide effort.

Are We Finished with Family Programs Now?

As the Denver Art Museum expandsand grows in the coming decade, it plansto nurture the family programs createdand refined during four years of invalu-able support from The Pew CharitableTrusts. Like a gardener laying out andplanting a carefully conceived and pat-terned landscape, the museum has put inplace a vibrant array of activities andofferings. But this is only the beginning.To keep children and the adults whoaccompany them coming back, programsneed to be fed, watered and weeded on anongoing basis. By continuing to listen tofamily visitors and to adjust programs aschildhood itself changes, the museum canuse the next decade to create a broadfamily audience for the museum. And it

will take a decade and longer.The family programs are now well

established. Their basic structure is inplace and can be supported at moderateannual cost. The challenge for the nextdecade is to weave family programs into thecapital expansion of the museum and togradually build the size and diversity of thefamily audience. For traditional museumgoers, family attendance is likely to grownaturally by word of mouth as current audi-ences realize that there are good things forfamilies at the museum. For other audi-ences, with less trust and confidence thatart museums will be family friendly, themuseum will need to make concertedefforts to encourage their attendance.

Because families will find such a rangeof programs and activities when they visit,as well as a caring environment intended tomake trips easy and fun, the hope is thatthey will return for at least three or foursolid visits a year, for several years in arow. If this happens, both the kids and theiradult companions might just become devot-ed and habitual museum goers for life, ashas happened for the second generation ina row in Maria Garcia’s family.

As a teenager in the 1970s Garcia,family programs coordinator, first followedher older sister, Margot, into the museum.The girls, who lived in a Denver neigh-borhood within walking distance of themuseum, would roam on their own or withfriends wherever they wanted. Going intothe galleries was second nature—in fact,the rooms felt like an extended part oftheir front yard.

Introduction • 6

Year after year, Margot Garcia wouldvisit “her” art, which included quilts andArcimboldo’s oil painting of a face com-posed entirely of fruit. As a new mother,she revisited “her” painting with herbaby, Chelsea.

Now, that same compilation of fruit isa favorite of Chelsea’s, while Margot’s ten-year-old son, Eli, takes great ownership inDeborah Butterfield’s three bronze horsesin an outside sculpture garden. He hasbeen coming to classes and exploring themuseum with his mom since he was three.These days, he often is with his AuntMaria. He talks as naturally and enthusi-astically about art as he does about socceror anything else he’s been exposed to anddeveloped an interest in.

Passing on personal commitment andappreciation of art to family audienceswill be a challenge. As staff change andthe museum grows, seeing that familyprograms are as important to the museumas exhibitions and school programs canmake the museum a more integral part ofits community. When will staff know thatthe museum has permanently changed toaccommodate families and that the pro-grams put in place for families are mak-ing the difference they hope for? ForMaria Garcia one sign of that change iswhen families are automatically includedin any discussions of museum plans. Forother museum staff, that moment willoccur when you are able to ask an aver-age adult in Denver about his or heryouthful experiences with the art museumand he or she is able to remember pleas-ant frequent visits with family membersin their leisure time.

Introduction • 7

When artist Deborah Butterfield sculpted the three bronzehorses that grace the Kemper Courtyard, she imagined chil-dren playing on them. Today Willy, Argus, and Lucky are awelcoming reminder of the museum’s commitment to fami-lies. (Deborah Butterfield, Willy, Argus, and Lucky, 1996)

Some art works make a lasting impression on young visitors. Arcimboldo’s portrait is one of them. Composed entirely of fruit, it remains one of the museum’s most memorable family attractions. (Giuseppe Arcimboldo Allegorical Portrait: Summer, 1572)

Summer Camps

At the Denver Art Museum, protected bytheir fish amulets, a small group of six to eight yearolds crosses the treacherous Nile to a dimly litembalming tomb where they begin to prepare thebody of Djed-Hor, priest and nobleman, for theafterlife. At the dark end of a museum hallway, thechildren can’t hear the rush of water anymore. TheNile’s surging rapids are muffled in this enclosedspace that has been transformed from an ordinaryhallway to a twilight world some 2,700 years in the past.

This isn’t the only way the curving hallway hasbeen altered for summer camps. For Adventures ofWhite Heron Castle, it becomes a rocky mountain-side that children, ringing copper bells on sticks,

travel to reach Mount Fuji. During thefinal afternoon of Much More Than FourLegs, the airy space resembles an artgallery where kids exhibit a week’s worthof their chair designs for dotingpatrons—family and friends who sipsparkling cider from plastic champagneglasses.

Outside in the sculpture garden, the People ofthe Jaguar sit in costumes they’ve worked on forfour days. To the steady beat of a drum, the kids lifttheir arms up to the sky and turn to the four cornersof the Earth. While slowly dancing in a circle, theyconjure up the opening ceremony to an ancientballgame.

Museum summer camps end in cele-brations where children can share whatthey’ve learned and created with theirfamilies and friends. The camps give chil-dren a sense of ownership and pride inthe museum. Galleries become familiarand comfortable, and adventures often areshared well into the future. One boy wasso taken with Adventures of White HeronCastle that he wanted to eat onlyJapanese food and wear Japanese clothes.

“These children are here in theirleisure time—what they think of as vaca-tion,” says Patterson Williams, dean ofeducation and master teacher for Asianart. “We would not be able to get the kidsto sign up for the camps on the basis ofwhat they learn alone. Our challenge as amuseum is to find ways to engage audi-ences in their leisure time. In this sense,we’re very different from schools.”

Since 1998, the museum’s master

teachers have created several four-daysummer art camps for children. Eachfocuses on a particular culture and collec-tion with which the master teacher works.

“The master teachers’ summer campassignment was to take the way they relat-ed passionately to art in our collectionand turn it into something that’s magicalfor kids,” says Williams. There was mini-mal interest in using similar teachingmethods in each camp and maximuminterest in master teachers using theirpreferred ways of teaching and integratingcollections into each of the camps.

Each educator spends eight hours aday, four days a week with kids, workingon art projects, telling stories, time traveling, and exploring objects in thepermanent collection as a means to learn about a particular culture and itsart. The summer camps are “idea factories” as well as the corner-

stone upon which masterteachers build and refineother education projectsthroughout the museum.“Nobody created a familybackpack or any other pro-gram until they had at leastone year of these concen-trated labs under theirbelts,” says MeloraMcDermott-Lewis, directorof family programs and mas-ter teacher for Europeanand American art.

All the full-day campsinclude amenities such as

Summer Camps • 2

Adorned in the Maya clothing, jewelry, and feathered headdresses they havecreated, campers dance with musical instruments before beginning an ancientball game. Colorful banners they have made line the courtyard.

supervised lunch and snackbreaks, early drop-off, andlate pick-up. Each camp hasfifteen students (includingthree scholarship students)and usually three summerteaching interns. These paidinterns work several campsduring the summer, assistingwith preparations and teach-ing under the supervision ofvarious master teachers.Their assistance was criticalin the development stages ofthe camps, the first four years they weretaught; but as the camps took shape assis-tance was reduced and now camps use 2unpaid interns as assistants.

Although the camps’ overall formatremains the same, master teachers bringtheir individual interests and passions.Carla Hartman, master teacher for archi-tecture, design and graphics, for example,wants her kids to be fascinated by makingchairs from their imaginations. Her campis largely about process; she wants to turnover her power as a teacher as much aspossible, so that by the end of the week,there is a collaborative sense much likethat in a design studio. Williams, on theother hand, brings cultural history to lifethrough imaginative storytelling. Kidstravel through the galleries on journeysthat parallel those of four imaginaryJapanese children who lived in a castletwo hundred years ago.

People of the Jaguar Camp(for nine to twelve year olds)Taught by Gretchen DeScoise, masterteacher for pre-Columbian and Spanishcolonial art

When kids sign up for People of theJaguar, they do more than join an artclass. They travel back in time with asportive sense of purpose. At the end ofthe week, they will dress in full regaliathat they have created, and march to theoutdoor sculpture garden to compete in anancient Maya ballgame.

The event is great fun, but DeScoiseinfuses it with artistic and cultural mean-ing. In making their own outfits, childrenlearn about Maya animals, dance, ritual,myth, and ceremony. Campers becometraders, bartering for feathers with choco-late beans. They also meet a live macaw,solve riddles about gallery objects, andlisten to spooky tales that pit ancient goodguys against evil lords of death. Theyhandle jade and create their own incense

Summer Camps • 3

Campers participating the museum’s People of the Jaguar program add afew modern touches to an ancient Maya ball game on the final day of class.

burners. Woven into everything they do isthe art and history of the Maya people,who lived centuries ago in the rainforestsof what is now Guatemala.

For camp participants, the unexpectedbegins on the first morning of the firstday. As children approach the classroom,they come face to face with a life-sizedjaguar who guards the doors. The stuffedcreature beckons them into the room.Within a few hours, tables are strewn withjadelike green fun foam, glue, scissors,beads, green straws, gold and silver glit-ter. The children are working on collarsand wristlets that they will wear for theballgame’s opening ceremony.

Michael, ten, cuts tiny strips of funfoam and glues them onto his neckpieceto make a raised linear face. He addspainted gold and silver embellishments in careful patterns accented with beads.At another table, Paul, also ten, hangsgreen straws from the fun foam. “I canimagine the jade, when it dangles andhits your chest, would make a nicesound,” he says.

That morning, the kids looked at jadeadornments in the museum’s pre-Columbiangallery. They sat in a semicircle around ahuge stone stela incised with a linearimage of a ruler. DeSciose pointed out hiselaborate headdress, adorned with hun-dreds of feathers and his heavy jade col-lar, wristlets, and ballgame belt. From herbasket, she passed around jade ear spoolsjust like the ones in the ruler’s ears.

“When you were walking in the stream

bed, you might find a stone like this,”DeSciose says. “If you broke it open, itlooked like jade inside. Put it up to yourcheek and feel how cool it is.”

The stela is a springboard to the past.The children learn that sculptors carvedthe monument to honor their city’s ruler.The stone would have been painted redlike his blood, which he shed during aceremony of prayer and fasting to helpguide decisions, ward off famine and tokeep the rains coming and the corn grow-ing—or even in anticipation of a ballgame.

“The rainforest takes over these largecarvings,” DeSciose says. “Perhaps a

Summer Camps • 4

Jaguar Burial Urn, AD 650-800, Late Classic Maya

huge tropical storm blew over this stela. It fell down flat on the face you see.Although his nose and chin are brokenoff, you can see he is facing to the right inprofile. The Maya wanted people to seetheir beautiful profiles. They loved slop-ing foreheads. Babies destined to berulers wore boards that pressed theirheads into a point to make them look likeears of corn.”

DeSciose weaves in just enough histo-ry to connect directly to objects at hand.The children naturally begin to decipherthe symbolic meaning of what they’relooking at. They see that Maya artreflects Maya beliefs. As the kids moveback and forth all week between the pre-Columbian gallery and their classroom,they begin to feel at home in the muse-um. They are able to use objects to directtheir own learning.

“I use objects and art making as doorsto discovery,” DeSciose says. “I remem-ber as a child that there was something somagical about making something terrif-ic–you felt so good about yourself. Thoseare the things you will never forget. Thechildren will remember that they felt goodabout learning and experiencing the Mayaand their art.”

DeSciose also uses storytelling to ani-mate objects. Each day after lunch, thekids settle down on cushions to hear thenext installment of a great Maya myth thattransports them to another time andplace. In front of the squirmy bunch,DeSciose sits calmly next to a strangelumpy object covered in black cloth. The

children keep rustling around as she tellsthem they are about to hear a story fromthe Popol Vuh, a famous Maya book filledwith tales once passed down orally fromone generation to the next. This will bescary, she assures them, and they mightnot want the lights turned off.

Suddenly riveted by the possibility ofhearing a creepy tale, they quiet downand energetically reassure her that spook-ier is better! Except for a spotlight illumi-nating her and the shadowy form, theroom is dark. “Imagine long, long ago,there were two brothers, the Hero Twins,who were living on the face of the earth,”DeSciose begins. “These kids were differ-ent from ordinary people–they were myth-ic characters who fought against evil.”

Standing up, she lifts the black shroudand reveals an elaborate diorama populat-ed with creatures from the Maya under-world. No one is fidgeting now. Cardboardstalactites and stalagmites enclose astunted world of twisted barren trees,strange owls, an albino rat, miniature hutsmade of sticks and jaguar fur, and blacksteps ascending through a hole in a roofto the barren top—the earth at the begin-ning of Maya time.

“This diorama is my idea of what theunderworld was like,” DeSciose says. “Itis Xibalba, which means ‘The Place ofFear and Trembling.’ In Xibalba, it wasfreezing cold. Nothing grew. It was mostlydark. You could only get to this under-world through holes. Where could thoseholes in the earth be?”

The kids shout out possible places,

Summer Camps • 5

such as the Khumbu Ice Falls in theHimalayas, volcanoes, an ocean, or evena fire.

“The Maya tell us that not only wasthe underworld really cold, gloomy, anddark, but it also was so smelly that all thepeople there had to smoke cigars.”

Throughout the story, DeSciose weaveshumor with adventure. She picks up twocardboard diorama characters, OneHunter and Seven Hunter, based onimages in the museum’s pre-Columbianart collection. On top of the diorama, thepair races back and forth in endless ball-games. Their noise irritates underworldgods—lords of death such as ScabMaster, Bone Scepter, Blood Gatherer,and Trash Master. These laminated card-board characters are also based on actual

images on Maya objects. In this way,DeSciose integrates the museum collec-tion by dramatizing it in ways that sparkimagination and create visual memories.

The characters tell the kids about theMaya’s three-part world—heaven, earth,and the underworld. DeSciose has tai-lored the myth for nine to twelve yearolds, populating it with scary things, won-derful heroes, power, mystery, and discov-ery. The mythic beings have to solveproblems and overcome seemingly insur-mountable obstacles. They use theirmagic and their wits to confront the evillords of death.

When DeSciose first started thinkingabout developing a summer camp for chil-dren, she knew she wanted to incorporatea theatrical storytelling component while

capitalizing onthings of naturalinterest, such asanimal compan-ions. The adven-tures of the HeroTwins involvedsuch a complexinterweaving ofcharacters andadventures thatshe decided tocreate a diorama.

“I thought,‘How could I makethe Popol Vuhmyths more memo-rable to kids?”DeSciose recalls.

Summer Camps • 6

Exploring a diorama of the Maya underworld makes it easy to remember stories from thePopol Vuh, the Maya book of creation.

“It has so much resonance in terms ofimagery used on Mayan pots.”

Interns and assistants helpedDeSciose create a portable, two-by-three-foot diorama that was light enough tocarry into the gallery but substantialenough to convey a theaterlike drama of afantasy world.

“I had no idea it was going to be sucha hit,” DeSciose says. “I was stunned bythe power of that diorama. I’ve never hadkids sit there open-mouthed for forty-fiveminutes!”

The diorama is successful in partbecause it looks homemade. Kids feellike they can make something like itthemselves. During the camp, childrenstart their own dioramas but are encour-aged to extend their interests beyond theclassroom by finishing them at home withpackets that include outlined charactersto color and glue onto cardboard.

“Storytelling is an important part oflife,” DeSciose says. “It’s the basis forwhy people read for pleasure, why they goto the movies. My grandfather was a fabu-lous storyteller. He told stories to usgrowing up. Those are some of my happi-est memories.”

Recounting the myths gives kids avisual sense for the Maya world and helpsthem connect imaginatively and emotion-ally to their art projects, games, andadventures in the galleries. Before hear-ing a traditional macaw story, the childrenspend a morning with a brilliantly coloredvisitor—Maya, a blue and gold macaw.After the children spend a few moments

admiring Maya’s iridescent mix of feath-ers and bright eyes, her owner, JamesBunnell, launches her into flight. Shelands on nine-year-old Rachel’s shoulder.

At the end of the visit, Bunnell passesaround a vase of Maya’s shed tail feath-ers. Each child picks one to adorn head-dresses they will make.

After Maya and Bunnell leave, theclassroom turns into a rainforest tradingmarket. Each camper gets a bag suppliedwith thirty chocolate beans, one piece ofjade worth five chocolate beans, and oneLincoln penny that they learn is a myste-rious and apparently worthless piece ofunrecognizable material to the Maya.They also get a recipe for Maya hotchocolate to make at home.

Interns become traders who presideover brightly painted baskets brimmingwith feathers of all sizes and colors. Acard explains what various feathers areworth. The children are encouraged tolook carefully through their valuables andcount them to get a sense for the bartervalue system.

“I’m not sure the Maya feather tradersare going to be interested in Americanmoney,” DeSciose says. “You’re going tohave to come up with a way to get theminterested. You also need to purchase atleast one big green quetzal feather.”

At the word go, the children almostinstantly transform into tenacious Mayabarterers. At teaching assistant CarmenRuyle’s station, Austin starts hagglingover a quetzal feather, finally tradingtwelve precious chocolate beans and the

Summer Camps • 7

Summer Camps • 8

Lincoln penny for it. “ I’ve learned thatCarmen is kind of a pushover. I told hermy penny was like a priceless bronzetoken. When she saw that it was mintedin 1997, she said, ‘Oh, maybe it’s worth1,997 chocolate beans.’ She gave methis—the best feather you can get.”

A bunch of kids rush over when internBen Irwin announces that he is slashinghis prices. “I got a red and a yellow feath-er from Ben for one penny,” Carolyn says.“Ben said, ‘It’s like I’m robbing you bytaking the penny.’ I convinced him thatAbe is a very good man. He does gooddeeds.”

The Maya barterers get so involved intheir pursuit of valuables that some ofthem run out of trading goods. DeScioseopens a bank and loans chocolate beansin return for later clean-up duty in theclassroom.

“Kids are fascinated with feathers,”DeSciose says. “But it took me a numberof years to refine the trading activity.Younger kids just give everything away toget feathers; they don’t see the fun in bar-gaining. This activity works best withchildren nine and up because they getsuch a kick out of trading. And it slowsthem down so they make better decisions.”

DeSciose took the penny idea from apre-Columbian school tour in which par-ticipants compared a known cultural arti-fact, the Lincoln penny, with an unknownpre-Columbian artifact. “I want the kidsto realize that to the Maya the pennywouldn’t be valuable. It helps conveywhat we unconsciously know about our

culture and what we are dealing withwhen we look at artifacts from a culturewe don’t know.”

This third day is all about macaws.Maya the macaw visits in the morning,followed by a flurry of feather trading.Then the children return to the stela inthe pre-Columbian gallery to listen toanother Popol Vuh story. This one isabout Seven Macaw, a gilded and arrogantmythic bird.

Back in their classroom, they begin toadorn their feathered headdresses withtheir own, individual symbols, images,and animal companions.

Candide adds a dolphin to her head-band. “I like dolphins,” she says. “I’vebeen collecting dolphin things forever,since I was six.”

Ten-year-old Andrew works on ademon face to symbolize the balance ofgood and evil in the world. He is thinkingback to Xibalba and the stories he hasheard this week.

“There has to be a lot of violence andbrutality in the underworld,” he says.“The underworld has to balance out thepeacefulness with violence. Think aboutit. The underworld is mostly a punish-ment for living a bad life. If there was noviolence in Xibalba you wouldn’t reallyhave a punishment, and the human racewouldn’t exist. If the underworld weren’t soviolent, the Maya would not have survived.”

Phillip and Carly launch into a longtalk about crops, hunting, and the Maya.They are debating the things they are mak-ing on their headdresses. This sort of

Summer Camps • 9

social interaction is another key compo-nent of the camp. Children start to developtheir own looking, thinking, and feelingskills, and to discuss what they are doing.

Immersed in a creative environmentfor several days, the children begin toblend their symbols with those of theMaya. They realize instinctively that allthings can be alive and filled with power,a concept central to Maya belief.

Throughout the week, the kids alsoplay discovery games in the galleries. Onthe last day, DeSciose takes them to apart of the gallery they haven’t explored.She stops in front of some stone objectscarved in shapes of people and animals,each of which has a hole at the top.

“Think like archaeologists,” she says.“What could these strange objects,hachas, have been used for?” Weaving inexcitement about the day’s upcoming cer-emony, she says, “Here’s another clue.These were all buried with ballgamebelts.”

By now the kids know enough to makesophisticated suppositions about what isinside the case. “I think these representteams,” Erin says. “If the team lost, theycould bury these.”

The rest of the day is devoted topreparing for the ballgame. Just beforeguests arrive, the children dress up. Intheir own costumes, they become Mayacontestants on the Macaw or Jaguarteams. Splendid in their feathered head-dresses, ear spools, jade collars, ballgamebelts, and printed Maya tunics, they lineup. Holding banners high, they walk to

the sculpture garden. On one side of the lawn, long tables dis-

play party food. To either side of their play-ing field are two hoops. If one team scoreswith the large ball, that team automaticallywins—something that has happened onlyonce during the camp’s four years.

Inside the garden, incense burns froma pot presided over by dancer PatriciaSigala who leads the children in a tradi-tional opening ceremony for the ballgame.Sigala works for the Museum of Inter-national Folk Art in Sante Fe and tracesher own heritage back to central Mexico.

Dressed traditionally, in brightly col-ored, elaborately embroidered andappliquéd clothing, she gives the childrena sense of the sacredness of the Mayaballgame and an appreciation of ritualand ceremony.

“You are wearing all your finestregalia,” she says. “I was invited to helpyou dedicate this sacred space.”

She passes around a smoking incenseburner so the children can breathe in thearoma and purify themselves to befocused ball players. Turning in fourdirections, they honor the earth’s north,south, east, and west, and the center oftheir circle—the path the sun takes eachday in the ancient Maya world and theirs,as well. Holding water, conch shells, rat-tles, and chocolate beans, they turnupward to the sky and bend down to theground. Slowly, they sing a song as adrum beats in the background.

Finishing their dance, the childrenclump into teams for the long-anticipated

Summer Camps • 10

ballgame. In the center, Erin keeps scoreusing specially marked scorecards withMaya numbers.

The game begins. “Hands!” “Out ofbounds!” “Goal!” The teams race backand forth. In the end, it’s a tie. TheMacaws and Jaguars head off to greettheir friends and family and have a snack.

“It’s taken me a number of years to getthe class to where it is today,” DeSciosesays. “Every year the composition of theclass is a little different, but one of thethings that always appeals to the kids isthe art making and the stories. I alwaysstart with the assumption that all kids arecapable, and that they all want to learn.”

Much More Than Four Legs Camp (for nine to twelve year olds)Taught by Carla Hartman, master teacherfor architecture, design and graphics

During their four days in Much MoreThan Four Legs, each child will make tenor more chairs of every shape, variety,texture, color, and material. They willglue on tissue paper, pasta curls, ceramicmosaic pieces, beads, and pompoms;pound flower colors into fabric; and bendwire and pipe cleaners into feet, backs,and tiny numbers on the face of a clock-shaped chair. They will make fishbowlchairs, seats for lounging, and couches forkings, queens, and tiny people. Some ofthis furniture will rock. One will walk onleaves. By the time they emerge from thisintense world of design creativity, the

kids probably will never look at chairs thesame way again.

On the first morning, however, most ofthe newcomers usually still think of achair as just a chair. Their classroombegins as a sparse, orderly workshop likethat of a nineteenth century craftsman. Itis supplied with balsa wood, Popsiclesticks, sandpaper, and cutting tools. Aday later, the classroom begins to feelmore and more like a contemporarydesigner’s studio overflowing with con-trolled chaos—colorful tissue paper, fab-ric, gold leaf, feathers, and sparkling starson little wires.

“The first day is more structured, andthen, as their perceptions are validated

It doesn’t take long for Much More Than Four Legscampers to discover that a chair is more than just achair. A seemingly ordinary object becomes extraor-dinary when campers apply their imaginations to create different designs.

Summer Camps • 11

and encouraged, they start to determinemore and more of their own artisticprocess,” says Hartman. “I give up mypower in a sense, and they become theteachers, so that eventually we are all in acollaboration together.”

Sharing ideas starts in the first fewminutes, as Hartman asks the childrenhow many chairs they have sat in on thatparticular day.

“This morning, I sat in my televisionchair in my bedroom,” says eight-year-oldMorgan. “I sat on my breakfast chair andthe car seat. I don’t think about themmuch. I sit in them every day.”

Hartman talks about function, comfort,and other basic concepts to encouragebroader thinking. The children then visitthe pre-1900 design gallery, where theydecide on their favorite chairs. Theydecide what would be most comfortable,their favorite fabric, leg, arm, seat, knee,foot, and back. As they wander throughthe gallery mulling over their choices,they begin to slow down and start trustingtheir own judgment.

“What they need to do at the begin-ning is learn about the basic chair andexplore all the wonderful qualities in pre-1900 furniture,” Hartman says. “This is agreat chance to think about wood, mar-quetry, gilding, ormolu, and all thosethings that would be forgotten if we hadstarted in the contemporary designgallery.”

The kids hunt for fifteen examples ofgilding and two of ormolu. They handlethirty blocks of wood, including walnut,

hard maple, red alder, teak, Douglas fir,and rosewood, noting differences in colorand grain. They also pass around pho-tographed details of microscopic graining.

“I want them to start thinking aboutthe object, to see that this is a gallery ofwooden chairs, and to consider designers’constraints back then,” Hartman says. “Idon’t want to lecture. I want to tell storiesand give hints that might be exciting.”

After children get a taste for chairanatomy and materials, they return to theclassroom. Today there are boxes andbags loaded with balsa wood and Popsiclesticks, as well as a “messy and danger-ous” station with xacto5 knives and hot-glue guns manned by interns who helpthroughout the week. The kids work inclose-knit units to foster the sharing ofideas.

“I decided that we would only discusshistorical materials on the first day,”Hartman says. “We’d concentrate on alimited amount of ornamentation. The“constraint chair” project is a great wayto start. In this project children begin tosee multiple ways to design from a limited set of wooden materials. With this firm basis, it’s easier the next day togo to the contemporary design galleriesand begin to explore the mind-bogglingvariety of materials, forms, and artisticexpressions.”

Following a brief introduction to thewood, children begin their own projects.

“I saw some designs upstairs that Ilike,” Jasmine says. “It was all wood,cushy, and it had pointy stuff on its rungs.”

Summer Camps • 12

Sarah adds a ladder to her chair,which has tall skinny legs. “A ladderwould make it easier to get up there,” shesays. “Probably I would just sit up thereand read a book or watch television. Mineis a ladder to a bench in the sky.”

Her twin brother, Joseph, looks overand starts making his own ladder, whichhe says can turn over and become a slid-ing board. “This looks like a giant dollchair. Some of my Beanie babies mighttry to sit on it, but they aren’t quite tallenough to climb up. They couldn’t jumpup there, so they would have to go up theladder.”

Just before lunch, the children linetheir first creations along the sill of tallbay windows in a high traffic area of theart studio lobby. Then they gather alongcurving benches below the windows totalk about their chairs. They focus ontheir own chairs until Hartman asks themto pick out one thing that they like insomeone else’s work, and what would theydo differently if they did the projectagain.

By the camp’s third day, the bay win-dows are full of an astonishing array ofchairs. Each child claims a sill below hisor her own window in the busy lobby.Hartman deliberately encourages publicdisplay of the chairs as well as someinteraction with museum visitors.

“The kids are so reinforced by visi-tors who come upon this mini-exhibitionand talk about how wonderful the chairsare,” she says.

Hana’s collection, like all the rest, is

growing. Along with her delicate double-seated “constraint chair,” she’s added awhimsical bumblebee chair. “We went upto the modern gallery,” Hana says to anonlooker. “I saw one inspired by aChinese bellflower. I started thinkingabout flowers and bees.”

Morgan’s chairs are in a neighboringsill. The day before, she used a smorgas-bord of materials to make at least tendesigns, including bed chairs, tent chairs,chairs made of buttons, and even a stoolwith incised wear marks on the bottom ofits tiny feet. She shows off her toothpickchair. “It’s for a king,” Morgan says. “Ithas tables and a footrest.”

On the third day, as both a break anda gentle segue back into the world ofdesign, they take a field trip to the LightSpot modern design shop three blocksdown the street.

Inside, the children break into smallgroups. Each group is joined by one ofthe camp’s interns. The space is filledwith leather couches, body-moldingrecliners, soft beds, and sophisticatedtables. The children are to choose onlythree chairs to sit on, using their eyes andminds rather than their bodies to find thebest, the most comfortable, and the moststartling of all the chairs.

Eventually, three or four kids end upperching on metal bar stools shaped likeflower petals. Joseph calls his a “comfy”stool, and his sister Sarah names hers“Twist”.

“When you see these stools, they looklike plain old spinning around ones,”

Summer Camps • 13

Januki says. “You think it’s not going tobe comfortable, but it’s comfy. I feel likeI’m floating on a cloud.”

“At Light Spot, the kids can honetheir looking skills further,” Hartmansays. “And it cements the idea thatdesign is available for purchase—to bebrought into the home. Suddenly they arelooking at the toothpaste container andsaying, ‘I want this in my bathroom.”

Leaving the store, the children takerubbings of anything and everything onthe short walk back to the museum.Armed with blank paper and thick waxycrayons, they find patterns on the parkinglot pavement, streetlights, fences, con-struction signs, sandbags, discarded bicy-cle wheels, and window screens. Someonediscovers colorful marbles embedded incement blocks on an office building. Agroup of three rubs their names from let-ters on a manhole cover. Gabe finds araised diamond motif at the very base of astreet post. Hana creates a collage withdifferent textures and color patterns.Other children follow her lead. Hartmandeliberately did not tell the children to dothis. “If I had said, ‘Why don’t you com-bine them,’ then it would have beenforced. It wouldn’t have been as enthusi-astically embraced as it was when theydiscovered it on their own,” she says.

That afternoon, Hartman introducesthe children to her own chair collection.In four mini-van loads, she has hauled ina sampling to make various points aboutdesign, construction, and connoisseur-ship. At least half of the fifteen chairs

are originals created by Ray and CharlesEames, the husband-and-wife designerswho also happen to be Hartman’s grand-parents. Pointing to a tall, swiveling chair,Hartman asks the children to speculateabout its use. Rather than giving outanswers, she gets them to think aboutform, function, and design. After talkingand using their eyes to feel, the childrentake turns sitting in the chairs.

“The class is constantly changing paceand using different instructional tools,”Hartman says. “We use the galleries asone tool. The kids and all their collec-tions are another, and the Eames exam-ples are another. I have a world of ideasthat I want to convey to them within theweek, but I don’t know the order. I makesure the ideas get interjected but in aseemingly unstructured way. This waythey are almost discovering it themselves,but then I hone it for them.”

Providing the Eames chairs and mate-rials is like inviting world-class designersinto the class. Their creations are yetanother springboard to talking abouteverything from collecting, to attention todetail, to design and the manufacturingprocess. The children have already talkedabout their own collections, which helpsthem connect personally to those of others.

“Yes, Ray and Charles Eames are veryimportant twentieth century designers, but Imake them seem real by talking about theimportance of every little thing that wentonto their breakfast table. Each object was athoughtfully placed item unto itself and inrelation to others,” Hartman says.

Summer Camps • 14

After lounging on the life-sized ver-sions, the children return to their class-room to find miniatures of Eames chairs.They look like toys, but they are not.They are scale models produced by Vitra,a European manufacturing firm.

Throughout the years, Hartman hascollected delicate renditions of the Eameschairs and those of other designers. As

she holds each one up, the group discuss-es whether or not they are an Eamesdesign. They mark their guesses on paperand then talk about their ideas. Hartmanholds up a DCW (Dining Chair Wood)example and asks for opinions. One ortwo vote it down, but it’s thumbs up forthe rest. It’s an Eames chair.

“It’s an Eames because of the legs,”says Sarah. “The color of the wood, thelittle bitty ridges like the splints thatCarla talked about yesterday make it anEames.”

The children end their exploration ofthe intimate world of designers with a filmby Hartman’s brother, Eames Demetrios,about the Eames Office.

By the final day, the classroom hasbeen fully transformed into a contempo-rary design studio. Children concentrateon their own large chairs—cardboardforms that they design—but they alsoroam around to collect more supplies andto observe the scene unfolding aroundthem. Their whole environment has blos-somed, from the chair examples hangingon the ceiling to bins and baskets over-flowing with materials and ideas. Wherethere was just balsa wood and a handfulof tools the first day, there are now orna-mentation stations crammed with suppliesfor painting, stenciling, stamping, gilding,aluminum foil piercing, flower pounding, and more.

Interns preside over the stations.Outside, teaching assistant Julia Tomasiniis helping Emily and Januki pound flow-ers to create floral colors and shapes on

Drawing from sources from books, collections, andtheir own personal experience, campers form a connection to and appreciation for the creations ofother designers. Campers study multiple chairs inthe museum’s collection, including AlessandroMendini’s “Michael Thonet” side chair.

unbleached muslin. Emily has created apattern where glass blades surround ayellow cosmos.

“We created this technique as a way tocapture the look of flowers on chairupholstery,” Tomasini says. “Geraniumswork really well. Cosmos and petunias aregood. Fuchsias are too juicy.”

At another station, intern Ben Irwindemonstrates patina techniques. Otherhelpers guide the gilding process. Thestudio is full of energy. The kids are soengrossed that almost everyone votes tocut their lunch hour in half.

Michael Allen can’t wait any longer tofinish his chair, which has a papier-mâchémask of his face glued to the back. Themask’s mouth is a little door into his mind,he says. When people go through, theycan find out what he’s thinking about.

“You jump in, and you are in mymind,” he says. “It’s playful and funny.

This side, opposite the mask, is like thelittle room in my head. It has everythingreal that I think of.”

There are rolling plastic eyeballs andmetallic stars for the meteor shower hewatched with his family the other night.He added stamps representing animals.Pipe cleaner coils are like the leatherygreen snake he stroked at the zoo. Thesymbols and meanings go on and on.

On a nearby table, Eli is finishing his“Fresh Feet” chair in neon orange andblack. The chair was inspired by a footstamp that reminds him of his shoes athome. On the cushion, he has made aclear window through which orange feath-ers show, inspired by a stuffed plastic pil-low he saw in New York City.

Many of the children are tucking awayfabric samples into the compartmentsunderneath the seats of their chairs.Earlier, they bartered with ceramic

Summer Camps • 15

During the final gallery activity, each camper receives a little flip book with line drawings of classic chairs. They then add alterations, making the designs their own.

mosaic pieces as money for these materi-als at a fabric bazaar, where they haggledover prices with the interns.

“I got a ton of leather,” says Joseph,pulling samples from the pockets of hisapron. “I got this one from Amber Brownfor a quarter. She said I was ripping her off,but I wasn’t because look how bad it is!”

“With the fabric bazaar, we limit theirchoices,” Hartman says. “It forces themto be more thoughtful. As soon as theystart looking and feeling, it’s exciting.They start noticing things about textureand pattern and color, and it makesupholstery more meaningful.”

Throughout the day, excitement buildsabout the upcoming chair exhibit. One byone, Hartman draws each child aside toclaim a table on which to display his orher work.

“The set-up process is really criticaland very interesting,” Hartman says. “Yousee certain things coming out that are fromtidbits I’ve given them during the week.”

As anticipation for the final partybuilds, Hartman takes the children to themodern furniture gallery for one last visit.This time, it’s less of a looking experienceand more of an intense creative process.Each child gets a little flip-book with linedrawings of classic chairs (such as one byGio Ponti, who also designed the DenverArt Museum building). Hartman hasthem look at the line drawings and addtheir own embellishments. Their alter-ations become increasingly individualand complicated.

“We start seeing a lot of variations,”

Hartman says. “It becomes far morediverse. They begin to understand thatthere are multiple possibilities.”

When the children come downstairs,the concourse already is filling withguests. Hartman’s own full-scale chairsare lined up along the bay windows. AnEames table holds black-and-white por-traits of Ray and Charles. The childrentoast with sparkling cider, but they aremost interested in getting out to talk withonlookers about their artwork.

Eli has arranged about ten chairsdesigned with ModgePodge glue into whathe calls his “white collection.” Next tohim, Gabe has set his pasta mosaic chairin front of everything else he has made.This is the third year in a row that Gabeand his sister Hannah have participatedin the chair camp. Gabe considers pastaone of his camp trademarks. Last year, hemade an elaborate spaghetti chair embed-ded with metallic embossed diamondsand rectangles and adorned with a cobalttile gilded with insect motifs. Before tak-ing the camps, he had never seen anEames chair. Now he can spot originalsand counterfeits. He has even started“putting a little design” into the woodenfurniture he makes in his grandfather’sgarage in Wyoming.

“They love the class,” his mother,Barbara, says. “You are crossing culturalboundaries, time periods, and looking atvisual elements, structure, tactile quali-ties. They love to look over catalogues,and they love contemporary architecture.It’s all because of this class. I love it!”

Summer Camps • 16

Adventures of White Heron Castle Camp (for six to eight year olds)Taught by Patterson Williams, masterteacher for Asian art

Before the museum doors officiallyopen, a flock of six to eight year old sum-mer campers bursts out of the elevatoronto the fifth floor in search of some hintof a Japanese castle and the town thatsurrounds it. They don’t realize that theywill find their goal in a folding screen. Sofor this first chance to imaginatively walkinto art works and merge the worlds ofhistory, art, and imagination, they needsome clues.

Turning into the Japan gallery, thekids spy a three-dimensional paper heron.Then they see a second heron and followit to a scene at the other end of the room.Their search is over. On a pair of goldscreens is a bustling Japanese port town.The kids settle down around Williams,who takes them on a journey back toWhite Heron Castle in 1800.

As Williams begins her story, the summer campers become young lords and ladies of Japan. With their imagina-tions, they will join four fictional Japanesechildren on adventures throughout theweek. Williams assures them from thebeginning that some of what they hear isreal and some just pretend. The foldingscreen depicting the harbor scene is notactually related to the real White HeronCastle, but Williams uses it to illustrateher story. She has combined historical fact

and fiction to make the world of WhiteHeron Castle compelling for the campers.Drawing from classic children’s literature,Williams weaves a story with moments ofsuspense, surprise, humor, and someimprovisations stimulated by the campers’responses. At times the behavior of thefour children in the story mirrors that ofreal children. They squabble, get bored,and upset their parents. This elementincreases the sense of identity the campers develop with the characters inthe story.

In the early morning quiet of thegallery, the campers meet their fictionalcounterparts. Taro, a six-year-old boy, isfascinated by war. Takashi, a seven-year-old boy, likes nature. Yoko is an eight-year-old girl who loves art. And Meiko,nine, another girl, is extremely drawn tohistory. The interests of the characters inWilliams’ story parallel some of theimportant cultural values that underlieartworks in the museum collection.

These children, each from a differentfamily, all live in apartments of WhiteHeron Castle and its surrounding town,Williams begins. “Many other familieslive there, as well. They aren’t all relat-ed, but they are all loyal to the lord of thecastle.”

One day, the children are left alone bytheir parents, so they head inside the cas-tle. After overhearing two servants talk-ing about a secret passageway, the kidsdiscover it. Behind a folding screendepicting a tiger and a dragon (an actualscreen in the museum gallery) they find a

Summer Camps • 17

hidden door and creep inside. It is com-pletely dark. Stumbling along blindly,they eventually bump into something.Stairs. Up and up and up they climb. Thesteps end in a wall. A bit of daylightsqueezes through a crack.

Using her hands, Williams feels thesolid stone and pulls an imaginary sliverof metal that opens the door into a roomat the top of the castle. They find them-selves in a square loft with windows on allsides. It’s like a secret clubhouse.Outside, stretching to the horizon in everydirection, are the places the children inWilliams’s class will explore with Taro,Yoko, Meiko, and Takashi.

In one adventure, the children willjourney to the ocean, dipping their feet inrolling waves as they search for seashells.

In another, they will travel to a distantpine forest at the base of Mount Fuji.Other adventures will take them to a ricefield, where farmers harvest their crops,and a port town, where merchants tradefor goods from afar. All the places theywill visit in their imaginations wereselected by Williams to convey a sense ofthe major geographical features of Japanand to relate to specific art works in theJapan gallery.

“This is a class about cultural learn-ing,” Williams says. “I know the kids willfind the art projects enjoyable, and theyhelp them cement and synthesize whatthey learn in the galleries and stories. Theart making is secondary to imagining livingin Japan in the year 1800 and to imagineusing, owning and handling the things inthe Japan collection from that time.”

Williams’ goal is to get children tothink about the visual qualities ofJapanese objects. “I want them to under-stand the importance of fine craftsman-ship and that many Japanese art objectsare expressions of metaphorical or poeticthinking.”

The class revolves around the artobjects, their history, and the people whomade them, but Williams’ imaginary taleshelp the kids connect intellectually andemotionally. Children tend to rememberwhen they are fed information throughstories.

“History gives you the facts but notthe life,” Williams says. “The art in ourgallery comes out of people’s lives—thethings they wore, used, treasured—and it

Summer Camps • 18

White Heron Castle campers open traditional foldedpaper letters from the wooden sculpture of a Shintodeity. The message will help them make a safe journeyto Mt. Fuji.

reflects their lives. I want that world tocome alive for the kids.”

On the first morning in the gallery, thekids lean forward to hear Williams’s tale.Taro, Meiko, Yoko, and Takashi have dis-covered something ghostly in front of theshadowy tokonoma in the magic castleroom. A tokonoma is an alcove used todisplay a flower arrangement or a work ofart. At many points in the camp, the“spirit of the castle” (a character looselybased on the sixteenth-seventeenth centu-ry shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu) creates sur-prises, and this is one. As the children inthe story peer into the dusky alcove,smoke seems to swirl, and gradually theysee a long low object covered in a blackcloth. The object has been placed thereby the spirit of the castle.

Williams leans forward and asks,“They had to decide whether to lookunder the black cloth or not. Would you?”

“Yes!” the kids shout. “Go find it! Look around the gallery

for a long low object under a black cloth,but don’t touch it!” Williams tells them.

The campers jump up and fan outthrough the gallery. They find the objectresting in front of the samurai armor andsword case, where nothing had been a fewminutes earlier. (Teaching assistant JuliaTomasini has stealthily placed it there.)They sit as closely as possible around themystery object. Barely containing theirexcitement, they watch as Williams asksone of the campers to lift the cloth toreveal a long sword resting on a stand. Inthe story, Taro also pulls off the fabric to

reveal a sword. “Such a sword must havebeen made by a fine craftsman andartist,” says Yoko. Takashi says it mightbe made of natural materials like iron andsharkskin. And Meiko thinks it mightbelong to a famous samurai warrior.

Standing in front of the case, Rachel,six, gets to hold the reproduction swordblade-edge away from Williams, a sign ofrespect. The kids learn a bit about swordmanners and then look more closely atthe sword in the museum case. On thissword they notice the hamon, the temper-

Summer Camps • 19

During the week, campers make their own swords. Thisfive-step activity introduces them to the intricate sword-making process. Once they are done, campers practice“dancing with the sword” using elements of martial artsexercises.

ing line found near the edge of the blade.The hamon is one of the characteristicsused to determine the quality of Japanesesword blades. The wavy pattern fused intothe gleaming blade reminds the kids ofmany things—mountains, waves, curlyhair, even dancing. Just as real swordconnoisseurs name hamon for the associa-tions they bring to mind, so the campersdevelop their own associations about thesword in the museum collection.

During the week, they will make fivecomponents for their own swords—gettingthe handle last of all. The drawn-outactivity gives the kids an idea of the ardu-ous swordsmithing process. In the class-room, on tables arranged in a giant Ushape, are sword blades made of gator-board, a durable, lightweight syntheticboard that is easy to cut. Before drawingtheir own hamon patterns with silver oilpastels, the kids try out their ideas onpaper printed with three separate bladeoutlines. These practice sheets encouragethoughtful choices and deliberate cre-ations. Some campers call Williams “MissPatty Practice Paper” for he constant useof practice sheets. Many of the art proj-ects are partially pre-made so that thecampers can focus on one aspect, get aquick result and spend more time inimagination activities involving art worksin the collection.

After lunch, the campers once againfind themselves in the gallery listening toa story, this time about the tokonomas inthe homes of the children in the story.Every day, each family would put some-

thing valuable in the alcoves. Yoko, wholoves art, was sometimes allowed to placethese objects for her family. When shedid, she used three prized possessions—aclay incense box shaped like a small rab-bit, a moon-shaped hanging flower vase,and a painting made with a single swipeof black ink. The painting formed a circle(a Zen meditation symbol) that remindedYoko of both nothing and everything. Italso made her think of a full moon.

Once again in the Japan gallery, thecampers go searching for “Yoko’s toko.”What they have imagined appears magi-cally in the museum’s tokonoma. All themore intrigued by thoughts of Yoko andher treasures, the campers sit down andexamine everything set out on the tatamimat in the museum display.

Returning to their classroom, they dis-cover their own black cardboard tokos.Each has an open upper compartmentabove two sliding doors that reveal aninner storage nook. The children will dec-orate their tokonoma with wispy sheets ofgold leaf and silvery moons.

Thinking about Yoko and her toko, thekids watch as Williams demonstrates howto adhere the shimmering tissue onto theirdark boxes and create a night sky withclouds and a moon. No two campers dothis the same way, and the materialsensure that some accidental effects willhappen. To help with the challenges thatmay arise, campers are grouped intoteams headed by interns.

Interns guide their young lords andladies through everything from art

Summer Camps • 20

projects to gallery adventures. When achild needs special directions, his or herteam leader is there to advise or demon-strate. Given the variations in manualdexterity and frustration levels in this agegroup, the team system makes a big dif-ference in the satisfaction each childexperiences in this camp.

After they learn how to apply goldleaf, some kids put it down in bold or ran-dom patterns. Gavin, who has swords onhis mind, scratches a blade and handleinto the metallic surface. Another childcreates a crescent moon. At the end of theday, the boxes are lined side by side

along the wall. For the rest of the week,they will hold whatever their ownersdecide is most important.

“I know kids will be much more inter-ested in learning about art objects if theyhear about them in stories,” Williamssays. “It’s critical to build up this imagi-native, emotional interest in what we arelooking at.”

Later in the day, the gallery is quiet asWilliams takes the campers on anotherimaginative adventure in the gallery.Together with the children in the story,they watch a massive procession ofpeacetime warriors approaching their cas-tle. They carry muskets, pikes, and long-bows. Leading the soldiers is a greatdaimyo, a lord from a castle, but he isalmost swallowed up by hundreds of hisfollowers winding their way circuitouslythrough the countryside. All the details ofthis scene are depicted in another foldingscreen in the gallery.

Among the travelers are four sixteenyear old boys who are guests for the nightof Taro, Yoko, Meiko, and Takashi. Eventhough the youths are not particularlynice, the four children politely escortthem as honored guests to an evening cel-ebration. As fireworks explode, the flash-es of light illuminate each of the youngmen’s shinning inros or hanging lacquerboxes. Taro’s guest wears one with hunt-ing hawks; Takashi’s guest wears one dec-orated with tiny scenes of the seasons ofthe year. Yoko spies a dancer on herguest’s inro, and Meiko sees a colorfulimage of foreigners from Europe. The next

Summer Camps • 21

Images of the moon, a popular theme in Japaneseart, decorate the alcoves, or tokonomas, thatcampers make and take home. Inside they displayrespected objects.

morning, the four children discover thattheir guests have gone, but each has lefthis inro as a thank-you gift.

Now the campers break into teams.Each team is assigned one inro in themuseum collection—the same inro fea-tured in the story. The campers watch astheir intern team leaders open envelopesand pull out color photos that show indetail the delicate boxes given to Toko,Takashi, Yoko, and Meiko. They thenlearn that the same inros are actually inthe gallery, where they can be exploredfor real. Stools and flashlights are provid-ed as children gather around museumcases to look for details in “their” inro.

But there is also a challenge to be met.Williams asks each team to examine

its inro and come up with some good rea-sons why it is the best. The campers pre-pare their arguments with help from theirinterns, who have already read about adozen fascinating facts from Williams’sresearch about each inro.

After observing the inros, each teammakes a presentation to the entire group.“They often naturally grasp what wasoriginally meaningful to patrons andcraftsmen in Japan, but one of the thingsI like the most is that the children sayvery heartfelt things about their inro,”Williams says.

Summer Camps • 22

Small Japanese lacquer boxes worn at the waist inspire campers to make their own “inro” and addthem to a cache of cultural treasures. (Objects from left: Inro with Hawk, 18th century; Inro withForeigner, 19th century)

Six-year-old William shyly moves tothe front of the group and stands close toWilliams. He says that his inro is the bestbecause it has a netsuke, or toggle, thatlooks like a pod about to burst with whatappear to be tiny seeds that remind himof “future generations.” A nine-year-oldgirl claims the inro that depicts foreignerswas best because “everyone is a foreignersometime.”

This attention to detail and metaphori-cal thinking is reinforced each morningwhen the campers arrive at the museum.On the first day, Williams hands themlaminated nametags shaped like MountFuji in the clouds. That afternoon, thecampers select new names by pickingfrom among hundreds of stylized familycrests or mons. After selecting a crest,they make up a name related to the crestimage. Rachel becomes Young Lady of

the Daisies. Gavin is Young Lord of theDragon. When the kids get their nametagsthe next morning, they discover that thetags now include their new names andhave been translated into Japanese. Thisreinforces their identities as young lordsand ladies living at White Heron Castle.

Before the second day begins,Williams asks one child to tap the side ofa little bronze bell. They must sit insilence until the ringing subsides. For amoment, the classroom is quiet. When thebell is silent, Williams talks with the chil-dren about the flower arrangement for thatday. It is a Chinese bellflower. Bloomingfor the first time, the plant reminds her ofall the new things she’s learned fromthem. “This grass here that is kind ofdried up and a bit dead at the end butstill has a lot of life left—that’s me,”Williams tells them. Other greener grass

Summer Camps • 23

After studying sword guards in the collection, campers participate in a swap meet where they encounter interns acting assword guard dealers. Using a collection of pictures as a guide, campers then design their own guards to add to their swords. (Objects from left: Sword Guard with Flowers and Water, 19th century; Sword Guard with Grasses, 18th century)

blades are the class interns. A cluster ofunopened buds are for the things they allhave yet to learn about Japan today andin the future, long after the camp is over.

To help campers understand estheticvalues of some Japanese art like “less ismore,” Williams uses another story. Inthis story members of an ancient Japanesecourt gather to select the most beautifulbranch of cherry blossoms. Somecourtiers choose branches with loads ofblossoms, but ultimately a branch thathas only a few blossoms is chosen by theempress as the most beautiful. “I feel lessis more, because with so few blossomsone can pay much great attention to eachone,” the empress says.

Some children don’t bring up the con-cept again; others return to the idea asthey make their own art projects. Holdingup a fan he is decorating, Austin, YoungLord of the Eager Energy, says, “I’m mak-ing more is more—a forest.” Of her fan,Chloe, Young Lady of the Nana, says,“I’m making a ‘less is more’ forest. So Ijust put on a little, tiny, bitty flower.”

Their classroom is a special place forart making, but it also transports the chil-dren back to Japan, and the lives of Taro,Takashi, Yoko, and Meiko. Each day thetable at the front of the room grows morecrowded with mementos of earlier campexperiences. The flower arrangement ofthe day moves to the table as it isreplaced by a new arrangement. On thewalls are Japanese words they’ve learnedto say and use.

By the third day of camp, the kids are

so used to adventures that they can barelycontain their excitement as they sitaround Williams in the classroom. Today,something is bulging from the sleeves ofher kimono. They hold their bodies stilluntil they can no longer hear the silverysound of the bronze bell. Then severalkids shout, “Take it out! Take it out!”They know that the spirit of the castlelikes to hide surprises in her clothing.

This time, it’s a pink envelope. Avareads, “It’s from Meiko and Takashi.”Williams helps her read the note cardsinside, each of which is a detail from inkpaintings in the gallery: “Dotting likepepper, dotting like fern leaves, dottinglike mouse tracks, dotting like pine nee-dles, dotting like fur needles, dotting likeblobs, dotting like plum blossoms, dottinglike waves.”

After a game of looking for paintingdetails in the gallery, they travel back intime to White Heron Castle and preparefor a long journey to Mount Fuji.

“Mukashi, mukashi—once upon atime,” Williams begins, “Meiko’s momand dad were angry with her. Yoko’s momand dad were angry with her, andTakashi’s parents and grandparents wereangry with him. All these kids did wassquabble, squabble, squabble. So the par-ents had a meeting to talk about the fight-ing. Taro’s dad said, ‘What if all four chil-dren have to take a trip by themselves,and on the trip they would have to getalong. I think the trip should be at leastten days.’ ”

“The grownups asked the kids where

Summer Camps • 24

they would want to go, and there wasmore fighting. Taro wanted to go to some-where dangerous. Takashi wanted to go toa great pine forest. Finally, Taro’s dadfound the castle’s old gardener, who wentinto a room with the kids and shut thedoor. When they came out, the kids werebeaming. The gardener had a knowingsmile on his face. He said, ‘We are goingto a dangerous, beautiful, natural place,which has been painted by lots of artistsand has been loved in the history ofJapan, and it’s called …’ ”

“Mount Fuji!” the kids shout.Before beginning their journey, the

campers spread out into the galleries toseek out three statues of deities. They willask these deities how to make their jour-ney safe. Robbers or bad spirits couldcause harm along the way.

Melissa and her team find Jizo, protec-tor of travelers and children. The sculp-ture shows Jizo holding a sistrum, a tallstaff with metal rings. The jingling ofthese rings would punctuate each step ashe walks. All the children gather aroundas Melissa opens a letter folded into a tra-ditional Japanese knot. Jizo cautions theyoung adventurers: “As you travel toMount Fuji, you will feel better if youwalk with a staff with bells. The sound ofthe bells will warn people you are comingand make sure that even the bugs beneathyour feet get out of the way so you will notstep on any living thing. Enjoy your jour-ney to the mountain. Be as kind to eachother as you are to the bugs in your path.”

After consulting a Shinto deity and the

Eleven-headed Kannon, everyone beginsthe long journey to Mt. Fuji, down muse-um stairs, through a dark auditorium to afreight elevator lobby where they discovertall bamboo staffs adorned with little cop-per bells. The children clamor for theirsticks. The sound of bells fills the air, andwayside inhabitants of the museum watchthem pass by.

By the final day of class, the childrenmove seamlessly back and forth betweenthe world of White Heron Castle and themuseum. An hour or so before the finalcamp event begins, each team sets outone last time with their interns to displaythe props and review artworks they’ve vis-ited during the week—Yoko’s tokonoma,the four inros, the sword, several ceram-ics, folding screens, and sculptures. Theidea is for each child to take family andfriends on a tour and retell the adventuresof White Heron Castle. One measure ofsuccess is how little time they spend inthe classroom with their art projects andhow much time they spend in the gal-leries with the artworks.

As their guests gather outside theclassroom, the kids emerge in theirJapanese jackets, bow together, and invitetheir honored guests on a last journey tothe land of White Heron Castle. The tourbegins in the classroom, where everyonelooks over art projects and nibbles on del-icate Japanese crackers.

Spontaneously, the children retellcomponents of stories as they look overtheir own handmade inros and light-weight, intricately decorated swords.

Summer Camps • 25

These props are like switches that turn ontheir imaginations. Soon they tug theirguests to the Japanese galleries to showoff Yoko’s toko, the sword with its hamon,and the folding screens.

“I can tell myself that I am teachingchildren to enjoy and notice every detailof artworks in the Japanese collection,”Williams says. “But I don’t always knowhow much the kids are absorbing. Mybehaviorist goal for the camp is that,when friends and family come, the chil-dren will actually take their parents on atour in the galleries—not with me, andnot by my teaching them how to do it.They would just do it.”

Quest for the Mummy (for six to eight year olds)Taught by Melanie Groendyke-Freeman,master teacher for Egyptian Art

During the first hour of their first dayat Quest for the Mummy, the children sitwith their teacher, Melanie Groendyke-Freeman, in the rushes beside the Nile.The campers have vowed to keep theireyes shut and use their imaginations.

“It’s sunny and hot—a hot, hot day,”Groendyke-Freeman says. “It’s May. TheNile is flooded. There are a lot of birdsaround me, sitting on the shore. I canhear reeds rustling, and it’s very peaceful.I am sitting at the edge of the water. I canhear it slapping up against the sand. It’sreally hot. I can feel beads of sweat run-ning down my face. I feel a warm mist

coming off the water.”Mist drifts down on the campers’

faces, but they stay focused. “There arelotus flowers,” she says, fanning themwith lotus-scented oil. After anothersilence, Groendyke-Freeman asks onechild, and then another, and another , totalk about where they are in ancientEgypt. One child can hear camels chew-ing grass by the pyramids. Another is put-ting on makeup and perfumes for a party.A third is sitting by a sphinx.

Given the signal, they return to thepresent and open their eyes. They areready for the first of a week’s adventures.Their tools, in addition to the dozenEgyptian artworks displayed in the muse-um, are largely their minds. They havealready signed their names to a gold oathbook, vowing to use their imaginations,work as a team, listen and learn, and pre-pare carefully.

By the end of the camp this will betheir mantra, reinforced with the adven-tures of their mission. Someone hasdestroyed Djed-Hor’s mummy and stolenall his treasures. During the week theywill repeatedly examine the museum’smummy case, belonging to the real Djed-Hor. This nobleman and priest has askedthe campers to save him by learning to bescribes, wig makers, jewelers, cosmeti-cians, fan makers, death mask creators,and most importantly—embalmers withthe skills to re-mummify and return hisbody to the afterlife.

From the beginning of their quest, thechildren also know that someone nasty is

Summer Camps • 26

working against them. As the week goeson, funny little mistakes such as not hav-ing enough pens is blamed on this being,the jealous god Set, who according toancient Egyptian legend dismembered hisbrother, Osiris, and scattered his limbsacross Egypt. Osiris’s sister finds him andwraps his body in linen, thereby creatingthe first mummy. As a result Osiris ismagically reborn into the afterlife where herules forever as the great god of that world.

Heading into their classroom, the kidsfind a small trunk that they will come toknow and love during the course of theweek. Tucked inside are a video and sev-eral scrolls, one to be opened each day ofthe camp. In the scrolls Djed-Hor speaksdirectly to the children about the missionof the day. In the video, Djed-Hor (por-trayed by a staff member in costume)explains their goal for the week.

“We must travel back in time toancient Egypt to prepare my mummy,recover my treasures, and escort me backto the afterlife,” he tells the children.“The trip will be filled with danger andexcitement, but with the protection of cer-tain Egyptian gods and goddesses, I amsure we will make it! The afterlife awaitsme! I am placing my trust in you.”

Appearing next on the video is theibis-headed Thoth, Egyptian god ofknowledge and writing. He tells the kidshe will protect them throughout their day.“Remember, use your imagination, workas a team, and prepare carefully.”

Wearing pith helmets and protectiveamulets, the kids ride the elevator up to

the gallery that displays a dozen Egyptianartworks. There they discover a basketpacked with layers of items for theiradventures. The first item they open is ascroll, tied in red and sealed with a goldsticker. Each day a different child breaksthe seal. This one is from Djed:

Summer Camps • 27

As one of the few Egyptian objects in the collection, themummy case became the central source of inspiration formany art and dramatic activities in the Quest for theMummy camp. (Sarcophagus, 330-304 BC, Egypt)

Without trouble, without strife, you will

begin to prepare for the afterlife.

Today you will slowly see the kind of

scribe you will need to be.

To make your way through danger

unknown, do not fear—you are not alone.

Today the great god Thoth will guide you

through.

Keep all eyes peeled for every clue!

At the end of the day, when your duties

are done,

It will be time to have some major fun!

Over the Nile you will go by boat to the

embalming tent.

You must go to see if you can mummify

important body parts.

Don’t worry—I won’t say that smarts! Do

a good job, take great care.

Make sure I have clean underwear.

From the folds within the basket,Groendyke-Freeman pulls out a littlemummy-shaped tin can that contains thenext set of instructions:

Place these masks upon your face.

Fly like an ibis to the mummy case.

There beside it you will find …

A magical bird—one of a kind!

With long arched beak and

gleaming white eyes,

This bird will protect all faithful scribes.

Each child gets a laminated ibis maskon a stick, which they hold up to theirfaces as they stalk along with long, bird-like legs. They follow Groendyke-Freeman and the interns to the museum

cases where belongings like Djed’s aredisplayed.

Among the handful of objects is a2,500-year-old ibis mummy case of wood,bronze, crystal, gold, and gold leaf.Groendyke-Freeman asks open-endedquestions about what they like and whatthey don’t like. They speculate about thecase’s use and the materials from which itwas made. They learn that ibis birds weresacred to Thoth, god of wisdom andscribes.

With magnifying glasses, they peer atDjed-Hor’s mummy case in search of anibis hieroglyph. Out from the basketcomes a gift wrapped in muslin. There arereed pens and papyrus paper, a gift fromThoth for all their hard work. The chil-dren’s presents are devices to get themasking questions and coming up withanswers about the art.

As the children return to their artclassroom, they discover big ibis footprints that form a curving path to a tablecovered in muslin. Beneath the cloth arematerials to make papyrus. The childrentake turns pounding the actual plant,soaked with water, into a tissue-thinsheet. They also pass around ostraca orpottery shards on which aspiring scribespracticed the arts of writing.

In the classroom, each child gets asheet of papyrus and a shard—broken uppieces of flower pots—to make an ostra-ca. Protected by Thoth and inspired bytheir mission, they make invitations forthe guests who will join them on the lastday of class to accompany Djed-Hor on

Summer Camps • 28

his final journey to the afterlife.“When I started thinking about the

Egypt class, I knew that everything wouldcenter around the museum’s mummycase,” Groendyke-Freeman says. “Thecase covers every possible theme, so theother objects naturally support whatevertopic I cover. I also wanted to give thechildren a sense for the idea of mysteryand discovery, hidden places and secretspaces, tombs and tunnels, and presentsyou can open. As a child, I loved discov-ering things and feeling like I was a partof a bigger situation.”

Going back to her first inspirations,Groendyke-Freeman also thought aboutone of her favorite school experiences. Insixth grade, they turned their gymnasiuminto ancient Egypt, complete with asphinx, and she played Egyptologist JeanFrancois Champillon all week. Bookssuch as The Lion, the Witch, and theWardrobe and the Harry Potter stories areabout stepping across a threshold intoanother world or time-something shewants children to experience in Quest forthe Mummy.

Ancient Egyptian religion is imbuedwith journeying and thus acquiringknowledge through journeys. In the camp,each day brings a new theme to help thechildren gain the skills and wisdom theywill need on their mission.

The afternoon of their first day, theyplay a game in which they make up theirown hieroglyphic images for “mouth.”From her backpack of tools and supplies,Groendyke-Freeman pulls out a sacred

scribe’s box made of a rare ancientEgyptian material—wood. Back in theirclassroom, the kids make their ownscribe’s boxes, adding the wooden han-dles they’ve received as another gift fromThoth. Then they are ready for the first offour embalming experiences with Djed.Before this treacherous journey across theNile, they get fish amulets for protectionagainst crocodiles and hippos. In a rollingcart disguised as a boat, they cautiouslyfollow the patterned Nile down a museumhallway to a shadowy corner where Djedawaits their arrival in the necropolis.

“One thing we cover first off in theclass is the subject of mummies,”Groendyke-Freeman says. “We accountfor any fear factor all the way through thecamp, but kids love the journey. I tellthem they have to be very serious. Deathis important and wonderful; it’s a celebra-tion. Djed is going to the best place youcan ever imagine.”

The key prop for mummification is alife size soft dummy of Djed-Hor. From aslit in the mummy’s side, Groendyke-Freeman pulls out chocolate kisses. Everyday candies appear from somewhere. Thislightens the mood, but the children arestill respectful embalmers. They preparecarefully, pulling out his organs (sfot clothmodels) , wrapping them in linen, andplacing them in canopic jars. They push ametal hook up his nose and fish out woolybrains. Then they bury him withStyrofoam packing peanuts before sailingback up the Nile.

Djed, just real enough to be cool, and

Summer Camps • 29

just doll-like enough to be comfortable,was created by fabric sculptor VickiAnderson. After researching mummifica-tion and human anatomy, Andersonstitched him up on her fifty-four-year-oldSinger sewing machine. She upholsteredsoft cloth around a skeletal system ofswimming pool noodles. The stretchysuede-like material matches Egyptianskin tones and is durable enough to with-stand a lot of handling.

After a packed day of exploits andmystery, the kids read about their adven-tures in images in a huge painting byAnderson that hangs across an entire wallof their classroom. Its registers of com-partmentalized scenes foreshadow eachday of Quest for the Mummy. The chil-dren use it to see what’s coming next and

to review what they did in earlier activi-ties.

The next day, the children meet thelioness Sehkmet, goddess of adornment,who also speaks through a video to thechildren. Their gifts are stalks of grainthat ancient Egyptians would havebrewed into beer to appease this volatiledeity. Wearing lion masks into the gallery,they look at pictures of perfume makers,perfume jars, and a banquet of lords andladies wearing cones filled with scentedwax that melts with body heat into theirwigs, coating it with heavy fragrance.

Nearing the art classroom, the kidsfollow Sehkmet’s lion prints to a tablewhere they can try on an elaborate wig,also made by Anderson, and adorn them-selves with eye shadow, eyeliner, per-fumes, and lipstick. Later in the day, theymake fans using real ostrich feathers andgold puff paint. The children add person-al symbols and Egyptian symbols, such assacred flowers, the source of perfumesand adornment. The kids learn about thesymbolic nature of the lotus flowers,which come up out of the water andbloom in the morning, and then sinkbelow the surface at night, representingthe cyclical aspect of life. The childrendecide where to place their lotuses in thiscycle and why. Finally, they add perfumeand feathers.

At the end of the day, they once againget their fish amulets and ride the boatdown the Nile to find Djed. They stuffhim with aromatics and astringents, suchas cinnamon, juniper berries, moss, and

Summer Camps • 30

Hands-on activities teach campers about ancientEgyptian cultural practices. Emulating Egyptianembalmers, two sisters use a brain hook to remove thebrain of a cloth mock up of a mummy.

lavender. It’s a huge mess. They coverhim and return down the river.

Horus, god of intelligence, greets thechildren on video the third day. Later,

seventeen masked crocodiles slinkover to the Egyptian part of the gallery totalk about the importance of collars. Theyinspect the flowered one around Djed’smummy case. In the art calssroom, foot-prints lead to a table with a reproductionof an Egyptian drill that each child usesto try to bore a hole in wood.

During the day, they make their owncollars complete with tassels, leather,stone beads, flowers, and paints. Afterlunch, they create death masks andchoose one to carry down the Nile tomor-row for Djed.

Their dummy mummy has becomefamiliar and comfortable. Leaving himsafe for the night in his tomb, they navi-gate the rushing river once more.

On the last day, the patron deityHathor, goddess of love and celebration,presides over the kids as they discuss thecoming festivities. The gift of the day isfood, so the kids make a Egyptian styledrawing of things they love to eat. Whilethey sketch, they refer to pictures of actu-al food offerings painted on tomb walls,reinforcing interplay between the actualand the depicted. After finishing theirpictures, they pile plastic food on a plat-ter and bring the offering to Hathor

Then it is time to cross the Nile onelast time to adorn Djed with his deathmask. Wearing their fish amulets, theynavigate the Nile. By this time, the chil-

dren have grown to love the river. Theyswim in it, splash around, jump in andout of the boat, and play along its banks.This is a festive day. They’ve accom-plished their mission. Everything hasgone smoothly. In the soft light of thenecropolis, they carefully rest the ornatedeath mask on his gently wrapped face.They slip gold tips onto his fingers andtoes, slide amulets among his linens toprotect him, and give him what he needsfor his peaceful eternity in the afterlife.

The children have grown fond of Djed.They respect and care for him. They havemade him ready for the afterlife. After ashort snack break, the campers return tofind nothing but a leopard-skinned jour-nal next to Djed. He has been robbed ofeverything they have so carefully done sothat he can return to his peaceful after-life.

It is set! He’s scattered Djed’s treas-

Summer Camps • 31

Campers create feather fans designed according to imagesfrom ancient Egypt. They will carry the fans in a dramaticprocession on the final day of camp.

ures far and wide throughout Egypt, ingalleries throughout the museum.Reading clues and searching urgently, thekids find the scribe’s box by the Japanesescholar’s tools, the collar by an ancientMaya necklace, the death mask at the footof a Northwest Coast Indian house post.

“This journey is important because it’sa compilation of the things they’velearned all week,” Groendyke-Freemansays. “In finding the objects, they makelots of associations. They get the idea thatthe fake mustache on the samurai maskwas for status and display; it wasn’t func-tional. Then they see other things, like adragon on armor in the same case. Theywonder what that creature represented.They say, ‘I see predictable patterns!’They begin to see that some things arecross-cultural and that Japanese art issort of like Egyptian art.”

After restoring the treasures to Djed,they escort him up the Nile to his festivetomb which is now the art classroom. Theclassroom is now packed with featheredfans, miniature mummy boats, collars,scribe boxes, amulets, registers, flowerbouquets, and platters heaped with food.

“The children are so empowered,”Groendyke-Freeman says. “The storiesthey hear and the things they discover aremagical. They realize they can reach deepdown and create their own thing, and it’scompletely about themselves, but it isalso a week of giving gifts and workingtogether.”

Parents Talk About Their Children’sExperiences

Not only do many of the embalmers gohome and talk about their tasks in thenecropolis, but they also weave theiradventures into the future. Some plan tobe Egyptians for Halloween, and one girleven decided she wanted to be a mummyat the end of her life. All the childrentreasure their art, which not only remindsthem of how much they’ve learned, butalso how fun it was to travel along theNile and prepare Djed for the afterlife.

These sorts of aftereffects are typicalof all the museum’s summer camps. A fewweeks after class, parents are interviewedon the phone about their children’s expe-riences. Questions address whether thechildren enjoyed the class, if theyimmersed themselves in a particular artform or culture, what activities they foundparticularly interesting, and which memo-ries might remain with them longest.

Parent feedback provides invaluableinsight into how the children’s exploitsextend beyond the classroom and into theirlives. At home, kids bring up new wordsand terminology, but far more importantthan learning specific facts is that thecampers feel like they’ve experienced thelife of ancient Maya people, played likefour kids who lived a century ago in aJapanese castle town or permanently takenup designing chairs. Parents consistentlynote the depth to which their kids becameemotionally and intellectually immersedduring the four days at their camp.

Summer Camps • 32

Activities that were rated most inter-esting ranged from mummification to par-ticipating in a Maya ballgame. “Gettingto make and design things really broughtout the joy, excitement, and expression ofwhat she did,” commented one parent.“The teacher was fabulous and showed alot of creativity and energy, and connect-ed well with the kids.”

Whether they came home mentioningsamurai swords, Egyptian amulets, orMaya incense jars and headdresses, chil-dren vividly recalled experiences at themuseum. Small things, such as adding totheir Japanese names each day, helpedcampers feel closer to the art and peopleof an ancient culture and encouragedthem to learn about that culture withgreater intensity.

One parent says her child wrote herown book after attending the People of theJaguar camp. Other children returned tothe museum to show their parents thechairs they now knew so well. One child,who has taken summer camps for severalyears in a row, amazed his school’s artteacher with his ability to talk about art.

Right after People of the Jaguarended, Michael Allen and his grandmoth-er, stuffed all his art projects and Mayaregalia in the car and drove to the moun-tains for a special weekend together. Atthe kitchen table, they spent hours color-ing, gluing, and taping, turning what hadbeen an empty black cardboard box intothe Xibalba Michael Allen imagined inhis mind.

Summer Camps As Teaching LabsThe master teachers’ summer camps

happen once a year, but they are themuseum’s single most intense teachingand learning experience.

“These camps serve as a great testingground for us,” says Maria Garcia, familyprograms coordinator. “A lot of backpackscome out of camps. Just For Fun FamilyCenter activities spin off them. It is like alaboratory because it is a place for experi-mentation and thinking outside the box.”

The camps have several advantages.It is immediately apparent if attentionspans lag or the room crackles withexcitement. Because the teachers are withthe children eight hours a day for fourdays, they can hear kids articulate theirthoughts and feelings and literally seetheir enthusiasm.

“Children reveal more about theiremotions than do adults,” says Williams.“Good teachers find it hard to accept kidsbeing bored, distressed, or simply beingonly mildly engaged. With the luxury ofworking with only fifteen kids, you canfeel and see what is happening withalmost every child.”

Because the same classes are offeredyear after year, they attract ideas andinsights from a wealth of sources.Teachers collect materials for a camp foryears. They find great toys or books instores, or follow up on someone’s com-ments or a particularly intriguing sugges-tion in a book. One child’s particularlycreative approach to solving a problem

Summer Camps • 33

can provide an example a teacher lays outas a possible choice for future campers.

Master teachers also travel to othermuseums and countries as they continueto explore the collections that are thefocus of the camps. For instance, ateacher may take very specific photo-graphs of an architectural site to use as ateaching tool or meet with another muse-um educator to brainstorm new ways ofteaching.

Four years of support from The PewCharitable Trusts provided a lush oppor-tunity to experiment in every way duringthe camps. “In the past, we’ve had grantswhere we create new programs that arewonderful, and the grant disappears andso do the programs,” Garcia says. “Weapproached the Pew project cautiously.We looked at our programs and asked howwe could make them better.”

The grant allowed them to not onlycreate new programs, but also to developsustainable programs. As Maria Garciaput it “The money essentially paid for thesheer brainpower that has been put intothese camps. The amount of time spent oncollection research, curriculum planning,and selection of art materials was morethan we can normally afford. We had full-time paid interns who could help testsomething four or five times to get itwhere it is now. A project such as atokonoma is easy to make because a lot oftesting went into it. At this point, theseprograms can be run extremely efficientlyat fairly low annual costs.”

Camps are also wellsprings for

changing the museum. “The fact thatmaster teachers have multiple roles in themuseum means that they contribute tomaking the museum as a whole a family-friendly place,” Williams says. “We canhire talented classroom teachers to teachat the museum in the summer, but themaster teachers make a much greaterimpact on the museum as they take theircamp experiences and integrate them intoall the other work they do.”

Master teachers collaborate with otherstaff on exhibition design and permanentcollection installations. They serve on awide range of museum committees for vis-itor services, administration, exhibitionmarketing, and more. Each masterteacher is assigned to one collection.Camp experiences find their way into theexperiences offered to visitors in themuseum’s galleries.

Camps embrace differences. Whatgoes on during the sessions should variesaccording to personal and professionalvalues and teaching styles. This is quitedifferent from how the departmentapproaches the development of a familybackpack or a children’s website compo-nent, which have more defined parameters.

“Our camps are the most personalexperiences for us as master teachers andalso one of the most divergent programsin the department,” says Williams. “Eachcamp represents the best of what we do asteachers.”

Summer Camps • 34

Kids Corner

Outside, it is cold and snowy. My children,ages six and eight, hurry through the parking lot toa towering red steel sculpture, “Lao-Tzu,” by MarkDi Suvero, which dominates the plaza in front of theDenver Art Museum. To them, it’s a jungle gym readyfor a ritual and excited climb. Next, they headthrough the museum entrance, navigate the busylobby to a splash of brilliant color: The Kids Corner.

This welcoming nook—with its bins of markers,scissors and activity sheets—is their place. It hasbeen since they were toddlers. Back then, they would

sprawl on the rug, scribble for five minutesand go. Today, they plan to see the visitingWinslow Homer exhibit. But first, they wantto make their own, paper Melanesianshields. In their bright wayside corner, theyselect markers and drawing boards andplop down on the splashy carpet.

The Denver Art Museum dedicates premiumsquare footage to children and families. The KidsCorner tells the story. Available all the time, thisart-making nook is a permanent fixture in the mainlobby, where space is extremely valuable.

This deliberate physical commitment to familiessends a clear message that the museum wants themto relax, have fun, and explore art in a kid-friendlyway. The corner also lets adults who didn’t bringchildren know that they can comfortably includethem in the future. And it helps dispel the aloof,distant impressions that some visitors have of art museums.

During in-depth visitor panels, parents and relatives talked about theirimpressions of the Kids Corner. Manypeople appreciated its kid-friendly activities. Others were glad they couldcount on being able to take breaks in the corner.

“The Kids Corner sets a tone that themuseum is family-oriented,” one mansaid. “It’s not the classic, stuffy imagethat some people have of art museums. By having that corner visible, in a placeadjacent to the elevators, it really helpsovercome what I would call a negativeimage of art museums.”

The corner quietly asserts itself as awarm place that counteracts these sterilepreconceptions. Set off by benches andchairs cushioned in blue and purple, the

Kids Corner is a landmark and a cozymeeting place. This area is open to any-one at any time. Some visitors like to stopby before they head to the galleries.Others save the place for later. As onemother notes, “I prefer to do the KidsCorner at the end of our visits. I treat itlike dessert.”

A framed backdrop lures visitors tothe colorful corner. Red bins offer mark-ers, glue sticks, scissors, and bold activitysheets. A soft rug splashed with brighthues encourages kids to flop down. Theprojects are usually tied to the permanentcollections but occasionally relate to spe-cial exhibitions. Activities range frommaking serpent headdresses or angelwings to decorating clothing on HanChinese paper dolls.

Kids Corner • 2

Families are welcome to use the Kids Corner in ways that suit their needs. Kids and adults are encouraged to create aproject, relax, or read a book. Because of its prime location, the corner sends a clear message that families are welcome.

Adults can create projects along withtheir kids, relax, or look through relatedstorybooks or exhibition catalogues.Younger siblings can scribble on sheets orlisten as their grown-up companions readto them.

The Kids Corner is a peaceful nook fora change of pace. Above all else, it’s atangible message from the museum tofamilies: We welcome you.

“A sign alone can’t do it,” said MeloraMcDermott-Lewis, director of family pro-grams and master teacher for Europeanand American Art. “A brochure can’t doit. Here’s prime real estate dedicated in avery important part of the museum.Everybody wants space in the lobby, andyet we’ve devoted this area to kids. It’s oneof the strongest messages we can send.”

From its beginnings as a one-time artcontest in 1986 to accompany a specialexhibition, the Kids Corner has evolvedinto one of the museum’s permanent offer-

ings for families. Visitors are encouragedto have fun with a project and—if theywant—carry their exploration a step fur-ther by checking out related works of art.Success doesn’t look like a lesson mas-tered. Rather, educators hope the activitieswill tap imaginations, welcome families,and encourage them to return for more.

Large theatrical backdrops framed inred set the scene. “They dramatize proj-ects,” said Mara Trager, family programsassistant. “When kids see the backdrop,they say, ‘Oh, my jaguar, it lives in the jun-gle.’ The backdrop makes a connection.”

Backdrops provide both scenery and aplace for kids to display their art. Hungwith lush vines and leaves, the Maya rainforest backdrop invites children into thejungle. Others, such as the Egyptianmural, evoke the distant past. Painted likea cracked sandstone wall, the backdropshows how Egyptian nobles and noble-women threw festive parties thousands ofyears ago. Dressed in fine linens, guestsfeast at a banquet. They wear elegant collars like the ones children can make inthe Kids Corner. The Egyptian god,Horus—whom kids can spy on the muse-um’s mummy case—adorns both the papercollars and the ones on the backdrop.

Successful activities share commontraits. When Gretchen DeSciose, masterteacher for pre-Columbian and Spanishcolonial art, and a graphic designer creat-ed the jaguar mask and paws activity,they tested prototypes with kids first tomake sure the activity would be fun, easy,and successful. They quickly realized

Kids Corner • 3

Making Melanesian shields from over-sized paper andpatterns is one of several Kids Corner activities.

they had to move the eyeholes closertogether to fit small faces. On the sheetnext to the mask pattern, they addedillustrations of actual museum pieces withjaguars on them, subtly encouraging fur-ther explorations in the gallery.

“Kids need to be engaged and excit-ed,” DeSciose said. “They probably arenot going to devote more than thirty min-utes to the activity. So you want it to besomewhat simple. Also, it should havesome natural interest for children. Theones that have been successful over andover again are ones that kids see from adistance and say, ‘Oh, I want to do that.’”

DeSciose’s jaguar paws and maskswork on all those levels. Like the otherKids Corner activities, this project beginswith an over-sized, boldly printed sheet ofpaper. Children color, cut, and assemblethe patterns into a mask with a three-dimensional nose, curved ears, and pawslike mittens. When children put them on,they become jaguars. The transformationencourages an instinctive, imaginativeconnection with one of the most importantanimals in pre-Columbian art.

DeSciose has taken the project toDenver branch libraries, and even as faras Brazil. Universally, she’s found thatyoung children and teenagers alike haveenjoyed making these costumes. Theactivity’s deliberately simple design hasbeen a key component of its success.

For the most part, activities should beself-explanatory, master teachers agree.At the Kids Corner, families usually don’tspend a lot of time reading directions,

although minimal guidance—three or fourlines of instructions—is provided.Children start right in cutting, and oftenthe words are first to get lost amid thescraps of paper on the rug.

Activities also should be suitable forchildren of various ages. Small handsdon’t have the muscles or coordination forintricate snipping, and older kids must beinterested enough to use their more devel-oped skills.

“We don’t want visitors to feel like theactivities are a huge process,” said MariaGarcia, family programs coordinator. “Wedon’t want them to be too facile, either.Families need to have a sense that thereis a connection to the collection. But Idon’t think they need to come away feel-ing like they’ve conquered some mountain

Kids Corner • 4

Relating Kids Corner activities to objects in the col-lection is an important part of developing an activity.The connection gets kids interested in the art in thecollection and encourages families to explore the gal-leries. (Lidded Urn with Modeled Jaquars, AD 600-900, Highlands Guatamala)

of information about pre-Columbian art.”Master Teacher Melanie Groendyke-

Freeman knew immediately what shewanted to design for her Kids Corneractivity. During a previous summer campshe taught on Egypt, she had the childrenmass silk flowers and facsimiles of semi-precious stones to create elaborate col-lars; finery elegant enough for a Nile ban-quet. The kids loved the activity andquickly picked up on Egyptian notions ofpattern and order.

With this in mind, Groendyke-Freeman distilled the project to itsessence on paper for the Kids Corner.

After cutting out the printed collar, children can arrange die-cut paper shapes like poppy petals, chamomile,lotus flowers, and olive leaves.Assemblage was a major part of collar-making thousands of years ago, and so itis in the Kids Corner.

The project connects to ancient Egyptin other ways. The nook’s bins are filledwith markers in colors that resemble the vibrant hues found on tombs and temple wall paintings of daily life andcelebrations in ancient Egypt. Even inkedoutlines on the sheet allude to the past.After designer Mary Junda suggested

Kids Corner • 5

A team consisting of a master teacher, family program coordinator, and graphic designer work together to create activities that are easy to understand and fun to do. For the Egyptian collar activity, everything from the way the collars are put together to the marker colors used to adorn them is tied to ancient Egyptian tradition.

printing in a color other than standardblack, Groendyke-Freeman picked a cop-pery green pigment that was often used inEgyptian painting. Children don’t get aKids Corner lecture on such details, buttheir collars reflect these qualities andmake it easier to make a connec-tion with the painted collar on themuseum’s third century b.c.mummy case.

“I wanted to make sureanything we did was histori-cally accurate, that it had asense of grandeur,” saidGroendyke-Freeman.“Esthetically, I wanted it totie into ancient Egyptian tra-dition. Everything we did istaken directly from paintingsor graphics—actual render-ings of plants along the Nile.These connections give theproject an authentic feel. I wantthe project to be fun, but I wantchildren to feel like they’re mak-ing something special.”

Designing successful proj-ects is tricky because visitors’learning styles and creativeapproaches differ wildly. Somefamilies embrace Kids Corner projects instantly and com-fortably. Others hesitate anddeliberate. The nook and its activitiesneed to embrace these variations withouta teacher’s supervised help.

Like many of the offerings for families,the Kids Corner is not constantly staffed.

The materials are replenished each morn-ing, and staff checks in once or twice aday. Materials are reviewed by conserva-tion staff and security. Careful signs giveadults the help they need, but allow themand their children to take off in any

direction that comes to theirimaginations.

My son quickly decideshe does not want to color.Instead, he cuts out andrearranges every shape intoan intricate pattern on hisMelanesian shield. Mydaughter, on the otherhand, scrutinizes all thecompleted sheets pinned onthe large backdrop, com-paring, contrasting, andtalking about each one.

Finally, she begins. A fewminutes later, a mother withtwo impeccably dresseddaughters wanders by. The sis-ters tug at their mother to stay,but she wants to look at therelated art first and then returnto the Kids Corner. Meanwhile,a father grabs an activity sheetand lets his three-year-oldscribble briefly, while he takesa break. Another family hovers

at the edge of the corner, deciding how toapproach the project. The mother suggests

Kids Corner • 6

This mummy case was a source of inspiration and refer-ence in the development of the Egyptian collar activity.(Sarcophagus, 330-304 BC, Egypt)

coloring first, then cutting and pasting. There are all sorts of styles, and soon

the floor becomes crowded with childrenranging from age four to preteens. Moststay for about twenty minutes to half anhour. A few post their work and leave itwhile they visit the museum. Others roll uptheir papers to take home. At some point,every child looks around to see what the others are doing and then returns to his orher work. It’s fairly quiet, despite the factthat there are at least fourteen peoplepacked into the space.

Kids Corner projects can be as variedas the individuals who make them. Forone activity, McDermott-Lewis and graphic designer Mary Junda created abackdrop based on Edward Hicks’Peaceable Kingdom. Kids populated thepainted landscape with their own animals.It was so large it gave the impression thatchildren could actually step into thescene as they pinned their creations tothe backdrop.

In another project, kids used roundwhite stickers and animal stencils to cre-ate bright blue paper versions of the cere-monial button blankets of the NorthwestCoast Indian culture.

Throughout the years, museum staffhave refined the nook and its projects.“It’s something that has morphed andevolved,” McDermott-Lewis said. “Ourthinking has gotten a lot clearer based onliving with it, hearing from families aboutthe area and other family offerings, andcoming back and looking at it afresh.”

Toward this end, Garcia andMcDermott-Lewis are now working withmaster teachers to refine about six of themost successful Kids Corner activities.Instead of changing projects every twomonths, these six activities will be rotatedevery three months over a two-year span.This is a cost-effective and efficient wayto change offerings while keeping theirquality high. It also allows the museum toinvest in new backdrops that can be usedagain and again—and reflect the sophisti-cated yet playful look that has evolvedsince Kids Corner’s more humble beginnings.

“We want our things to look like theywere made specifically for our museum,”Garcia said. “I want visitors to know theyare still in the art museum, that they arein a place where all these cultures arerepresented.”

As ideas are refined, master teachers’expertise and knowledge translate intobasic but stimulating projects for families.“I really like the diversity and richness ofall the activities as a whole,” Garcia said.“They are all very different.”

However, they all share common goals.Essentially, kids need to be excited. TheKids Corner is not simply an art nook; it’s an imagination place. It’s a way for the Denver Art Museum to instantly,assertively say it is committed to families.

Thirty minutes have passed, but mychildren wouldn’t know it. Engrossed intheir coloring, cutting, and gluing, theylook up only to check out other kids’ workor to find more markers. Finally, they

Kids Corner • 7

decide to post their projects on the backdrop, feeling proud about what they’vedone. They find pins and place theirshields as prominently as possible. Nowthey are ready to ride the elevator to seethe shield that inspired their own. Theycan’t believe how huge it is! In three minutes or less, they circle the gallerybefore deciding they are ready for theHomer exhibit.

Kids Corner • 8

Holiday Weeks

During these special holiday weeks, families can find riddles and games throughout thegalleries that they won’t find at any other time ofyear. These “limited time only” events urge folkswho have been wanting to visit—but have nevergotten around to it—to head down to the museumand approach art in a playful way.

Rhymes and Riddles and GreatGames activities ranging from spiral-bound books of mind teasers to magnetictic-tac-toe boards are offered for six toeight days each winter and spring. Thesespecial holiday weeks coincide withDenver Public School winter and springvacations—times when parents are look-ing for fun things to do, and the media is

emphasizing family-related features. In addition tothe special activities that come out only at thesetimes, the museum welcomes visitors with a fullmenu of family offerings normally available only onweekends or during the summer.

Q: What’s seven stories high and filled withgames and riddles when schools are out and families are

lounging around the house wondering what to do next?

A: The Denver Art Museum, during its winter and spring holiday weeks.

“These weeks were conceived asattractor events,” said Melora McDermott-Lewis, director of family programs.“There are so many things going on inpeople’s lives. How does the Denver ArtMuseum get them to make that initialvisit? Once we get families here, we knowthey’ll have a good time. But we need toget them in that first time. These ‘promptto action’ weeks create a sense ofurgency. If you don’t get down here thisweek, you will miss out.”

The holiday activities are an easy, dip-your-toe-in introduction to the museum.They are less of acommitment than apaid class or a forty-five-minute backpackexperience, but theystill offer an enjoyableway to engage kidswith art. With activi-ties on each floor,they also give familiesa chance to movethrough the museumand discover whatinterests them.

During Rhymesand Riddles week inlate December, signsfeaturing Seymour, thefamily programs’ monkey mascot, lead visitors to brightly decoratedtables in the galleries. There adults andchildren find colorful laminated books withfive separate poems, each about a differentobject found somewhere in that gallery:

A large black stallion turns its head in

surprise

The man on its back looks behind with

steady eyes.

Leather leggings and a fiery red shirt

Protect this Western trapper from the fierce

wind and dirt.

A hat with a rolled brim

And a saddle blanket with bright red trim.

Far off to the left purplish mountains

stand tall.

In the lower right corner, find the artist’s

name, and that’s all.

At the request of parents in visitorpanels, answers are printed on the backof each page. Looking for the right objectis fun and encourages families to look at avariety of pieces before finding the

Holiday Weeks • 2

Families can pick up Rhymes & Riddle and Great Games activities at colorfultables strategically placed throughout the galleries. They also can enter the riddlecontest.

answer. As they figure out clues, they gettidbits of interesting information, all inthe guise of a whimsical game.

“Sometimes families make it a contestbetween adults and kids,” notes MaraTrager, family programs assistant. “Somepeople will figure out the painting beforethey finish the riddle, but then they try tofind all the details described in the poem.”

If inspired, visitors also can make uptheir own riddles and enter them in a con-test. That was what ten-year-old Chris didduring his holiday outing. Glancing backand forth between his object—a samuraisuit of armor—and his paper, he wrote:

I may be bold, my armor is black.

I carry a sword upon my back.

I fight for Japan, day by night,

In hopes of chasing enemies out of sight.

I wear a mask on my face,

With some string held in place.

I am a warrior, big and bright.

Who am I? You guessed right.

Within a few minutes he finished,dropped his poem into a brightly coloredentry box on the riddle table, and went onhis way. Routinely, during holiday weeks,more than two hundred people submitcontest entries to win free spots in anupcoming museum workshop or sleepover.The kids have fun making up a riddle

Holiday Weeks • 3

Rhymes & Riddle and Great Game activities are rooted inthe DAM collections. To solve the riddles families mustscour the galleries in search of such paintings as LongsJake. (Charles Deas, Long Jakes: The Rocky MountainMan, 1844)

Objects in the DAM collections such as this samurai suitof armor are sources of inspiration for kids entering theirown rhymes and riddles in the contest. (Suit of Armorand Helmet, Edo period, 1700s)

or solving a word search and when theyfill in the entry form the educationdepartment gains names for its familymailing list.

Parents have noted that the riddlesfeed their children’s excitement and inter-est in art. One person wrote, “What abrilliant way to draw a child’s attention tothe details in paintings and artifacts!”Another individual said, “It’s a delightfuldevice to create a feeling of involvementand the thrill of discovery and wonder-ment.” In visitor research panels, adultsalmost universally said the rhymes andgames draw their families into the art andget them looking in new ways. “The activ-ities were a great way to pay attention tothe details,” said one mother of a five-year-old. “The game tells you to focus ona specific thing. I like it.”

The riddles and games are deliberate-ly based on activities that adults and kidslike and already know how to play. Forinspiration, master teachers turned tokids’ magazines and games. What activi-ties do they play again and again? Whichdo they know instinctively? DenverPublic Library librarians offered up sev-eral popular kids’ publications.

“We were trying to get into children’sbrains and figure out what appeals tothem,” McDermott-Lewis said. “I grew upwith kids’ magazines. I remember myHumpty Dumpty magazines and the rebusstories, and Highlights magazine with itsgames. I looked forward to them. In thecourse of the grant, I spent a lot of timelooking at current kids’ magazines and

was struck by how smart they are aboutengaging kids.”

Although magazines and populargames were wonderful sources, they hadto be adapted specifically for an art museum. The games needed to be fun andfairly intuitive, but they also had to helppeople connect directly and visually withart in the galleries—and do so quicklyand simply.

“There is no missing that it’s aboutlooking at art,” said Trager. “Everythingthat is created is targeted to make thatconnection.” All of the games focus onparticular pieces in the galleries. “There’sno other place in the world where youcould be doing it,” Trager said.

During spring break, Seymour signsdirect families to the game tablesthroughout the museum. Riddles, similarto those offered during winter break, areavailable in the second floor Architecture,Design and Graphics galleries. On thethird floor, laminated Crack the Coderebus books with simple drawings giveclues about art in the Plains Indiangallery. For example, a picture of a headand a dress describe a headdress on display.

When playing the Eye Spy game onthe fourth floor, visitors stand in front of apre-Columbian pot to figure out which ofits painted details are hidden on theirgame boards. This activity, while basedon a popular series of children’s books,has not proved to be as compelling assome of the other games, and eventuallymight be replaced, Trager said.

Holiday Weeks • 4

Holiday Weeks • 5

“Tic-tac-toe, on the other hand, iswildly popular,” Trager noted. “You auto-matically know what you are supposed todo. You don’t need to read anything. It’salso an attractive board that you can carryaround on your own.”

Tic-tac-toe is played in the Asiangallery on the fifth floor. On sturdy mag-netic boards, rows ofphotographs featuredetails from sculp-tures or carvings.Using chunky mag-nets, visitors canmark off each print-ed image as theyfind the correspon-ding art. Some peo-ple race each otherto get three in a rowfirst, while otherswork as a group to filltheir entire board.

The What’s Wrongwith This Picturegame is tailored to twoEuropean paintings onthe sixth floor. Visitorshave to look at the artto find out how the image on their boardhas been subtly changed. “Parents andchildren have always liked this game,”McDermott-Lewis said. “But, it’s beenimproved to help families be more suc-cessful. The games need to be challeng-ing enough to be fun, but not frustrating.”

During the past three years, the edu-cation department has observed, brain-

stormed, tested, and refined its holidayweek activities. The games are deceptive-ly simple on the surface, but workbecause of repeated evaluation and revi-sion. For example, the What’s Wrong withThis Picture challenge was changed afterparents said they had trouble spotting allfive discrepancies. One parent suggested

dividing the image intosections. Boards nowinclude lines markingoff five areas, each ofwhich includes onedetail that does notmatch the corre-sponding art.

Instructions forGreat Games andRhymes andRiddles are writtenso the activitiescan be done with-out supervision.But having some-one to talk to canmake a museumvisit work muchmore smoothly, just

as a librarian can makea library visit more successful.

“Libraries are these wonderful, wel-coming, accessible places. And as wepartnered with the library on the Pewgrant, we realized again and again how

Games are deliberately based on activities familiesalready know and enjoy. They also are versatile. This version of tic-tac-toe is suitable for families on the go aswell as those who want to examine each object closer.

critical this interaction with a friendlyand knowledgeable person could be,”noted McDermott-Lewis. “With this inmind, we began to look for new roles forour docents.”

Trained volunteers are key to both theGreat Games and Rhymes and Riddlesweeks, said Marilyn Newbry, the docentliaison for familyprograms. “If some-one is staffing thegame table, almosteverybody will stop,”Newbry said. “Itthere isn’t a docent,some people aremore likely to walkon by.” Many peoplejust need a simpleinvitation to get start-ed.

When Newbrystaffs the seventh-floor Great Gamestable, she encouragespeople to play theMemory Match gamewith two contemporaryoil paintings, one of awet fish slumped on a faded armchair.The players spread out twelve MemoryMatch cards on the floor and take turnsflipping them over to find pairs. Oncethey make a match, they have to find adetail in the painting. After the childrenhave completed the game, Newbry asksthem to tell her a story about how the fishended up in the chair. “They come upwith all sorts of things,” Newbry said.

“One little girl told me a story about howthis painting was actually of the fish’shouse.”

Benita Goltermann, another docentwho volunteers during Rhymes andRiddles week, loves to ask the childrenwho stop by her table to make up riddlesabout American Indian pieces to stump

her. They end up scurry-ing back and forth tocheck out more detailsabout their object,because Goltermannkeeps asking for moreclues. If they have ques-tions, she’s happy torespond—though thepoint isn’t a mini-lesson.

While the educationdepartment is working toincrease docent involve-ment, the program itselfis designed to be runwith minimal effort. “Weknew from the start thatwe needed to developsomething that could be

maintained by a reducedstaff once our grant was over,”McDermott-Lewis said, “so we invested indevising and refining ‘hard copy,’ in thiscase, games and riddles that can be usedover and over again.”

Trager, assigned to coordinate the holi-

Holiday Weeks • 6

Visitor input has led to improvements in several activities,including the What’s Wrong with This Picture game.When families had trouble spotting all the discrepanciesin the picture, the education department added quadrantsto make it more intuitive.

Holiday Weeks • 7

day weeks, starts two months in advance.She works with the public relationsdepartment to get press releases to areanewspapers and encourages docents totalk up the program with school groups.Families receive special “prompt toaction” postcards in the mail. In a recentDecember reminder, the card depictsSeymour amid snowflakes. In the spring,he wore a wreath of daisy petals aroundhis head. Trager also works with librarystaff to cross-promote holiday week activi-ties at both institutions. This cross-pro-motion lets families know that they will

find fun things to do at the museum andthe library, which are connected by anunderground concourse. The children’slibrarians are invited for coffee and achance to try out the games or riddles forthemselves so they can personally encour-age families to come over after theirlibrary visit.

Once the word is out and the docentsare recruited, Trager pulls out the gamesand sets up the tables when the weekbegins. With minimal maintenance, thefamilies do the rest. Carrying aroundboards, or sitting on the floor working outpuzzles or memory games, they begin totransform the museum. Their comfortwithin the galleries is infectious. It sendsa message that this is a kid-friendlyplace.

“A lot of people come here expectingit to be really quiet—people walkingaround stroking their chins, looking atpaintings, and contemplating the art andhistory of the world,” Goltermann said.“When a person walks into the galleryand sees people spread out on the floorplaying games and peering up at the art,it’s a completely different ambience—onethat says, ‘Well, go ahead and see whatyou can do! Go and have some fun!’”

“Prompt to action” postcards are sent to families prior toRhymes & Riddles and Great Games week. The postcardslet families know that there is something fun for them todo at the Denver Art Museum during those weeks.

Backpacks

As her three children and their two friends sitcross-legged around her, waiting, Tari unzips a redWild Woman of the Woods backpack. She pulls out acedar-colored, canvas pouch boldly labeled “1.”Inside the pouch is a laminated card. She begins toread the tale: “Lost in the Forest.” Except for hervoice, it’s quiet in the Northwest Coast gallery.

The children in Tari’s group imagine themselvesentering a dense forest along with a group ofNorthwest Coast children. The children have beenwarned to stay out of the woods, or they might stum-ble upon Dzunuk’wa, the giant woman who lives inthe forest and loves to eat children.

“Let’s see what else is in here,”Tari says, fishing out a riddle book tohelp them find the cannibal woman inthe room. Opening to the beginning,Tari reads, “Look out for the giantwho lives in the woods. She’s scary andmean and up to no good. You’ll findher nearby in this gallery space.

Follow the clues—they lead right to her place.” There she is, right in front of them, carved into

towering house posts. The kids recognize her fat redlips and sleepy eyes.

During the next half hour, Tari’s kids followDzunuk’wa around the gallery, going back and forthbetween the snippets of story and related art on display. In the story the cannibal woman kidnaps all

the village children except two, a luckyboy and girl who hide and then pursue heras she races along the shoreline in themoonlight. As Tari reads about the boyand girl finding a dugout canoe and paddling furiously after the wild woman,her sons Joe, seven, and John, five, decorate their own paper canoes. Theysolve riddles to find a carved wolf mask inthe gallery. Then they turn their attentionback to the story. A wolf is howling in thedistance as Dzunuk’wa runs along in thenight.

From inside the backpack, Tari pullsout a wooden box latched with a leatherstrap. The lid reads “Bentwood Box

Mindbender.” As her kids lean forward fora closer look, she opens the box and pullsout the next story card. In “Children forDinner?” the village boy and girl hidebehind boxes like the ones displayed on aplatform nearby. From the shadows, theywatch Dzunuk’wa build a bonfire to cookher captives. Just in time, the brother andsister leap out and scare the giant, whostumbles. Her long black hair catches fire.With a bloodcurdling scream, Dzunuk’waruns into the ocean to put out the flamesas the children escape back to their homes.

Tari pauses. The kids sit mesmerized asshe digs into the scarlet backpack. Shepulls out a pouch stuffed with cedar needles and a real abalone shell. As herkids breathe in the woodsy cedar smell andswirl their hands in the shell’s smooth cup,she continues with the story.

The entire village celebrates the children’s return, feasting on salmon, halibut stew, and abalone cooked over afire of sweet-smelling cedar. There are evenfresh blackberries for dessert!

The story’s over, but the kids aren’tready to leave the gallery. They wanderaround looking for a bentwood box like theones the kids hid behind in the story. Joereturns to the house posts and stares atDzunuk’wa. “This is her sleeping, but she’sreally staring,” he says. After a moment,he heads over to the canoe again, thinkingabout a chase in the night. “This is thecanoe. It has leaks in it, and they onlyhave broken paddles,” he says. “They aretrying to get her! They do get away!”

Backpacks • 2

This carving of Dzunuk’wa, subject of a NorthwestCoast Indian legend, inspired the story and activities in the Wild Woman of the Woods backpack. All backpacks are rooted in the DAM collections. (Douglas Cranmer, House Post, c. 1980, Kwakiutl)

Finally, after the children are doneretelling details of the chase and havetaken a last look at their favorite masks,Tari zips up the red Wild Woman of theWoods backpack and hands it to Joe, whoslings it over his shoulders. She stuffs thecanoe art projects into her own tote.Leaving Dzunuk’wa behind for now, theclan moves on to explore the ancient Mayawith Michael’s Rescue of Bird Jaguar pack.

The museum’s ten backpacks are do-it-yourself gallery adventures that leadintrepid explorers on art and cultureexpeditions that last forty-five minutes toan hour. Inside each pack are art projectsand real things to touch, such as a lac-quer picnic box in the Japanese Picnicpack or delicate rattlesnake skin insidethe Jaguars, Snakes & Birds pack. There

are games to play and riddles to solve.Available for free on weekends and dur-ing winter, spring, and summer breaks(approximately 150 days per year), packsare geared toward families with childrenage six to twelve.

Backpacks vary. Some are open-ended—their activities can be done inany order. Others follow a specific andclearly labeled sequence. Some back-packs are more about examining anddrawing; others focus on storytelling orrole-playing. But all are intended to helpfamilies successfully engage with objectsin the collections. When kids first strapbackpacks on their shoulders, they have ageneral idea about what’s inside. Thebright cover images and chats with thecheck-out attendants in the first floorlobby clue them in on the activities.

Backpacks • 3

Backpacks are designed to make gallery visits relaxed, interactive experiences. Families are encouraged sit on the floor and have fun while on their backpack adventures.

But their adventure doesn’t unfold com-pletely until they start traveling throughthe gallery, unzipping and digging intothe custom-designed pouches and con-tainers in the packs. Here they will dis-cover unexpected binoculars, real bulletmolds, rain sticks, bottles that let out asubtle whiff of chocolate when squeezed,crayons, scissors, or whatever else is hid-den inside.

“The minute kids strap on a backpack,you should see the looks on their faces,”says Maria Garcia, family programs coor-dinator. “They’re ready for an adventure,and they are the ones in charge. We hope

the packs give kids a sense of ownershipin the museum and make it their space.”

Backpacks are designed to help fami-lies feel at ease in the galleries. Writtendirections and maps are included for easynavigation. Instructions are repeatedlytested for clarity and simplicity and eveninclude a line urging families to feel freeto sit on the floor and spread out.

A flagship for the museum’s free drop-in programs, backpacks encourageindependent family forays into galleries.Emboldened by a stuffed adventure pack,families can explore more easily and pur-posefully on their own. No matter the

Backpacks • 4

Story cards sometimes guide families through backpack activities. The cards use minimal text, encouraging family interaction with each other and the objects displayed in the gallery.

theme or subject, the activities get themto slow down and look more closely at afew of the thousands of objects on view.

The museum’s backpack programdates to the early nineties. MeloraMcDermott-Lewis, master teacher forEuropean and American art and familyprograms director, came up with the ideaand developed it with four other staffmembers. The packs they crafted were an experiment intended to last only onesummer.

In Granny’s Adventures in Africa, children opened envelopes and packagescovered with African stamps and readillustrated letters from their travelinggrandmother as they looked at related artin the gallery. Kids became trappers inthe Western Adventure, wearing rugged felthats as they explored the Western collec-tion with rawhide-stitched pouches andleather journals. In Baskets, Pots, andParfleches, they designed their ownparfleches, leather carrying bags, andsearched for pottery patterns usingshards. The fourth backpack focused oncontemporary art. Inside metallic silverand hot-pink bubble-wrap envelopes,children found transparent color paddlesthat gave them a feel for mixing colors whilelooking at a vibrant Jim Dine painting.

Initially, backpack covers and con-tents were handcrafted. Staff memberscreated graphics and wording on the com-puter or by hand and used laminated filmand Mod Podge finish to make things last.While somewhat rough in execution, theyclearly were successful.

After that first summer, the educationdepartment decided to offer backpacks onalternate Saturdays throughout the fall.Gradually the schedule expanded and sodid the number of packs. Each time addi-tional funding was available, a few morewould be created. During the past fouryears of support from The Pew CharitableTrusts, the education department hasadded five new packs.

Initially visitors selected and checkedout packs from a gray pushcart in themuseum lobby. This cart also has evolved,now serving as both a dramatic displayrack for the backpacks and a welcome station supplied with family programbrochures.

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Binoculars are one backpack tool that makes interactionwith landscape paintings and other collections fun forfamilies.

It’s hard to miss the huge custom carton red wheels set up on the first floor ofthe museum. Backpacks hang off bluesteel pegs. Sewn onto the front of eachpack is a bold colorful photograph orillustration and a title hinting at what’sinside. Younger kids are drawn like mag-nets to the jaguar gazing languidly atthem from the cover of the bright yellowJaguars, Snakes & Birds pack, the mostpopular of all the packs. Dzunuk’wa’ssleepy eyes track kids from the front ofthe Wild Woman of the Woods pack.Seymour, the monkey mascot for themuseum’s family programs, wears his ownbackpack on the cover of the Patternspacks. Available in lime green, brilliantorange, and bright blue, these packs are

color-coded according to the floor onwhich they will be used.

Six-year-old Caroline, back at thecart with Tari and the other kids, looksup at all the packs and points to the onewith a trapper astride a horse. Shewatches as the attendant plucks it off thehook and hands it to her. Kneeling,Caroline unzips her Western Adventure,pulls out a deliberately worn-lookinghat, and puts it on her head. She slingsthe pack over her shoulder and is readyto go.

“It just makes me feel good,” shesays, bending a bit from the pack’s bulk.“It’s going to be an adventure. It might beabout horses and cowboys and stuff likethat. It’s like carrying a game!”

Wearing an extra hat that the attendant gives her at the last minute, Tari leads her clan off to the elevators and on to another adventure.

On the back of the cart are generousshelves to replenish everything from artactivity sheets to snakeskin. There arescissors, staples, colored pencils, paintsticks for Japanese fan handles, yarn andglue sticks for a bird mask, cleaning sup-plies, and tissues for runny noses. Thepacks can be instantly restocked whenthey are returned or adapted to individualfamily needs.

Since the cart is on wheels, it can bemoved easily from one location to another.On weekends and during school breaks it

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The backpack attendant is a critical asset to the program. In addition to providing families with a warm welcome to the museum, attendants can help them select packs that suit their interests and needs.

is set up in a prominent place in thelobby with a staff member available tocheck out packs and answer questions.Often the cart attendant is the first familyprograms person visitors meet after com-ing through the front doors. A warm wel-come and pragmatic information helpskids and adults get oriented.

Cart attendants can help familiesselect packs based on their interests andneeds. Some families want to includeyounger siblings in the experience; othershave time constraints or already havedone several packs and are looking for anew one. Some plan to make a connectionwith a school assignment. Each situationis unique. The friendly staffer, perched ona stool next to the cart, sets the tone foranyone wandering by or pausing to look.

Although backpacks are one of themost popular family offerings at the muse-

um, the education department evaluatedthe program along with others. Duringvisitor sessions specifically focusing onbackpacks, panelists rated them highly.Having tested the packs, some parentspreferred a story line with sequentialactivities because they said it helped totie their experiences together. Others didn’t want a set order. Either way, visi-tors have said that they want to knowwhether or not they should follow a cer-tain sequence.

“A backpack is like having a teacherlesson plan,” said one mother, during thevisitor panel. “You have everything righthere, and I find that’s nice because then Ican relax, and I too can learn. I’m notstruggling to teach or entertain.”

Visitor panelists said they wantedeven more hands-on items, such as theblunted ulu, a cutting knife traditionally

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Families can take advantage of backpack activities like making feathered bird masks. These activities not only enrich a child’s experience, they help families relate to objects in the galleries.

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used by Inuit women; or baleen from awhale’s mouth. But they also wanted theactivities in the packs to be varied. If oneactivity focused on touching, the othersshould emphasize something else.

Parents also noted that their childrenloved art projects. “My favorite is beingable to make something like hats ormasks,” one mother said. “To go homewith something is wonderful.” But sim-plicity and speed were critical. Fifteen totwenty minutes for a project was all the

adults wanted to spend.Parents also responded to the “wow”

aspect of the packs’ packaging. Outsidecovers are boldly printed on durablebright materials and sewn to last. Care istaken with every detail. One motherlikened unzipping the backpacks to open-ing a treasure chest.

When families unzip A JapanesePicnic, they’ll find a silk pouch patternedwith frothy waves. From inside the bagtumbles plastic sushi. The activityencourages visitors to arrange the sushipleasingly within the constraints of a lac-quer picnic box. When they reach insidethe Jaguars, Snakes & Birds pack, kidswill find a soft rattlesnake puppet, com-plete with fangs and a red tongue, peeringat them from inside a bag sewn fromshimmering mock snakeskin. As they pullout this beguiling reptile, its rattle shakesdryly amid boxes containing real snake-skin, a delicate skull, and instructions forfinding snakes in the sculptures andobjects around them.

Drawing from insight gained throughthe visitor panels, the education depart-ment devoted several planning meetingsto talking about the program, reflecting onwhat they had created, and decidingwhere to go next. Thanks to support fromThe Pew Charitable Trusts, they hadadditional time and resources to explorethe program anew and articulate what hadevolved steadily for years.

“To make a great backpack, you needtime to try things out, and then you needto step back and reflect,” says

Offering varied activities is an important aspect of thebackpack program. When families open this backpack, AJapanese Picnic, they’ll find a silk package with plasticsushi, chopsticks, and a picnic box that introduces them tothe art of food arrangement.

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McDermott-Lewis. “Forcing ourselves toarticulate what was or wasn’t working andwhy helped us get at the essence of thesuccessful activities.”

To help master teachers and othereducation staff members refine theirthinking about packs, McDermott-Lewispulled examples of five different activitytypes—touchable items, sensory materi-als, looking exercises, “manipulables,”and art-making projects—from existingpacks. She then asked the group to exam-ine and critique the examples by type.Staff was asked to think about what theyheard from visitors, but to add to thatwhat their teaching instincts told them.

Successful kits included touchableobjects, or “cool stuff” as one parent putit. For example, the Western Adventurebackpack includes flint and a steel strik-er like the ones that trapper Long Jakescarried inside his sack in an 1844Charles Deas painting. Jaguars, Snakes &Birds contains a delicate snake skullinside a Plexiglas box and rattlesnakeskin that children can finger as they lookat snakes in pre-Columbian artwork. TheSilkworm to Dragon Robe pack includesan actual silkworm cocoon that helps kidsimagine the intricate processes involvedin creating lavish Chinese textiles fromsuch tiny strands unwound from thecocoon.

A second category included compo-nents that evoke a particular sense, suchas smelling or hearing. Inside theJaguars, Snakes & Birds pack is a noisyrain stick that sounds like a downpour in

an ancient Maya forest. Another kitincludes a little plastic squeeze bottlethat sends out a whiff of chocolate remi-niscent of the scent of the cacao beansthat the ancient Maya traded and groundinto a ceremonial hot chocolate drink.

A third category included activitiesthat encouraged thoughtful looking, suchas the Western Adventure pack’s simpleleather journal. Each parchment paperentry includes part of a description.Children fill in the blanks by exploringthe art in the gallery.

A fourth category focused on activitiesthat allowed families to manipulate some-thing. In Scales, Tales, and Whales, chil-dren can arrange shiny white buttons ofall sizes on a dark blue felt square, alongwith fabric animal cutouts that corre-spond to carvings and other images ondisplay in the Northwest Coast Indiangallery. Other packs include puzzles thatcan only be pieced together by looking ata work on display.

“Being aware of different types ofactivities was important, but so was think-ing about what was important in each cat-egory,” McDermott-Lewis says. “We knewthat visitors liked art-making activities inthe packs, but that they seemed to preferart-making activities that were more thanjust a flat coloring activity. We realizedthat the projects didn’t need to be complicated, but if you could add astring, if you could fold it, if you could gobeyond just the flat sheet of paper, itmade a difference. With each category wetried to say, ‘What made some of these

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work better than others?’” These discussions proved to be inspi-

ration for new packs and also a stimulusto refine existing ones. In developingChairs: More Than Four Legs, one of thenew packs, Carla Hartman, masterteacher for architecture, design andgraphics, relied on her lifelong passionfor chairs. Only a handful of parents andchildren will ever take a class withHartman. But in the coming decade, thou-sands will benefit from the ideas thatevolved during her weeklong summercamp in which children nine to twelveyears old spend a week making chairs ofevery shape, size, and variety. Hartman’s

camp was a springboard from which shebegan to design her backpack. She col-laborated with Garcia and McDermott-Lewis, and together, they created a packwith content that addressed the needs ofboth children and adults.

“We worked well as a team,” Garciasays. “Carla wanted kids to be designersand go through a design process. Thatbrought up, What do designers do? Well,a kid wasn’t going to read a long storyabout how to design a chair.”

In pooling their expertise and keepingvisitors in mind, the project flowedonward. Hartman says, “I knew whatworked with kids in a classroom situation,

A museum educator is able to reach only a handful of visitors face to face. Backpacks take the expertise of the educator and make it available to hundreds.

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but for the backpack, I needed Meloraand Maria to help me in the sense of,What makes something fun? What makesthings work?”

A colorful photograph of a gilded,200-year-old Empire chair is on the frontof the backpack. Next to the photo arefour panels that say: “Vote for yourfavorite and least favorite chair parts,”“Color the detail,” “Choose an arm,” and“Design a back.”

In the gallery, families have to careful-ly consider chairs on display to completethe activities. As they hunt for what theyconsider the best and worst feet, arms,and backs, they intuitively learn aboutfurniture anatomy.

“You can get into multiple levels ofdiscernment through this simple voting

technique that kids love,” says Hartman,who had already seen voting in actionwhile visiting a parent-child workshoptaught by another master teacher. Thetopic of the workshop was Japanese flowerarranging. Parents and children wereasked to cast their votes for their favoriteand least favorite arrangement. Delightedwith their ballot responsibilities, the kidswere intrigued and extremely thoughtful.Not only were they thrilled with the powerof making choices, but they also had theopportunity to debate, haggle, consider,articulate, and describe.

Hartman translated this voting energyinto a boldly labeled backpack activity.Inside a brightly marked black pouchlabeled “Vote for your favorite and leastfavorite chair parts,” families will find a

Scaling back on text and making activities intuitive for families was key. The number 1 and the word VOTE on thisactivity bag let’s families know immediately what they’re in for.

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sturdy magnetic board printed with ninephotographs of gallery chairs displayedlike chess pieces on a hot-pink or greencheckerboard. Picture size was critical. Ifimages were too large, children wouldn’tlook at the real furniture around the room.The photographs are deliberately small,so kids have to stand close to each chair

to inspect it before casting their ballots.Kids mark off their selections with mag-netic statements rimmed in green or pink:Least favorite chair, seat, leg, back, andfabric; and favorite chair, seat, leg, back,and fabric. At the bottom of the board,they are asked, “How did the others inyour group vote? Find out why.”

After voting, a second black bagencourages everyone to “Color theDetail,” nudging grownups with “Adults,don’t be shy—color one too!” Another tipwarns “Open this bag only when every-one’s finished!”

To do the exercise, backpackers sim-ply color in an upholstery design outlineany way they want. After they are done,families search for the corresponding fab-ric in the gallery. They get to comparetheir own design and see how color choic-es affect the overall look.

By this time, backpackers are ready totake on the third pouch: “Choose an Arm.Which art do you think goes with eachchair?” The activity consists of six armsprinted on transparent laminate squares.The arms are to be placed on top of sil-houettes of armless chairs printed on aboard. Backpackers can change the lookand feel of furniture depending on theirpairings. A final note, honoring visitors’opinions, says, “Find the chair? Whicharm do you like better?”

A fourth pouch, labeled “Design aBack,” contains sturdy stencils of chairbacks and oversized sheets of drawingpaper printed only with a chair seat. Kids can trace the stencil or use their

Variety is important when creating the contents of a back-pack. Coloring and designing a chair back were two vehi-cles that encouraged families to look closer at the chairson display.

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imaginations to embellish the outline intheir own way.

All these components involved exten-sive changes and countless iterations toget from overall concepts to details, suchas where to place arrows, how to labelpouches, and which colors and graphicsto use. Hartman and others interviewedchildren and asked families to test proto-types of each activity. Hartman’s teachingassistant, Julia Tomasini, spent hoursresearching stencils, which had to bethick enough to hold up over time butalso work for the small pencils littlehands need to hold. She watched kidstrace inside and around the plastic formto find out how big and how intricate itshould be. Then she found a manufactur-er who would be able to make and replacesturdy stencils that would last for years.

Tomasini created a mockup of theinstructions on the computer, tested them,and then turned the best choices over toMary Junda, a graphic designer whodeveloped the final, striking, and minimallook essential to a backpack devoted todesign. In turn, Junda’s prototypes weretested to work out any remaining kinks inwording and instructions.

From the beginning, Hartman deliber-ately designed the backpack to be inter-esting for adults as well as children, andto inspire discussion and discernment.She knew it was critical that grownupswere as involved as their kids in thegallery.

“Adults are at least a third to half the

party doing this, so the backpack shouldbe as intriguing to parents as it is to thechildren,” she says. “That way, muchmore dynamic conversations and discus-sions will ensue.”

Even after years of refinement, pro-gram evaluations, and articulations, back-packs remain in spirit what they were atthe beginning. They are like presents toopen, animating art through real objects,games, riddles, projects, and stories thatstick in the minds of visitors long afterthey’ve returned the pack for someoneelse to explore. As one visiting mothersays, “My four year old loves the back-packs. She wants one from Santa forChristmas.”