B(a)M!!!

When my cousin mentioned that the Brooklyn Museum had just opened a new exhibit called “Killer Heels,” I heard FIELD TRIP! But would kids interested in more than high heels come?

Kind of.

@jacobcb @pinkpanda and @ninablanco all came, and I declared an intention of not directing us through the museum. They agreed to support me by taking the map and leading the way, and I generally succeeded in waiting patiently for them to discover each of my favorite corners by themselves.

We started with the Killer Heels exhibit, which included some commentary about the history of heels and their symbolic significance. Quickly, though, we were on our way to the Ancient Egyptian wing (with a special exhibit on art depicting deities as cats!) and then to the Assyrian hall. I wondered at the Brooklyn Museum’s choice to deeply color their gallery walls while Jacob and Taina took loads of awesome photos. They then led us through the permanent exhibits on 19th and 18th century home decoration (where we walked through replicas of New York apartments and houses), past the Tiffany stained glass pieces, through the open archive room…we covered almost the entire museum in 3 hours.

One of my favorite parts of the Brooklyn Museum to explore with friends who haven’t been before is the Elizabeth Sackler Center for Feminist Art. When I first moved to New York, a professor told the story of a young, female artist named Judy Chicago who was having a hard time finding a museum that would agree to show her work. In part, her troubles came from discrimination in the male-dominated art world against a female artist; in part, museums were hesitant to show her controversial piece called “The Dinner Party.” When the Brooklyn Museum finally agreed to host an exhibit of Chicago’s work, Elizabeth Sackler (of Astor family fame) donated enough money for the museum to build the center for feminist art. “The Dinner Party” is the central focus of the exhibit space, and the rest of the gallery hosts special exhibits of feminist art.

I worked really hard to not say anything until Taina and Jacob were finished exploring “The Dinner Party” on their own, and when they finished I asked about their impressions. After I explained that the designs on the plates weren’t exactly supposed to be flowers (unless we are talking Georgia O’Keefe flowers…), they had a lot more to say 🙂

The last exhibit we saw before heading out was called “Crossing Brooklyn.” Thinking they’d have work by Swoon, I got really excited. Nothing by Swoon, but we found lots of interactive art that’s come out of Brooklyn. We got to thumb-tack an ALC business card to a cork-material sculpture of a horse!

Aaaaand then we came back to school thoroughly exhausted and content.

Some of the pictures Taina took are here! More pictures (some from her and some from me) are here!