Houston Community News >> Family Day at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston
8/21/2007 Houston —With the
support of Target, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is enhancing its Family Day
program beginning this fall by offering more activities, more time to
participate, and free museum admission for everyone every first Sunday of the
month. The MFAH kicks off Target Free First Sundays on September 2, 2007 with
“Stories, Myths and Legends in Art,” featuring art-making, music, costumed
dancers, and movies in the Audrey Jones Beck and Caroline Wiess Law buildings
from 1-5 p.m.
Each Free First Sunday offers an array of art workshops and artist
demonstrations, family films, story stops, musical and dance performances, and
refreshments. Children are encouraged to collect a sticker at each activity to
put on their First Sunday Map, which can be turned in at the end of the day for
a special gift.
“With the generous collaboration of Target, the museum can now provide a lively
learning experience to an even broader audience,” said Peter C. Marzio, MFAH
director. “This partnership builds on the education department’s ongoing efforts
to make the museum an interactive family destination and the museum’s overall
goal of fostering a lifelong interest in art.”
“At Target, we believe that exposure to the arts helps build strong communities
and enrich the culture in which we grow and thrive,” said Laysha Ward, vice
president, community relations, Target. “For this reason, we are proud to
partner with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, on Target Free First Sundays,
where area families can experience the arts and participate in family-friendly
programming and activities together.”
Target gives back more than $3 million each week to strengthen families and
communities across the country with a focus on education, the arts, social
services, and other vital community partnerships. A mainstay of Target’s
community commitment is the support of visual art, music, dance, independent
film, and design programs. At the heart of Target’s support of the arts are free
days, reduced-admission programs, and touring programs, making arts accessible
for all. Target sponsors programs of all sizes, from film festivals and art
exhibitions, to music and dance performances and partnerships with museums like
the MFAH, design schools and art educators, all of which collectively work to
bring art to local communities.
Activities for the September 2 Family Day explore the mythological and heroic
figures that can be found in artworks at the MFAH and celebrate Hispanic
Heritage Month. Maps and information will be available at welcome tables in the
lobbies of each building and staff will be on hand to guide visitors to Family
Day activity sites.
Art Activities
Houston artists Armando Rodriguez and Laura López Cano will demonstrate monotype
print-making techniques and gourd painting, respectively, in ongoing
demonstrations from 1-5 p.m. in the Beck Building. Those attending may try the
techniques for themselves.
Six drop-in art-making workshops are planned from 1-5 p.m. Artist guidance and
all materials will be provided. In the Law Building, the topics are:
· face painting
· sketching in the galleries of Pre-Columbian art
· making colorful headdresses such as those worn by heroes in Mayan legend or by
the Incan royal elite
· creating stories in relief from clay inspired by the wall panels and ceramic
vessels of ancient Pre-Columbian cultures
In the Beck Building, the workshops are:
· sketching superheroes
· constructing a picture book using postcards of works of art gathered from the
MFAH galleries
A Storytime Area will be situated in the European galleries on the second floor
of the Beck Building all afternoon. Adults and children can read books
themselves, or listen to a museum storyteller read art-related picture books at
2, 2:30, 3, and 3:30 p.m.
Another quiet activity will be provided in Beck Gallery 220 where Camille
Corot’s Orpheus Leading Eurydice from the Underworld (1861) is on view. The
artist painted the tragic Greek myth at a time when the opera Orfeo ed Euridice
was popular. Recorded music from the opera will be played in the galleries
throughout the afternoon and an artist will be present at the top of each hour
to engage visitors in a discussion about the music and the art.
Performances
MECA’s Ballet Folklorico and acclaimed student Mariachi ensemble will lead a
procession of costumed dancers from the lobby of the Law Building through the
Turrell Tunnel and then upstairs and outdoors to the main entrance of the Beck
Building. There, Ballet Folklorico will present folk dances drawn from various
regions of Mexico and the Mariachi group will sing about tragic love stories.
The procession and performances run from 1:30-4 p.m.
Family Flicks
The MFAH film department’s monthly Family Flick becomes a regular component of
Family Day beginning September 2. For the inauguration of Target Free First
Sundays, the Family Flick is Visiones: Latino Art and Culture, a collection of
three short films that will run continuously from 2 to 4 p.m. in the museum’s
Brown Auditorium Theater on the lower level of the Law Building.
Hours and Admission
The Audrey Jones Beck Building is at 5601 Main Street. Hours are Tuesday and
Wednesday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m.–9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10
a.m.–7 p.m.; and Sunday, 12:15–7 p.m. The museum is closed on Monday, except for
holidays. Admission to this exhibition is included with general admission to the
museum. General admission is $7 for adults and $3.50 for children 6-18,
students, and senior adults (65+); admission is free for children 5 and under.
Admission is free on Thursday, courtesy of Shell Oil Company Foundation.
Admission is free on Saturday and Sunday for children 18 and under with a
Houston Public Library Power Card or any other library card. Admission is free,
courtesy of Target, the first Sunday of each month.
MFAH Parking
The museum’s parking garage is in the MFAH Visitors Center, located at 5600
Fannin Street at Binz Street (entrance on Binz). Free parking is available in
two lots on Main Street, at Bissonnet and at Oakdale.
Cafe Express-Museum
Cafe Express-Museum offers convenient dining in the Beck Building of the MFAH.
Hours are Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m., and
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
MFAH Collections
Founded in 1900, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is the largest art museum in
America south of Chicago, west of Washington, D.C., and east of Los Angeles. The
encyclopedic collection of the MFAH numbers more than 56,000 works and embraces
the art of antiquity to the present. Featured are the finest artistic examples
of the major civilizations of Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Africa.
Italian Renaissance paintings, French Impressionist works, photographs, American
and European decorative arts, African and Pre-Columbian gold, American art, and
European and American paintings and sculpture from post-1945 are particularly
strong holdings. Recent additions to the collections include Rembrandt van
Rijn’s Portrait of a Young Woman (1633), the Heiting Collection of Photography,
a major suite of Gerhard Richter paintings, an array of important works by
Jasper Johns, a rare, second-century Hellenistic bronze Head of Poseidon/Antigonos
Doson, major canvases by 19th-century painters Gustave Courbet and J.M.W.
Turner, distinguished work by the leading 20th and 21st century Latin American
artists, and now The Adolpho Leirner Collection of Brazilian Constructive Art.
MFAH Campus
The MFAH collections are presented in six locations that make up the
institutional complex. Together, these facilities provide a total of 300,000
square feet of space dedicated to the display of art. The MFAH comprises:
· Two major museum buildings: the Caroline Wiess Law Building, designed by Mies
van der Rohe, and the Audrey Jones Beck Building, designed by Rafael Moneo
· Two facilities for the Glassell School of Art: one with studio spaces for
children and another with studio spaces for adults
· Two house museums that exhibit decorative arts: Bayou Bend Collection and
Gardens features American works, Rienzi features European works
· The Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden, created by Isamu Noguchi
Complementing the public exhibition spaces is a major on-site conservation
center where artworks are conserved prior to presentation.
For information, the public may call 713-639-7300, or visit www.mfah.org . For information in Spanish, call 713-639-7379. TDD/TYY for the hearing impaired, call 713-639-7390. For membership information, call 713-639-7550 or email membership@mfah.org .