Happy Not-back-to-school Day 2020
In a small bit of normalcy, we (including J. who was able to take the day off from work to join us) headed out to a museum for our first day of school. This year's choice was The Field Museum in Chicago. For various reasons, it had been quite some time since we had been, which is unusual, since we usually visit a couple of times of year, this was highly unusual. It was nice to be back.
One of the reasons that we start school with a museum trip is that at this time of year they are virtually empty. Schools have started but they aren't doing field trips and tourist season had slowed down so that the usual people in museums aren't there. Today we had an empty museum to an unusual degree. If you have ever been to the Field, you know it is a very large museum. It can hold a lot of people without it feeling too crowded. It takes an very high number of people to feel as though you need to fight crowds. Today it was eerily empty. When we first got there at ten, there might have been one other group in the entire museum. We all had the vague feeling that the museum must be closed and we shouldn't be there. That didn't last long because it was also kind of wonderful to have it to ourselves.
Our obligatory photo. We were able to meet friends who joined us, so it was a double treat of museum-going and friend-visiting. This is the dinosaur who is now in the great hall since Sue has been moved to new digs.
Our first stop was the newer exhibit about people in the Americas, which L. picked. It was quite well done and we spent a good chunk of the morning there. It ended in part of the old native american exhibit which is very old. The juxtaposition was a bit jarring, not just in terms of type of display, but also in terms of tone and assumptions about people groups. We were heartened to learn that the entire exhibit is being redone, though it is going to take a while.
After a picnic lunch outside, a lunch which we shared with a fantastic number of yellow jackets, we headed back in. We wondered through various exhibits that were some of our children's favorites... animal displays and dinosaurs (Sue's new exhibit is very well done) being the ones chosen today. We couldn't visit the ancient Egypt or Senegal, Africa areas as they are currently closed due to small size of rooms. There was still plenty to see.
While we were looking at the various animals, we came across a note saying there was a special exhibit about Carl Cotton who was the museum's only African-American taxidermist. Sadly, because the exhibit was in a small room, it was not open. I was hoping there would be some sort of book on him in the museum store, but there wasn't. I did find the postcards, though. (We collect postcards so this was a small win.)
The last exhibit we came across was Looking at Ourselves: Rethinking the Sculptures of Malvina Hoffman. If you have spent any time at the Field, these sculptures are the bronzes of different people of varying ethnicities which were tucked in various corners and hallways of the museum. I've always kind of loved them, so at first was just happy to see them restored and on display all together. But the exhibit was much more than a display. It was the museum's critical look at the original exhibit in 1933 for which the bronzes were commissioned. I never knew their history, just that I loved them. I thought the exhibit did a fantastic job of acknowledging the racism of the past while educating for the future. And you have to admit that the sculptures themselves are pretty darn amazing. If you have a chance to go to the Field, I highly recommend the exhibit.
By this time, everyone was feeling pretty done in. Our museum-going stamina is clearly not what it used to be.
K. was the only one not quite ready to leave because he had a chance to get caught up with one of his very good friends.
The final stop was the museum store. I love museum stores, though they are potentially very dangerous places because they have so many interesting things. I thought I did pretty well today since I stopped at three postcards and one egg shaper.
Because really, who doesn't need a T-rex egg mold? (Check out this post if you don't know what an egg mold is: Have you seen these?)
All in all, it was a very good start to the school year.
One of the reasons that we start school with a museum trip is that at this time of year they are virtually empty. Schools have started but they aren't doing field trips and tourist season had slowed down so that the usual people in museums aren't there. Today we had an empty museum to an unusual degree. If you have ever been to the Field, you know it is a very large museum. It can hold a lot of people without it feeling too crowded. It takes an very high number of people to feel as though you need to fight crowds. Today it was eerily empty. When we first got there at ten, there might have been one other group in the entire museum. We all had the vague feeling that the museum must be closed and we shouldn't be there. That didn't last long because it was also kind of wonderful to have it to ourselves.
Our obligatory photo. We were able to meet friends who joined us, so it was a double treat of museum-going and friend-visiting. This is the dinosaur who is now in the great hall since Sue has been moved to new digs.
Our first stop was the newer exhibit about people in the Americas, which L. picked. It was quite well done and we spent a good chunk of the morning there. It ended in part of the old native american exhibit which is very old. The juxtaposition was a bit jarring, not just in terms of type of display, but also in terms of tone and assumptions about people groups. We were heartened to learn that the entire exhibit is being redone, though it is going to take a while.
After a picnic lunch outside, a lunch which we shared with a fantastic number of yellow jackets, we headed back in. We wondered through various exhibits that were some of our children's favorites... animal displays and dinosaurs (Sue's new exhibit is very well done) being the ones chosen today. We couldn't visit the ancient Egypt or Senegal, Africa areas as they are currently closed due to small size of rooms. There was still plenty to see.
While we were looking at the various animals, we came across a note saying there was a special exhibit about Carl Cotton who was the museum's only African-American taxidermist. Sadly, because the exhibit was in a small room, it was not open. I was hoping there would be some sort of book on him in the museum store, but there wasn't. I did find the postcards, though. (We collect postcards so this was a small win.)
The last exhibit we came across was Looking at Ourselves: Rethinking the Sculptures of Malvina Hoffman. If you have spent any time at the Field, these sculptures are the bronzes of different people of varying ethnicities which were tucked in various corners and hallways of the museum. I've always kind of loved them, so at first was just happy to see them restored and on display all together. But the exhibit was much more than a display. It was the museum's critical look at the original exhibit in 1933 for which the bronzes were commissioned. I never knew their history, just that I loved them. I thought the exhibit did a fantastic job of acknowledging the racism of the past while educating for the future. And you have to admit that the sculptures themselves are pretty darn amazing. If you have a chance to go to the Field, I highly recommend the exhibit.
By this time, everyone was feeling pretty done in. Our museum-going stamina is clearly not what it used to be.
K. was the only one not quite ready to leave because he had a chance to get caught up with one of his very good friends.
The final stop was the museum store. I love museum stores, though they are potentially very dangerous places because they have so many interesting things. I thought I did pretty well today since I stopped at three postcards and one egg shaper.
Because really, who doesn't need a T-rex egg mold? (Check out this post if you don't know what an egg mold is: Have you seen these?)
All in all, it was a very good start to the school year.
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