More than 250,000 people visited the museum - second only to the blockbuster 1982 season with the Treasures from the Tower of London exhibit. The news is certainly good for the local arts community, but it is even better for families, and best of all for children. Research shows that the primary reason families come to a museum is the opportunity to interact with their kids. In the age of interactive video, it's nice to know there are still interactive families. Some of us were beginning to wonder.
Fast food means hold the pickles and the chatter.
Amusement parks are fine, but hardly the place for big people and little people to discuss much beyond the length of lines and the choice or pizza or tacos. But paintings and sculpture, not to mention marble floors, grand staircases and cavernous lobbies elicit delicious questions. Even toddlers are drawn to Roualt's bright, heavily lined clown. Later, when they think back to the experiences that shaped their lives, they'll remember color and creativity, not just Dalmatian movies and Beanie Babies. The art museum has managed this great trick, being aesthetically graceful and dramatic enough to make us feel we are on hallowed ground, but being friendly enough to welcome us with Saturday morning coffee and muffins.