VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

It's time for Spring Break Fun at the MFAH! March 14 - 20, 2011.

Be an Art Kid during Spring Break with interactive gallery experiences and activities for kids and families, all designed to encourage creativity, spark discussions, and make works of art come alive. 

Beginning Monday, March 14, the Kinder Foundation Education Center at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, becomes Spring Break headquarters with a special line-up of activities, tours and creativity for visitors of all ages. Museum docents and staff will showcase the very best of Sketching in the Galleries, Storytime Tours, Family Tours, Creation Stations and more.

Stop by Cafe Express for a sensational luxury tea and delicious French pastry to celebrate the arrival of the exhibition Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art.

When - Monday, March 14 – Sunday, March 20

Where - The museum’s Audrey Jones Beck Building (5601 Main Street) and Caroline Wiess Law Building (1001 Bissonnet Street)

Admission: Thursdays are FREE and every child under the age of 18 is free every Saturday and Sunday with either a Houston Public Library Power Card or a Harris County library card.

Become an art detective and uncover works of art from around the world with Gallery Investigations; enjoy interactive tours designed specifically for kids and families; create your own art at Creation Station; sketch in the galleries with an MFAH teaching artist; or join a Gallery Talk and explore topics ranging from allegory, to architecture, to Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color in Space and Time, a fully interactive immersion in art made out of light.

In addition to family activities and artistic exploration, don’t miss Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art with a selection of 50 paintings from Washington, DC. The National Gallery of Art’s premier holdings rank among the finest of any museum in the world, and Houston is the only U.S. venue for this stunning show, on view at the MFAH from February 20 to May 23.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS:

Monday, March 14
11:00 AM – 2:00 PM
A Book and a Look NEW PROGRAM!
Law Building, Kinder Gallery
Families can check out a storybook and take it into the galleries to read together in front of a work of art that they will also “read” with the help of hands-on materials and looking questions. MFAH staff will match up each family’s interests and favorite things with a storybook and art pairing.

12:00 NOON
Gallery Talk: Highlights of the MFAH
Meet in the Law Building lobby
Explore some of the best-known and best-loved works of art in the MFAH art collections on this 45-minute Gallery Talk.

Tuesday, March 15
11:00 AM – 2:00 PM
A Book and a Look NEW PROGRAM!
Law Building, Kinder Gallery
Families can check out a storybook and take it into the galleries to read together in front of a work of art that they will also “read” with the help of hands-on materials and looking questions. MFAH staff will match up each family’s interests and favorite things with a storybook and art pairing.

12:00 NOON
Gallery Talk: “Romancing the West: Alfred Jacob Miller”
Meet in the Beck Building lobby
In 1837, Alfred Jacob Miller traveled west as part of an expedition to the Rocky Mountains. In close contact with Native Americans, fur trappers, and mountain men, Miller was one of the first artists to leave a detailed—yet romantic—visual account of the American West. On this 45-minute Gallery Talk, see the works produced by this artist during his westward explorations.

Wednesday, March 16
11:00 AM – 2:00 PM
A Book and a Look NEW PROGRAM!
Law Building, Kinder Gallery
Families can check out a storybook and take it into the galleries to read together in front of a work of art that they will also “read” with the help of hands-on materials and looking questions. MFAH staff will match up each family’s interests and favorite things with a storybook and art pairing.

12:00 NOON
Gallery Talk: The Architecture of the MFAH
Meet in the Law Building lobby
From the original building built in 1924 to the opening of the Audrey Jones Beck Building in 2000, the architecture of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, has continually reflected intellectual and artistic trends of its times. On this 45-minute Gallery Talk, find out more about this work of art that houses many other works of art.

Thursday, March 17
11:00 AM – 2:00 PM
A Book and a Look NEW PROGRAM!
Law Building, Kinder Gallery
Families can check out a storybook and take it into the galleries to read together in front of a work of art that they will also “read” with the help of hands-on materials and looking questions. MFAH staff will match up each family’s interests and favorite things with a storybook and art pairing.

11:00 AM – 2:00 pm
Sketching in the Galleries
Beck Building, Gallery 220
An MFAH teaching artist guides adults and children of all drawing levels. Take your time in the gallery, and sketch as long as you wish! Materials and seating are provided.

12:00 NOON
Gallery Talk: Allegory in Art
Meet in the Beck Building lobby
In employing symbols, personification, and other tools, artists give visual representations to complex and abstract ideas in allegorical paintings. On this 45-minute Gallery Talk, see how artists represent qualities like prudence and peace, or concepts like war or Europe, in allegories.

7:00 PM
Gallery Talk: “Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color in Space and Time”
Meet in the Law Building lobby
Carlos Cruz-Diez combines color theory, science, kinetics, mechanical engineering and the painter’s craft to create works that are participatory and interactive. On this 45-minute Gallery Talk, delight your eye and experience the first retrospective of the pioneering Franco-Venezuelan artist.

7:00 PM
Gallery Talk: Spotlight on Cassatt and Morisot—Impressionist Women
Meet in the Beck Building lobby
Explore paintings by the leading female artists of the Impressionist movement on this 20-minute Gallery Talk.

7:30 PM
Gallery Talk: Spotlight on Picasso and Cubism
Meet in the Beck Building lobby
On this 20-minute Gallery Talk, explore the invention of Cubism—a watershed moment in the history of art—through the work of one of its pioneers, Pablo Picasso.

Friday, March 18
11:00 AM – 2:00 PM
A Book and a Look NEW PROGRAM!
Law Building, Kinder Gallery
Families can check out a storybook and take it into the galleries to read together in front of a work of art that they will also “read” with the help of hands-on materials and looking questions. MFAH staff will match up each family’s interests and favorite things with a storybook and art pairing.

11:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Creation Station: Moving Through Color
Beck Building, Southwestern Bell Studio
Create art inspired by Carlos Cruz-Diez’s work with an MFAH teaching artist at this family-friendly workshop. Art-making projects connect to original works of art on display in the galleries, and families are encouraged to work as artists, using similar materials or similar ideas as the artist who created the focus work of art.

12:00 NOON
Gallery Talk: Painting Architecture
Meet in the Beck Building lobby
Painted views of towns and cities were enormously popular in the 18th century, but the inclusion of architectural vignettes in paintings transcends that narrow time frame. On this 45-minute Gallery Talk, explore the role architecture has played in painted compositions.

Saturday, March 19
12:00 NOON
Gallery Talk: Spotlight on the Art of Collage
Meet in the Law Building lobby
Explore the medium of collage—in which pieces of paper, newspaper and magazine clippings, photographs, fabric and other ephemera are arranged and attached to a surface—and how artists use the technique to explore ideas in their art, on this 20-minute Gallery Talk.

1:00 PM
Gallery Talk: “Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color in Space and Time”
Meet in the Law Building lobby
Carlos Cruz-Diez combines color theory, science, kinetics, mechanical engineering and the painter’s craft to create works that are participatory and interactive. On this 45-minute Gallery Talk, delight your eye and experience the first retrospective of the pioneering Franco-Venezuelan artist.

2:00 PM
Gallery Talk: Vanitas
Meet in the Beck Building lobby
“Vanitas” paintings, which use symbols and motifs to remind viewers of the
transience of life, were especially popular in the Dutch Republic during the 17th
century. On this 45-minute Gallery Talk, trace the idea of the fragility of man and his material pleasures in the face of the finality of death, using works of art across the museum’s collections.

3:00 PM
Gallery Talk: Spotlight on Double-Sided Painting
Meet in the Beck Building lobby
Explore a rare and puzzling double-sided 16th-century altarpiece on this 20-minute Gallery Talk.

Sunday, March 20
1:00 – 4:00 PM
Creation Station: Moving Through Color
Beck Building, Southwestern Bell Studio
Create art inspired by Carlos Cruz-Diez’s work with an MFAH teaching artist at this family-friendly workshop. Art-making projects connect to original works of art on display in each week’s Family Zone gallery. Families are encouraged to work as artists, using similar materials or similar ideas as the artist who created the focus work of art.

1:00 – 4:00 PM
Sketching in the Galleries
Law Building, Gallery 200
In the Family Zone, an MFAH teaching artist guides your sketching of works of art in the exhibition Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color in Space and Time. Adults and families are welcome; materials are provided.

1:30 PM
Sunday Storytime
Law Building, Gallery 200
At this 30-minute family gallery experience in the Family Zone, an MFAH educator reads the storybook My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss as part of an interactive exploration of the work of Carlos Cruz-Diez.

2:00 – 4:00 PM
Gallery Investigations
Beck Building, Gallery 109
This week in the Family Zone, visit the Gallery Cart to uncover details and insights about how artist Carlos Cruz-Diez uses his imagination and the science of color theory to create his paintings and installations.

2:00 PM
Gallery Talk: American Impressionists
Meet in the Beck Building lobby
Young American artists studying in Paris in the 1870s initially ignored the innovations of the French Impressionists, but in the 1880s they began to experiment with the style, and by the 1890s, Impressionism was established as a valid style of painting for American artists. On this 45-minute Gallery Talk, explore works by artists who practiced in an Impressionist style abroad and at home in the United States.

For more information, visit www.mfah.org/springbreak.

About the Kinder Foundation Education Center (KFEC) at the MFAH
Begin each family visit at the Kinder Foundation Education Center and learn more about the museum’s encyclopedic art collections with a variety of books and suggestions for works of art to visit, and tips to help families have fun at the museum. With art, poetry and storybooks, as well as a selection of MFAH publications, there are opportunities for everyone to explore, interact and learn. Located on the lower level of the Caroline Wiess Law Building, the KFEC includes  the Art-To-Go lending library as well as a gallery space dedicated to hosting exhibitions of student art. Designed to be a source of information on art, the museum and related topics, the KFEC is available to all educators, parents and students.