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The hardest part about running the children’s program at the Cloisters is keeping the kids from touching the art.
by Corinne Ramey
Inside a dark room in the Cloisters, 10 small children crowded around tapestries of men hunting unicorns. Their instructor, Britt Eilhardt, led them in a discussion of dogs, unicorns and why the Cloisters has a plant that is also in the Harry Potter books.
“The art we have here is really old,” she said, “and it’s really full of dog pictures!”
While looking at medieval art may sound like a decidedly grown-up activity, the Metropolitan Museum of Art disagrees. The Cloisters, the branch of the Met located in Fort Tryon Park, has a family program, in which they try to make medieval art accessible to children and bring more families to the uptown museum.
During the recent program, which was built around the theme of dogs, children and their parents went through several parts of the museum, looking for dogs in different works of art. They learned how people thought about dogs and how dogs were involved in different parts of medieval life.
Family programs like this one, which take place on the first and third Saturday and first Sunday of each month, are free with museum admission, which is a donation. There is also a bilingual Spanish language program, which takes place on the last Saturday of each month.
The topics of the programs come from decades of experience, said Nancy Wu, museum educator at the Cloisters. “Over and over again, kids are perpetually interested in animals,” she said. “Girls love princesses, boys love knights and everyone loves the unicorn.”
The room with the tombs is another favorite, she said, adding: “They all get disappointed when we tell them there are no bodies inside!”
The hardest part of having children at the museum is keeping them from touching the art, said Wu. Although many museums are becoming more interactive, the Cloisters has not been able to do that because everything on display is historical.
But even without touch, the narrative quality of much of the art, such as the series of unicorn tapestries, is appealing to children.
“It’s almost like medieval picture books,” she said. “You can follow the story in sequence. To be able to comprehend visually gives you the first entry into wanting to know more.”
In the future, Wu hopes to lure more of the Cloisters’ neighbors in Inwood, Washington Heights and the Bronx to the museum. “We have tried, but without much success,” she said. The museum recently hired a bilingual staffer, who plans to speak with local principals to attract more neighborhood school children.
The program earned rave reviews from the young attendees.
“I liked it a lot,” said Maddie Pieropan, 8, from Florida. “I love drawing and I love dogs.”
“I liked the dogs because I have a big dog at home,” said Casey Maher, 5, from New Jersey.
“The best part was the unicorn picture because the unicorn came back to life after they killed it,” said Jackie Norsworthy, 8, also from Florida.
Eilhardt, the instructor, said that while teaching children about art can be challenging, she enjoys sharing with the visiting families. “Interacting with the kids is the best,” she said.
Upcoming family events at the Cloisters
Oct. 30, El mundo del unicornio, 1 p.m.
Nov. 6, Birds of a Feather, 1 p.m.
Nov. 7, Stories in Stained Glass, 1 p.m.
Nov. 20, Heroes and Heroines, 1 p.m.
Nov. 27, El rey y la reina del Castillo, 1 p.m.
Dec. 5, Making Faces in Medieval Art, 1 p.m.
Dec. 29-30, Holiday Family Festival, A Medieval Treasure Hunt and Gallery workshops at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., and self-guided art hunts all day.
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